Recent salary freezes at Freehills and Allens Arthur Robinson, as well as redundancies at Blake Dawson and HWL Ebsworth, have caused a significant amount of job insecurity in the legal market. However, it appears that some worried lawyers are not simply praying for a shift in the market - they are becoming more entrepreneurial.
Partner Ken Jagger left Freehills last year to start up his own Western Australian firm called Balance Legal. In response to increasing scrutiny of "surprise bills" and high demand for certainty of fees, the firm tailors fees to its clients' budgets, with a range of fixed rate options. It offers both external and internal seconded legal services to its clients and employs 11 lawyers. His inspiration came from positive feedback that clients gave after seconded Freehills lawyers began working in their offices. "On the flip side our lawyers enjoyed the secondment too, and it struck me as a potential gap in the Australian legal market that needed to be filled," he said.
Jagger said this fee structure makes the firm more appealing to corporate clients, who now have fewer resources at their disposal due to the global financial crisis. The recession has, in fact, helped the firm to find more short-term work, and "leave its mark".
In addition to this, many Australian lawyers appear to be going solo and working remotely as in-house lawyers. "We are seeing that happening a lot in the resources sector and the mid-cap of the sector has been quite hard hit. These companies are not looking to employ but get people in with contracts to assist," Jagger said.
In Queensland the Innovation Centre Sunshine Coast has received considerable interest from entrepreneurs who wish to realise their business plans. Brisbane firms Redchip Lawyers, Hemming + Hart Lawyers and Fisher Adams Kelly are some of the many law firms that have recently shown interest in basing themselves at the centre. They have already gained new clients and established referral networks across the region, according to the centre's CEO Colin Graham.
Law firms have shown interest in contacting start-up companies for possible work opportunities as well. So far the centre has been in touch with 8-10 large Brisbane firms and there is increasing interest from Sydney and Melbourne firms.