Billable hours harm lawyers: new Hamilton Locke partner
Law firm business models are causing “social harm” for employees and leading to an exodus from the legal profession, the former local head of international behemoth Clyde & Co says.
Michael Tooma, who joined rapidly growing firm Hamilton Locke as its new head of ESG this week, said the traditional model of “pursuing profits [solely] through billable hours” was causing commercial lawyers to become burnt out and disillusioned.
New hire Michael Tooma says big law firms’ business models are causing an exodus from the legal profession.
“If you find a way to attract and retain talent by aligning values, and creating a nice place to work with an environment of collegiality, then you’ve got a competitive advantage,” Mr Tooma told The Australian Financial Review ahead of his move.
Partner Kiri Jervis, two special counsels and five junior lawyers will join Mr Tooma in moving from Clyde & Co to Hamilton Locke.
Hamilton Locke has added 12 new partners this year, with more set to join in the coming weeks, bucking an industry-wide trend. The corporate group will have 374 employees by the end of November, up from 239 at the beginning of the year.
The firm also added the most partners of any Australian law firm in the 2021-22 financial year.
Hamilton Locke managing partner Nick Humphrey says he spent $1m million on employee experiences last year.
Mr Tooma said his move was driven by “the values and approach of Hamilton Locke”, which align with a personal interest in the welfare of lawyers, given his specialisation in workplace health and safety law.
Managing partner Nick Humphrey told the Financial Review that “a lot of the big firms talk about [values] but don’t have a model that supports it”.
“It’s not deliberate … but what you
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