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Australia’s largest law firms will, broadly, invest in their employees, technology platforms, and the practice areas where they see the highest demand from clients. Here, Lawyers Weekly unpacks where BigLaw players are directing their investments as we head towards 2027.
As AI becomes a key expenditure, firms are moving past experimentation to embed it into daily workflows, backed by targeted infrastructure, training, and governance.
This comes after a recent Lawyers Weekly questionnaire, in which it was found that BigLaw firms are using AI to reshape how they approach training early-career lawyers.
It was found that firms remain focused on their people, with mechanisms such as recruitment, leadership development, and professional training continuing to be a significant investment for firms.
Furthermore, investment has become more specific, as firms are expanding their capabilities in aspects such as disputes, regulations, infrastructure, energy, cyber, and more.
On an overarching basis, the message is seemingly palpable across the BigLaw firms: technology is altering how legal work is being delivered, but firms are still putting great emphasis on people and client demand as to where the investment focus is directed.
AI moves from experimentation to normality
As AI continues to evolve, firms are moving past experimentation to embed it into daily workflows, backed by targeted infrastructure, training, and governance.
Firms such as Holding Redlich are taking a more general approach, combining AI-enabled platforms with established legal research technology to improve how their employees work, as Holding Redlich’s national managing partner, Troy Lewis, highlighted.
“We are embedding AI-enabled platforms into our workflows, including Microsoft Copilot, Legora, and Cicero AI, alongside leading legal research tools such as Lexis+AI Protégé and Westlaw Advantage,” Lewis said.
“At the same time, we are investing significantly in innovation and technology that helps our people work more effectively and deliver greater value for clients.”
Meanwhile, Macpherson Kelley’s chief operating officer, David Ward, highlighted that a year of testing several AI platforms has resulted in a definite choice about which technology to utilise across the firm.
“AI is one of our largest areas of investment. Following a 12-month pilot of platforms, including Harvey, Legora, and CoCounsel, we’ve selected Harvey as our primary AI platform and have rolled it out across our fee-earning teams,” Ward said.
“We’re also building bespoke automation solutions for workflows that require more complex integrations with third parties.”
In a comparable shift, Clayton Utz is prioritising artificial intelligence to transform the delivery of legal solutions, opting against viewing it merely as an isolated technological expense.
“We are investing in AI-enabled changes to our legal service to enhance our offering and meet client demand for AI-driven innovation across all facets of their operations,” Clayton Utz’s chief executive partner, Emma Covacevich, said.
For A&O Shearman, AI is already impacting the firm’s delivery strategy by transforming routine work from lawyers and leaning on technology.
“AI is reshaping delivery models, automating routine work and enabling our people to focus on higher-value advisory. We’re investing in proprietary technology,” A&O Shearman partner Peter McDonald said.
For Maddocks, CEO Paul Woods highlighted that the firm’s AI strategy is being formed not just by efficiency levels, but also by increasing client expectations around security.
“Our AI investments have also been curated to respond to our clients’ expectations about information security,” Woods said.
A spokesperson at Pinsent Masons indicated that for the firm, investment in AI is prioritised alongside professional development, with the focus catered towards giving its employees the tools necessary to provide for their clients.
“We continue to invest in making sure our people are able to build their careers through tailored professional development and have access to the best tools possible to deliver the highest level of client service, including AI tools such as Legora,” the spokesperson said.
People remain the biggest investment
While AI is inevitably a prominent force in the legal profession, BigLaw firms are confident that technology does not, or will not, replace their most integral asset: their people.
When it comes to people, firms are predominantly investing in recruitment, leadership, professional development, and retention. They are also looking to provide their teams with skills they believe are needed for an ever-changing profession.
For Holding Redlich, fostering talent involves a comprehensive strategy encompassing career progression, employee wellness, leadership initiatives, and specialised professional growth.
“Our people remain our greatest asset, and we continue to invest in attracting, developing, and retaining talent through structured career pathways, leadership development, flexible work arrangements, wellbeing initiatives, succession planning, and targeted training,” Lewis said.
The firm is also building specific development pathways to bolster its leadership and assist its other teams across the firm.
“This includes our Special Counsel Leadership Program, which helps prepare senior lawyers for partnership, as well as new capability-building programs for legal assistants and business services teams.”
For Mills Oakley, CEO John Nerurker stressed that people remain the foundation of the firm’s growth, with the investment spanning across both early-career and leadership development.
“For me, the most important investment is still our people,” Nerurker said.
“Mills Oakley has grown by backing talented lawyers, giving them opportunity and building strong teams around them.
“We are continuing to invest in graduate recruitment, lateral partner recruitment, leadership development and the systems that allow our people to do their best work.”
For HWL Ebsworth, broadening professional growth initiatives remains paramount, alongside equipping staff with the required skills to work alongside the technology, which continues to evolve at a rapid pace.
“Our most significant investment continues to be in our people; we are expanding learning and development programs across all levels of the firm, with a particular focus on leadership capability, professional development, technology enablement, and helping our people build the skills needed to succeed in a rapidly evolving industry,” an HWL Ebsworth spokesperson said.
At Hamilton Locke, managing partner Brit Ibanez demonstrated the firm’s investment in its people through the development of internal programs.
“We continue to invest in developing our people, including in their leadership capabilities, and through programs such as our flagship da Vinci Development Program, which encourages staff to participate in an initiative that pushes them outside their comfort zone,” Ibanez said.
And at A&O Shearman, McDonald showed that the focus has shifted from just growing the firm’s headcount to being more calculated about the talent it brings into the firm.
“Hiring has evolved from scale to precision; we continue to invest in talent, prioritising commercially minded lawyers who can operate across complex, cross-border matters,” McDonald said.
Investment centred on client demand
As firms look beyond internal development, investment is increasingly being focused on the practice areas where clients face the greatest complexities.
Mills Oakley described its investment strategy as being deliberately centred on the areas where it anticipates the strongest client demand.
“Our investment priorities are very deliberate – we are investing in our people, our technology platform and the practice areas where we see sustained client demand,” Nerurker said.
That focus is apparent in aspects where clients are dealing with complex regulations and commercial-based activities.
“From a practice perspective, we are focused on areas where our clients are facing increasing complexity, including regulatory, disputes, employment, cyber and privacy, corporate advisory, infrastructure and energy,” Nerurker said.
“Those are areas where Mills Oakley already has strong capability and where we see real opportunity to continue growing in a disciplined way.”
For Maddocks, client requirements are a starting base before deciding where investments should be focused towards.
“Our investment is tied to what our clients need from us,” Woods said.
“This is everything from ensuring we have the right areas of specialisation to meet their changing needs (and recruiting accordingly when we have identified gaps) through significant, targeted investments in a range of AI tools that assist our lawyers.”
Clayton Utz is also connecting investment with significant initiatives and financial prospects across Australia.
“We are investing in capabilities aligned with our clients’ greatest opportunities and challenges right across the country,” Covacevich said.
For Clayton Utz, the priorities lie within key infrastructure and resource opportunities in different areas across the country.
“In Brisbane, our lawyers are supporting the delivery of the 2032 Olympics. In the west, we are growing our teams focused on unlocking the extraordinary potential of mining and critical minerals,” Covacevich said.
Meanwhile, at A&O Shearman, investment is being focused within areas where demand is increasingly complex and robust.
“Our investment has focused on where client demand is most concentrated and complex,” McDonald said.
“Growth remains strongest in regulatory, investigations and disputes, driven by more active enforcement alongside geopolitical and economic pressure, with matters becoming larger and increasingly multi-jurisdictional.
“Energy transition and infrastructure remain resilient, supported by policy settings and public funding, though projects are more complex and demand integrated advice across structuring, financing and regulatory engagement.
“Capital is concentrating in fewer, larger and more complex deals, particularly in infrastructure and cross-border M&A, with FIRB and evolving merger control frameworks shaping execution.”
For James Macdonald, managing partner at Piper Alderman, his firm’s focus is fundamentally on monitoring clients’ priorities and seeing where they will require support next.
“One of our key investment priorities is client growth, ensuring we remain closely aligned to our clients’ strategic challenges, commercial objectives and emerging opportunities,” Macdonald said.
“Firms that successfully combine deep legal expertise with strong people skills and technology-enabled service delivery will be best placed to support clients in the years ahead.”
