Big pay increases are over for lawyers
After pay hikes of up to 20 per cent in 2022, remuneration increases in the legal sector have returned to pre-pandemic levels of under 5 per cent, according to the annual report on the market by recruiting firm Mahlab.
The report says partner pay in some parts of the market is falling, billable hour targets are rising to eight hours a day and the time to partnership is being pushed back by at least two years – to an average 14 years.
Mahlab managing directors Katherine Sampson and Lisa Gazis also predict hybrid working arrangements will come under increasing pressure as employers “seek to ensure that staff are more visible and productivity is closely measured”.
“More subdued year”: Mahlab’s Katherine Sampson.
“The 2023 year has been a more subdued year than last year mostly due to the softer economy,” the pair said.
“While law firms have reported healthy profits, continued to promote lawyers to partners and aggressively compete for talent, law firm revenues have now slowed.”
The mode salary for partners at major law firms was unchanged at $1.5 million in Sydney and Melbourne and $1.38 million in Brisbane. Mode is a statistical term that refers to the most common value in a data set.
However, partner pay at mid-tier firms was down by $75,000 in both Sydney and Melbourne to a mode of $900,000 — well ahead of Brisbane ($825,000).
Salaries for mid- to senior-level corporate lawyers and company secretaries in non-publicly listed companies have also fallen, by around 5 per cent.
The report says salaries at the end of the 2022-2023 financial year increased by 4-5.5 per cent in private practice and 4-5 per cent for corporate roles, in contrast to rises of 5- 8 per cent and 5- 7 per cent in 2021-2022.
However, the pay tables for
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