We have said it before, but never in our 20+ years of specialist Brisbane based legal recruitment have we seen such demand for talent. We are especially seeing high demand for lawyers in the areas of corporate, property, commercial litigation, construction, and workplace relations. It’s a candidate’s market and their employer wish list can be long.

What has changed?

The pandemic experience of Top Tier Law firms has not only led to a change in their working practices but may be taking a much bigger role in reshaping the way the legal profession works. They have had to innovate and move away from paper-heavy processes and in-person meetings. This is primarily because in some of their global offices they have had to shift between working from home and being office-based multiple times. In places like Melbourne, they have experienced almost 2 years of working from home, with some law firms only very recently returning to CBD office towers.

These firms have since reported productivity bumps once their workforces adjusted, and many employees felt that this working arrangement had the potential to improve the way in which their home and work life integrated. Firms have solidified their business continuity arrangements with electronic paper flow and workforces set up to base themselves at home when needed. For some QLD based Top Tier firms, these arrangements went back into action in recent weeks with the catastrophic rain events.

Overall, firms are realizing that they must be agile to resource teams properly and to accommodate peaks and troughs in workloads. Also challenging office-based firms are quarantine and isolation rules that require people to be at home when they have been exposed to Covid-19.  

We are finding that the international and larger national law firms have taken note and are offering prospective employees a 60/40 split working arrangement that involves 3 days at home and 2 collaborative days in the office. One firm has even taken on the unofficial mantra where they are giving their staff the space “to do life and to do law.”

Having said that, a firmwide policy to have flexible working arrangements is one thing, it also needs to be delivered in practice. Partners need to role model it and it needs to work across teams. We acknowledge that there are some areas of law where “all hands-on deck” is required to meet client demand on some occasions and this may involve long days at the office.

Areas of law that do lend themselves to agile working tend to be commercial, corporate, property, insurance. Lawyers that need to make regular court appearances may find it more challenging, however there are some teams showcasing how well this can be done with good planning and communication.

We can confirm that in our many conversations with candidates, that they are all looking for flexible working practices and hybrid working arrangements, this is often despite enjoying their current role and the firm’s culture. These same candidates are also not expecting to have to make a trade off in relation to their salary to gain flexibility.  Firms that accept this and offer agile working will attract and retain talent. They are giving themselves a competitive edge.

Who is Lagging Behind?

We have heard stories over the course of the pandemic of a small number of firms that demanded attendance at the office (even during lockdowns) and of lawyers that proudly remained at their desks and worked right through. These businesses have perhaps missed an opportunity to innovate and evolve and work in a new way that does offer lifestyle benefits to employees and productivity improvements.  

Mid-tier firms with offices in Melbourne and Sydney may now face cultural challenges as they navigate their new ways of working. The ‘corporate office’ experience across the firm is quite different based on the state they were based in. These firms will be able to measure productivity state versus state and we shall watch this space with interest as to whether agile working wins out across the country.

Some firms whose culture may be more “command and control” seem to want things to get back to how things were before the pandemic, with everyone at their desk where they can be seen working. We suspect some of these firms may not have invested the time and energy required to change their management and communication styles and therefore have lost trust with their teams. It is lawyers at these firms that are more likely to take part in the great resignation (if that in fact does hit our shores) and vote with their feet for agile working and flexibility.

An example provided recently during the floods involved employees having to drive themselves through dangerous flood conditions, crazy traffic and flooded carparking in order to wade into the office to retrieve paper-based files in order to work from home. If this isn’t another hint from the universe that it is time to explore digital, then we are not sure what is! Offering agile working will help attract, win and retain talent, but also, it ensures you can get back to work quickly in disaster recovery situations and respond to clients demands without missing a beat.

Overall small and medium firms will have to start paying attention to changes in working arrangements in top-tier firms. If they need to invest in technology to improve workflow or communications to facilitate this, then it should be considered. The current candidate shortage gives lawyers bargaining power and they want agile working conditions. There is also global competition for Australian legal talent to contend with and they are offering impressive salaries.  Being able to offer a prospective employee a lifestyle – where they can enjoy their career, the sunshine of QLD and work with great clients can be compelling.

If you are looking for talented lawyers to fill vacancies in your organisation, then get in touch. We can help you understand the current state of the market, the salaries, and conditions that candidates are expecting and help you find your next recruit.  Let’s talk!

You can make an appointment by emailing us at info@alexcorreaexecutive.com.au.