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Are lawyers choosing boutiques over BigLaw firms?
The past year saw a sharp rise in firms competing for legal talent, with sought-after candidates having particular reasons for opting to work at smaller outfits.
Jess Feyder
“When that salary hike and bidding war started, the bigger firms were outbidding the boutiques, so people looking just at the pay [cheque] were jumping ship to the bigger firms, explained Jesse Shah, director at recruitment firm nrol.
Regardless of a lawyer’s history in big firms or boutiques, at the moment, many prefer boutiques, explained Mr Shah.
“Smaller law firms ended up attracting lawyers from the big firms,” explained Doron Paluch, director at legal recruitment firm Burgess Paluch.
“Smaller law firms often became employers of choice. Some of the boutique firms became premier law firms doing very high-end work around Australia.
“Some of the boutiques did very well attracting lawyers from top-tier firms, and some of the mid-tier nationals were the most aggressive of all in attracting lawyers.”
“Why might this have been the case?” Lawyers Weekly asked the two directors.
“A lot of lawyers have been steering away from the factory-type environment that some top-tier or BigLaw firms can be,” Mr Paluch explained.
The perception of BigLaw firms has changed, he continued: “When I was at university, if you could get into a BigLaw firm, it was a given that you did that. Nowadays, I think the perception has changed pretty dramatically.
“Some of the smaller and medium national firms can be, in some ways, even more attractive an option than the BigLaw firm option.
“The small and medium firms can often provide equally high-quality work and remuneration, with more transparent and achievable career paths. Smaller and mid-sized firm lawyers can often also enjoy broader access to seeing matters fully through from beginning to end, whereas at some of the larger firms, at times lawyers can get stuck working for long periods on isolated components of very large matters.”
“Some are looking for better working conditions,” noted Mr Shah.
“A lot of lawyers who were in the big firms have looked towards boutiques because it’s a lot closer knit, a lot more value in their culture, in their support. Everyone counts. Everyone matters; it’s a lot more personal.
“Big firms always attract great talent because they have the brand name, they have the work, and some people want to experience those files and cases. But the biggest thing COVID taught a lot of lawyers was the value of work/life balance and culture.”
“They offer a lot more flexibility, they are a lot more personal, and a lot more culture-driven,” Mr Shah reflected, “and they can control their culture a lot better because there [are fewer] people”.
In contrast, “there’s still a lot of traditional firms still stuck in their old ways; they haven’t fully adopted hybrid work,” Mr Shah noted. “They run by a traditional five-day week, while a lot of lawyers want hybrid.
“Unfortunately, they’re losing out; a lot of talent are not looking at traditional firms anymore.”
