The Brief:
Clayton Utz retained the #1 spot on government legal work with $57m, as Thomsons stormed into second.
Gilbert + Tobin cracked the top 10 for the first time since 2023, while MinterEllison, NRF and Sparke Helmore had the biggest fall.
Federal government legal spend shifted this year, and the AusTender numbers show exactly where the money moved.
Clayton Utz holds the crown
Clayton Utz topped the AusTender rankings for a second straight year, securing $57m in fresh federal government contracts. That’s down from $71m the year before, but still enough to keep it comfortably on top.
Between them, Clayton Utz and Thomsons account for roughly a third of the combined contract value across the entire top 10.
FY2026 Rank | FY2025 Rank | Law Firm | Value (A$m) |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Clayton Utz | 57 |
2 | 4 | Thomsons | 40 |
3 | 2 | Sparke Helmore | 37 |
4 | 3 | Norton Rose Fulbright | 28 |
5 | 7 | Maddocks | 28 |
6 | 5 | HWL Ebsworth | 20 |
7 | 12 | Johnson Winter Slattery | 18 |
8 | 22 | Gilbert + Tobin | 17 |
9 | 6 | MinterEllison | 14 |
10 | - | Lander & Rogers | 10 |
The big movers
Thomsons is the standout mover. The mid-tier firm jumped into second place with just shy of $40m in new contracts, a huge leap from the $5.5m it secured the year prior.
The gains came largely at Ashurst’s expense. After Ashurst jettisoned 60 staff and seven partners from its Canberra office in early 2025, Thomsons swooped on the team and much of the government work that came with it.
Gilbert + Tobin is the other firm to watch. The top-tier broke into the top 10 largely on the back of a $7.5m contract to provide solicitors for the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. The last time G+T ranked this highly was 2023, when it picked up $5.8m assisting the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme.
Sparke Helmore, NRF and MinterEllison posted some of the biggest falls. Sparke Helmore was down to $37m from $66m, NRF was down to $28m from $47m, and Minters was down to $14m from $30m.
Overall, new contract value across the market was down, with Labor aiming to cut $5.3bn from outsourced costs (including legal) over the four years to 2026-27.
Source: AFR