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Ashurst responds to reports of underpaying staff
International law firm Ashurst has responded to reports from earlier this week that its junior lawyers have been paid below minimum rates.
Jerome Doraisamy
On Monday morning, a publication owned by Nine Publishing reported that – in the process of conducting an internal audit – Ashurst found it had been underpaying its own staff, with individual back payments owed to some professionals as high as $15,000.
“As soon as we were made aware of the additional payments owed to staff, we acted to ensure all necessary adjustments were made to current and former staff affected, including interest, superannuation and leave balances adjusted where applicable. This process is almost complete.
“We have made the necessary changes to ensure, moving forward, all payments owed to our staff for work performed are properly accounted for and made on time.”
Reports about Ashurst’s audit comes after new industrial regulations were set late last year, requiring law firms to log the quantum of hours worked by graduate lawyers and paralegals to ensure that junior staff are being properly compensated.
Such new requirements will help ensure that the next generation of lawyers will have better cultural expectations of their prospective employers, Travis Schultz Law principal Travis Schultz said at the time.
At the time of the introduction of the new requirements, Lawyers Weekly approached Australian firms to ask if they would also look to monitor the hours performed by lawyers with 1-3 years’ PQE, in light of findings from the Legal Firm of Choice Survey that this demographic is the least satisfied of all legal professionals, with two in five lawyers at this stage intending to find a new employer.
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
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