Now in its ninth iteration, the Top 25 Attraction Firms ranking is a key element of the Legal Firm of Choice Survey, which identifies the most sought-after private legal practices across the country.

This latest survey was conducted between 22 January and 14 February and received 401 responses in total, recording the attitudes, priorities, and perceptions of legal professionals in private practice across Australia.

Every year, some firms rise up the rankings while others slide down the list. As in previous years, the 2023–24 results offer an intriguing insight into how lawyers perceive prospective employers. The results for the 2023–24 survey were released in late February, with a new firm taking the top spot. You can read the findings here.

The methodology

The annual Lawyers Weekly Top 25 Attraction Firms ranking was based on the results from one question in the recent Legal Firm of Choice Survey, which asked: “Which firms would you consider a move to if you ever decided to leave your current organisation?”

Respondents can select up to five firms they would be interested in moving to and are then asked to select the firm they would move to first, if they had the choice, of their selected five.

From this, each of the answers is given a point. The ranking is based on the point system, with the firm with the most points given first in the ranking. In the event of a tie-break, the secondary question was used to delineate between prospective employers.

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Respondents to the survey were unable to vote for their own firm – thereby eliminating the possibility of any firm skewing results in its favour.

Firm choices of lawyers aged 40 and above

According to the findings, legal professionals aged over 40 years are keen to work at the following firms, having identified these practices via their primary and then secondary votes:

=10. Moray & Agnew
=10. Ashurst
9. Maurice Blackburn
8. Herbert Smith Freehills
7. Cooper Grace Ward
6. Mills Oakley
5. MinterEllison
4. Lander & Rogers
3. Hall & Wilcox
2. Allens
1. King & Wood Mallesons

Comparisons to those aged under 40

When comparing this top 10 ranking to that of lawyers who are under the age of 40, a few things become apparent from a recruitment perspective:

• Cooper Grace Ward and Moray & Agnew are significantly more popular as prospective employers for older lawyers, with those under 40 not ranking those firms in its top 25.
• KWM is increasingly appealing to lawyers as they get older, with those under 40 ranking it fifth, compared to those aged over 40 putting the global firm at the top.
• Ashurst appears slightly less popular for older practitioners, ranking 10th for those aged above 40, compared to its fourth place for those under 40.

Speaking about the findings, Lawyers Weekly editor Jerome Doraisamy said the choices made by lawyers in their 40s and above vary notably from lawyers with fewer years of experience.

“The motivations of mid-late career lawyers appear noticeably different to their younger counterparts, which no doubt is influenced by myriad personal, vocational and financial considerations,” he said.

“What these particular findings suggest is that legal employers, and ultimately recruiters, must ensure that their messaging and targeting of prospective employees must be idiosyncratic and cater to the unique needs of legal professionals, and not just presume that lawyers all fit into a cookie-cutter mould.”

Since late February, Lawyers Weekly has been publishing insights from the 2023–24 iteration of the Legal Firm of Choice Survey. To read those stories, click below:

• Top 25 Attraction Firms revealed for 2023–24
• Women more likely to see gender pay gap in law than men
• 1 in 5 lawyers want to leave their firms this year – where will they go?
• Male lawyers more likely to rate their remuneration highly
• Revealed: 5-year trends for the Legal Firm of Choice Survey
• Which BigLaw firms do male and female lawyers most want to work at right now?
• Where lawyers under 40 want to work right now