Now in its eighth iteration, the Top 25 Attraction Firms ranking is a key element of the Legal Firm of Choice Survey, which identifies the most sought-after private legal practices across the country.

This latest survey was conducted between 14 November and 13 December 2022 and received 462 responses in total, recording the attitudes, priorities and perceptions of private practice and in-house legal professionals in Australia.

Last week, Lawyers Weekly published the Top 25 Attraction Firms ranking for 2022–23, detailing which firms lawyers in private practice would most like to move to. Also revealed last week were findings that one-quarter of lawyers plan to leave their current firms and will do so in the coming months, and which lawyers are most likely to leave in the near future.

Moreover, and for the first time, the Legal Firm of Choice Survey polled in-house respondents, exploring — among other things — which law firms law departments engaged, the volume of law firms utilised by one’s law department in the past year, whether those in-house professionals would recommend their chosen firms to others, and how they would rank the performance of the firms engaged.

Yesterday (Wednesday, 22 February), Lawyers Weekly revealed the firms of choice broken down by gender.

Firm choices of 20-something lawyers

According to the findings, legal professionals aged between 18 and 29 (comprising students, graduates, junior lawyers and other professional staff) most want to work at the following firms, having identified these practices via their primary and then secondary votes:

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10. Gilbert + Tobin

9. MinterEllison

8. HWL Ebsworth

7. Corrs Chambers Westgarth

6. Herbert Smith Freehills

5. King & Wood Mallesons

4. Ashurst

3. Hall & Wilcox

2. Clayton Utz

1. Allens

Comments

Speaking about the findings, Lawyers Weekly editor Jerome Doraisamy said it is fascinating to see how those getting started in their legal careers view the range of prospective employers.

“While the Legal Firm of Choice Survey does not collect qualitative feedback from respondents at different ages as to why they want to work at various law firms, reasonable conclusions can be drawn as to what might motivate those commencing their vocational journeys.

“Those aged under 30 will likely value an employer that offers myriad options for career trajectory while one is still determining the road they would like to travel — the 10 multi-service, BigLaw firms listed in this particular ranking can all offer that,” he said.

“Moreover, the scope to move offices at each of these firms — be it interstate or overseas — cannot be underestimated, particularly as we emerge from the cloud of lockdowns from the last few years.”

To read Lawyers Weekly’s full coverage of the latest Legal Firm of Choice Survey, see below:

• Top 25 Attraction Firms unveiled for 2022–23;
• What firms did law departments use in 2022?;
• 1 in 4 lawyers plan to leave their firms (and soon);
• How happy are law departments with their legal services panels?;
• Women, junior lawyers most likely to leave firms;
• Law firms not likely to be recommended by in-house teams; and
• Top 25 Attraction firms 2022–23 (by gender).