Tony Macvean, managing partner of Hall & Wilcox, told The New Lawyer that in accordance with normal processes, “there will be (pay) increases and these will be communicated individually to staff towards the end of June”.

The firm will have its annual meeting with staff tomorrow and is likely to pass on some of its good fortune to them through wage bonuses or increases, based on individual performance criteria. 

This news comes after some media reports and rumours in teh industry that the firm would make an announcement about pay in the next few weeks. 

Lawyers in the Melbourne office are now facing pay reviews, and one industry insider, who commented in Firm Spy, a firm gossip site, said: “I’ve heard that the reviews will be more stringent ... We were sent an email that the firm will be making an announceemnt on 20 June about pay ... Let’s hope we don’t follow the pack.”

As a full-service commercial firm, Hall & Wilcox has a cross section of practice areas which are counter-cyclical and performing well, according to Macvean. 

Despite the more difficult conditions presented by the global downturn, the firm has so far made only one redundancy, with no further redundancies planned at this time. 

In fact, Macvean said the firm is now considering hires. “At present the firm is considering strategic lateral hires in a number of practice areas to both complement and enhance our service offering,” he said. 

The managing partner argues the mid tier has more to offer than their top-tier counterparts “We also believe there are opportunities for strong, high quality, mid-tier full service commercial firms in the current environment to increase market share and we are in a position to take advantage of these opportunities,” he said. 

While the firm has witnessed an increased number of opportunities from larger organisations, Macvean concedes even for them the last six months have been more difficult than the six months prior. 

“While the firm is on track to experience a 15 per cent growth in revenue in the current financial year (compared to the previous financial year), we have found that revenue has trended down in the last six months compared to the first six months of the financial year. 

“We continue to monitor economic conditions and the effect on our business rigorously.”