A new report has given an overview of the Australian legal market, noting the disparity between the short supply of candidates and an increasing demand for their services.

Article originally featured at: https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/biglaw/23921-talent-shortage-in-aussie-law-firms-as-acute-as-ever

According to the report, the “talent shortage facing Australian law firms is acute as ever” and the shortage is widespread within the Legal Sector.

As stated in the report the following areas are in increasing demand:

In the last few years there has been a constant demand for banking, corporate and projects lawyers.

“This year, the royal commission into the financial services industry has created a voracious appetite amongst law firms of varying shapes and sizes for litigators and financial services advisory lawyers.

There is also an upturn in needs across employment, competition and IP.

From a global perspective, the report found there is a huge demand for transactional lawyers, following a brief pause in recruitment drives among UK law firms, due to Brexit concerns.

“This has continued to deplete stocks of Australian mid-level lawyers seeking greener pastures in London (and indeed other locations),” the report said.

“Whilst we hoped for an exodus of returning Australian lawyers back to our capital cities, it became evident over 2017 that Australian lawyers working in London were being well looked after – continuing to enjoy high quality work and responsibility and excellent earning power.

“In other words, the shortage of mid-level and senior associate Australian lawyers across numerous practice areas continues.”

Over on the in-house side, the report noted that in-house legal teams have continued to grow solidly.

We have seen extremely competitive offers from them to attract mid-level and senior transactional lawyers from private practice.

“This, combined with often better working hours, continues to make in-house a very attractive option for private practice lawyers.”

Keane McDonald has a number of Legal Opportunities in Australia , for more information on these roles, please contact Yvonne Kelly in strict confidence on +353 1 6392924 or send your CV to ykelly@keanemcdonald.com. Absolute discretion is assured.