Work/life balance is the number one reason practitioners are considering leaving their roles, with flexible working being the most common non-financial benefit across the profession, new research from the College of Law has shown.
While salaries remain high in corporate organisations, legal professionals in the corporate space are also the most likely to receive non-financial benefits, according to the College of Law’s Australian Legal Salary Survey 2025.
The college surveyed more than 1,100 legal professionals nationally earlier this year, across a range of organisations and roles. The demographics of the respondents predominantly consisted of younger lawyers, with 40 per cent aged 18-29 years, 30 per cent aged 30-39, 16 per cent aged 40-49 years, 10 per cent aged 50-60, and 4 per cent above 61 years. Sixty-four per cent of respondents were female, 34 per cent were male, and 2 per cent were diverse or preferred not to say.
This year marks the College of Law’s second annual national salary survey that takes an in-depth look at the legal profession’s average salaries, benefits, and work structures. Last year, corporate organisations were revealed to have higher salary averages than firms, something that remained consistent in this year’s survey.
The average base salary, according to the survey, was $109,353, reflecting a 7 per cent increase on 2024’s survey result of $102,100. As previously reported by Lawyers Weekly, corporate organisations had the highest average salaries for the second year running at $151,989.
When asked the most important factors in considering a new role, 34 per cent of legal professionals said work/life balance was the most important factor, followed by competitive salary at 29 per cent, advancement opportunities (14 per cent), and then professional development opportunities (12 per cent).
In addition to having the highest average salaries, practitioners within corporate organisations were the most likely to receive benefits (93 per cent) and tend to get more on average, whereas smaller law firms were the least likely to receive benefits (61 per cent) and receive less on average. However, College of Law Group CEO Marcus Martin noted that the majority of employers were offering flexibility.
“Interestingly, work/life balance still ranks as the top priority when considering a new role, followed by a competitive salary and work advancement opportunities. Employers appear to be meeting employee expectations halfway with 74 per cent of those surveyed receiving additional benefits predominantly in the form of flexible work arrangements,” he said.
Flexible working arrangements (52 per cent), electronic devices (19 per cent), and the ability to purchase leave (19 per cent) continued to be the most common benefit types, but employers offering further education support has declined significantly from 17 per cent to 12 per cent.
Some benefits were also “clearly workplace-specific”, according to the report, such as free/discounted legal work within law firms or salary sacrificing within not-for-profits or community legal centres.
Another key finding in the report was the gender pay gap persisting in firms. Women working in law firms continue to experience a gender pay gap, irrespective of the number of years of experience or job role.
For legal professionals with one year or less experience working within law firms, the gender pay gap was 6 per cent, down from 8 per cent last year. For professionals with 6-10 years of experience, the gender pay gap jumps to 22 per cent, and for practitioners with more than 11 years of experience, the pay gap was 19 per cent, lower than last year’s data, which identified a 25 per cent pay gap at this career stage.
“A frustratingly persistent trend is the gender pay gap present across all levels of experience and role delineation within law firms. This trend begins immediately after graduation, with a 6 per cent gender pay gap, and expands with years of experience,” Martin said.
“A small silver lining is that at graduate level, the pay gap has decreased by 2 per cent; conversely, the overall pay gap persists at an average of 16 per cent this year. We must continue to educate the profession that there is an ongoing parity issue within our industry.”
Boutique firms had the biggest pay gap, with the average salary being $92,743 for women and $109,162 for men. Within corporate organisations, the average base salary was $165,164 for men and $140,699 for women. Government departments had the lowest discrepancy, with men earning an average of $113,960 and women earning an average of $105,924.
The amount of time legal professionals take off for parental leave has also decreased, from 37 weeks in 2024 to 30 weeks in 2025. While overall, the proportion of people taking parental leave has remained stable, men are statistically more likely to be taking this type of leave than they were in 2024 – growing from 8 per cent to 14 per cent.
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
