Australian Market update H1 2018 – Video Transcript

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Hi everyone, I’m Alex Gotch and I’m a Director at Beacon Legal. In under 3 minutes today I’m going to give you a salary and market update for the Australian Legal sector.
So the The Top 3 areas of demand
Number 1, Corporate Lawyers: So 2017 saw M&A deals worth 120 billion dollars which was a six-year high,  conditions have remained strong throughout the first half of 2018 and this has led to a constant demand for corporate lawyers from both the mid and top tier firms.
Number 2, Regulatory lawyers: The demand from the Big 4 Banks is outstripping supply and lawyers with these niche skills are highly sought after.
Number 3,  Property and Construction lawyers: This area has been consistently busy for a few years now and this has continued during 2018. Good quality property and construction lawyers are in demand from the specialist boutiques right up to the top tier firms.
The most in demand PQE level
So as teams get bigger as a result of positive market conditions, demand for talented Senior Associates between with 6 and 8 years PQE has been really strong, so the Senior Associates who can run matters by themselves and also manage small teams.
As always, the demand for Associates with between 3 and 5 years experience remains high as well.
Salary Trends
We’ve seen a high number of lawyers move from the Top Tier into the Mid Tier this year and the main motivation behind this is for a better work life balance. The mid tiers have increased their salaries to attract these candidates and we’ve seen salaries rise on average 5% from the previous year.
The Top Tier and US firms are in direct competition for the most talented lawyers. They ‘ve look internationally more than ever to source candidates and this combined with demand outstripping supply has led to salary rises between 6 and 8% from the previous year.
So we’ve seen some exceptional stories this year, we’ve seen some really good strong offers being made. Mostly this has come from the US firms from  their corporate teams. This has included enhanced bonus schemes of between 12 and 15%, we’ve seen salaries which have been 25% more than the current rate and we’ve also seen sign on bonuses up to $10,000.

So overall to conclude, the Australian market is very positive at the moment, we’ve got good economic conditions and we think this is a great time to be a lawyer in Australia.

Do you know your worth in the market? Take a look at our detailed Salary and Market Report for Australia.