The Brief:
Gilbert + Tobin leads gender pay equity, with the lowest gap of any Aussie top-tier firm.
Gender pay gap at KWM and Allens widened, though like-for-like pay is close to parity — the real problem is who makes it to the top.
Australia’s top-tier law firms have filed their annual gender pay gap data with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).
Gender pay gap ranked
Gilbert + Tobin leads on pay parity.
Its gender pay gap sits at 8.1% across all staff, the lowest of any Big 8 firm. Among legal staff only, the number drops to just 0.4%
"There's a lot of benchmarking, checking and cross-checking, looking at the data that goes into it,” said G+T banking team head and board member Gail Christopher. “We cut the numbers every which way to get the numbers right.”
The rest of the Big 8 largely followed suit.
Law Firm | 2025 Gap (%) | 2024 Gap (%) | FY24 Change |
|---|---|---|---|
Gilbert + Tobin | 8.1% | 8.5% | -0.4% |
Ashurst | 9.3% | 9.6% | -0.3% |
Allens | 12.3% | 11.3% | +1.0% |
MinterEllison | 12.6% | 13.1% | -0.5% |
King & Wood Mallesons | 12.9% | 9.5% | +3.4% |
Clayton Utz | 13.2% | 14.2% | -1.0% |
HSF Kramer | 14.2% | 17.1% | -2.9% |
Corrs Chambers Westgarth | 14.9% | 17.8% | -2.9% |
HSF Kramer and Corrs made the biggest strides, both cutting their gaps by 2.9%.
Only two top-tiers went the other way:
King & Wood Mallesons widened from 9.5% to 12.9%.
Allens moved from 11.3% to 12.3%.
Both remain below the legal sector average of 14.2%.
The full picture
The headline pay gap figures need some context.
WGEA's gap doesn't compare like-for-like roles. Rather, it measures the difference in average pay across an entire organisation.
KWM said its gap across equivalent legal career levels "remains low, between 0 – 3%."
In other words, those in the same positions at the same level are paid about the same.
The distinction matters most at US firms. Women at Jones Day were paid 45.2% less on average. But Brisbane partner-in-charge Annie Leeks called the figure a "distorted pay gap." "When using a more refined and appropriate methodology, Jones Day has little or no pay gap. The truth is that women are thriving at Jones Day."
The real gap
Allens blamed its widening gap on more male senior promotions and more women leaving senior roles.
The problem isn’t like-for-like pay, it’s who makes it to the top. The International Bar Association found that in surveyed law firms, women make up 59% of lawyers but hold just 42% of senior roles.
At the partnership level, only three Big 8 firms have cleared the 40% female partner mark: Ashurst at 46.3%, Allens at 41.4% and HSF Kramer at 41.1%. The rest of the group sits between 33% and 39%.
Women enter the profession in numbers, but thin out well before partnership. The pay gap won’t close until the promotion gap does.