A&O Shearman is on a recruiting blitz in Australia, poaching partners from HSF, Squire Patton Boggs, Norton Rose Fulbright, Baker McKenzie and Ashurst to capitalise on its US merger. The firm's now at 30 partners locally and is chasing cross-border M&A work between the US and Australia, though it ranked just 15th for announced deals in 2025: Law.com
Australia's legal market looks rosy at 9.8% fee growth, but Thomson Reuters data tells three very different stories. Large firms like Gadens, Mills Oakley and Hall & Wilcox are the ones surging, with profits up 27.4% since FY22 and partnerships growing 30%+. The Big 8? Coasting on rate rises. Read the full breakdown on our website: Point Blank
Deloitte Australia has slapped its audit division with a please-explain after a spike in staff uploading confidential client data to ChatGPT and other public AI tools. Partners and staff were also caught sending files to personal emails. The firm inked a deal with Anthropic months ago for approved AI tools, but apparently not everyone got the memo to use the firm’s internal tools: AFR
Think top-tier bills are eye-watering? Top US partners are now charging US$3k+ (A$4.2k+) an hour, with one telecom specialist punching up to $6k (A$8.4k). Rates at the top 50 firms jumped 16% last year alone. Clients paying for grunt work are pushing back with AI, but the star partners? Nobody's blinking. Makes Aussie rates look like a bargain, frankly: WSJ
Equity partners at K&L Gates Australia have hit a three-year low, with just 40 of 80 partners now on the equity, down from two-thirds in 2023. Partners are griping that pay ($500k to $2m) sits well below top-tier peers, where Corrs stars pocket north of $7m. Managing partner Jason Opperman says the shrinkage wasn't "deliberate”: AFR