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1 in 4 lawyers plan to leave their firms (and soon)
The latest Legal Firm of Choice Survey makes clear not only what firms lawyers would move to if given the choice but also how quickly those lawyers are looking to make such a vocational jump.
Lawyers Weekly
What is the Legal Firm of Choice Survey?
This latest survey was conducted between 14 November and 13 December 2022 and received 462 responses in total, recording the attitudes, priorities and perceptions of legal professionals in Australia.
Earlier this week, Lawyers Weekly published the Top 25 Attraction Firms ranking for 2022–23 and — for the first time — detailed which external providers in-house teams worked with in the last 12 months.
Plans to leave
When asked if they plan to leave their current employers in the next 12 months, three in four (73 per cent) of private practice respondents said that they have no plans to leave their firms.
However, the balance of respondents — 27 per cent — said that they are making such plans.
According to the findings of the latest Legal Firm of Choice Survey, 16 per cent of respondents surveyed said that they would move to another law firm — giving further insight into their selections for the Top 25 Attraction Firms ranking.
Elsewhere, 3 per cent said that they would move in-house, 3 per cent would join the government sector, 3 per cent would start their own legal practices, and the final 3 per cent would stop practising law altogether.
Time frame for leaving firms
Among those who indicated that they are planning to leave their current private practice employers, one in 10 (11 per cent) said they are going to do so in the next month (as of the time of completing the survey).
One-quarter of respondents (23 per cent) said that they would leave their firms within three months. Nine per cent said they would do so within six months, and another 5 per cent said they would do so within nine months. One in five are planning to leave their firms within the year.
Of those who said they have plans to leave their current firms, just 11 per cent said they would do so in more than 12 months’ time, and 18 per cent said that they are unsure of their time frames.
This means that — of the quarter of lawyers who have plans to leave their current private practice employers — seven in 10 (71 per cent) of practitioners are making plans to change vocational direction in the very near future, with potential for an increase in this figure, should those who are currently unsure clarify their intentions.
Reflections
Speaking about the results, Lawyers Weekly editor Jerome Doraisamy said that the findings are unsurprising against the backdrop of a looming recession and also given the context of supposed workplace trends like “quiet quitting” and the “Great Resignation”.
“There has been significant movement between private practice employers in recent times — both team and individual poachings alike — and all indicators are that this will not slow down any time soon,” he said.
“There may be some slowing down in the salaries that lawyers of all stripes can secure for themselves, but — in the wake of myriad environmental and professional shifts since the onset of COVID-19, it is clear that legal professionals will continue to try and identify the workplace, team and schedule that best suits their personal and vocational needs.”
Lawyers Weekly has extensively covered the latest updates in legal recruitment and workplace trends, including via the following stories:
- Poaching teams is all the rage right now. Why?;
- Is a ‘loyalty tax’ sustainable within the legal profession?;
- ‘Quiet hiring’ sparks fears of burnout among lawyers;
- ‘No better time than now’ for lawyers to move jobs;
- Salaries in mid-tier firms have ‘possibly peaked’;
- Are lawyers ‘quiet quitting’ their jobs?;
- Recession will shift balance of power in legal recruitment;
- Aussie associate salaries ‘competitive’ with UK (at least for now); and
- A looming recession may not impact legal salaries.
