The vacancies for legal departments, Hays posited, mean a need for “strong and experienced lawyers as organisations respond to the intensifying regulatory and compliance regime following the recommendations of the banking royal commission”.

This is creating, it surmised, “strong job opportunities” for candidates with experience across all areas of legal practice.

“Financial services advisory lawyers and litigation and dispute resolution lawyers are sought by banks, professional services organisations and regulatory bodies following the banking royal commission too,” Hays said.

As companies cut down on outsourcing, “demand will continue for paralegals, legal counsel, senior counsel and general counsel”, Hays continued, particularly across the commercial, commercial property, and banking and finance industries.

“Construction litigation lawyers with five to eight years of post-admission experience remain in high demand due to the number of current and planned transport and infrastructure projects,” it said.

“Within Queensland and Western Australia, the resurgence of the resources, mining, oil and gas industries has fuelled increasing demand for in-house lawyers and company secretaries.

“Greater demand also exists for legal counsel with relevant industry experience. For example, a mining organisation will request a lawyer who has worked on mining accounts previously.”

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The remarks follow the findings of the FY 2019–20 Hays Salary Guide, which found that more legal professionals will get pay rises this year than last, but those rises will not be as high as hoped for.

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