Making legal news this week, the AFR bi-annual partnership survey was released, revealing a slight improvement on the number of women in partnership levels, a UK survey found that law grads are increasingly taking on non-legal jobs and a national firm continues its rapid expansion.
The AFR bi-annual partnership survey found that the proportion of women in partnership roles as an industry average has slightly increased from 21 per cent in 2014 to 24 per cent in 2016.
Of the 31 firms that participated in the survey,
Gadens champions the 100-partner-plus category sitting at 27 per cent female partnership, followed by King & Wood Mallesons and
Corrs Chambers Westgarth which both sit at around 25 per cent.
The survey found that firms with fewer than 100 partners had a higher proportion of women in the partnership, Gilbert + Tobin,
Maddocks, Lander & Rogers and
Henry Davis York all sitting around the 30 per cent mark.
HWL Ebsworth,
Herbert Smith Freehills and
Clayton Utz, the biggest firms by partner numbers, had the lowest proportion of female partners of the 100-plus partnership category.
Companies prefer to hire law grads, a UK survey has found, with around 89 per cent of businesses preferring law grads over other candidates.
“A lot of employers see the value of hiring people from law who have got the right level of analytical ability, judgement and structured thinking, and who are commercial in their approach,” said
Mahlab Recruitment managing director Lisa Gazis.
Legal graduates are attractive because of their transferable skills, aptitude for learning and strong leadership and communication skills, the survey found.
Hall & Wilcox has announced it will open a Canberra office this year. The new office follows the firm’s openings in Newcastle and Perth and an increase in partnership numbers from 42 to 64 over 2015.
“We think that there is an opportunity for a high quality business law firm to service national clients in the insurance and financial services sector,” managing partner Tony Macvean told Australasian Lawyer.
