Tag: legal jobs

Australian Law

The Hardest Legal Jobs to Fill — And How to Secure the Right Legal Talent Now

The legal hiring market is facing significant challenges, with firms struggling to secure skilled professionals amid growing competition. As candidates’ expectations evolve and counteroffers become more frequent, traditional recruitment methods are proving less effective. Demand for top legal talent continues to exceed supply, requiring firms to reassess their approach to hiring. Recent insights from SEEK highlight that the most in-demand legal roles in Australia include: Generalist In-House Lawyers Litigation & Dispute Resolution Corporate & Commercial Lawyers Insurance & Personal Injury Lawyers Criminal Lawyers Family Lawyers   Why Are These Roles So Hard to Fill? In-House Lawyers As businesses increasingly bring legal expertise in-house, demand for professionals with strong governance, contract negotiation, and regulatory skills continues to rise. Companies seek legal counsel who can navigate risk and compliance while aligning legal strategies with commercial objectives. Finding professionals with the right blend of technical knowledge and business acumen remains a significant challenge. Litigation & Dispute Resolution A rise in large-scale litigation, including class actions and corporate disputes, has increased the need for experienced litigators. Many seasoned litigators are transitioning into advisory role s or moving overseas, making it difficult for firms to retain top talent in this highly specialised area. Corporate & Commercial Lawyers With ongoing mergers, acquisitions, and corporate restructuring, the need for corporate lawyers remains high. However, strong competition for experienced professionals has led to frequent bidding wars and counteroffers, making both recruitment and retention difficult.  Insurance & Personal Injury Lawyers Legal professionals specialising in risk assessment, claims management and regulatory compliance are increasingly in demand. The rise in insurance-related legal matters, including those stemming from natural disasters and pandemic-related claims, has created a shortage of skilled lawyers. Criminal Lawyers Criminal law remains a highly active field, with increased enforcement actions, financial crime investigations, and general defence work driving demand. The growth of cybercrime and fraud-related cases has added further pressure on firms and legal departments. However, demanding workloads and public sector funding constraints make it difficult to attract and retain experienced criminal law professionals. Family Lawyers High demand in family law is fueled by divorce cases, custody disputes, and property settlements. The emotionally charged nature of these cases, combined with the long hours required, often leads to high turnover.      So How Do You Secure Top Legal Talent in a Competitive Market? With demand far outstripping supply, firms need to refine their hiring strategies to attract and retain the best legal talent –  here’s how you can win the talent war. Craft Offers That Go Beyond Salary Legal professionals today consider more than just compensation when evaluating opportunities. Workplace flexibility, professional development, and organisational culture play a significant role in decision-making. Firms that offer hybrid work arrangements, leadership training, and well-being initiatives gain a competitive edge. Expand Recruitment Channels Highly skilled legal professionals aren’t always actively searching for new roles, making traditional job boards less effective. Partnering with specialised legal recruitment agencies, like Elias Recruitment, provides access to pre-screened, high-calibre candidates who might not be visible through conventional hiring methods. Accelerate the Hiring Process Top legal candidates often receive multiple offers within days, while many firms can take up to 6 weeks or longer to complete the hiring process. Reducing delays, improving communication, and streamlining recruitment can help prevent losing top talent to competitors. Be Ready for Counteroffers High-performing candidates frequently receive counteroffers from their current employers. To secure the best talent, firms should focus on career progression, mentorship, and long-term growth opportunities—factors that can be more compelling than financial incentives alone. Engage Passive Candidates Early Many top legal professionals are not actively job-hunting but are open to the right opportunity. Firms that adopt a proactive recruitment approach can engage these candidates before they explore other options.   In a nutshell The legal industry is experiencing a hiring crunch that demands a shift in recruitment strategies. Firms that adapt quickly, strengthen their value propositions, and expand their sourcing methods will be best positioned to attract and retain top legal talent in 2025 and beyond. To learn how you can get that competitive edge, contact Elias Recruitment today.  

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legal job vacancies
Australian Law

Legal Talent Pool – Legal Recruitment 24/7

Legal Talent Pool – End of Year Promo 250 exceptional legal professionals at your fingertips.Speed up your hiring by accessing all our best candidates — when it suits you. We have two fantastic offers running until the end of 2024 to help you secure your next hire for 2025: All new placements from our Legal Talent Pool will be discounted to 15% until 31 December 2024* Free graduate placements from our Legal Talent Pool until 31 December 2024* Visit the Legal Talent Pool here How the Legal Talent Pool Works As Australia’s leading specialist legal recruitment agency, we are consistently approached by great candidates looking for new roles. When we interview outstanding candidates, in addition to representing them for specific roles, we also invite them to allow us to share their profile (anonymously) in our Talent Pool. From there, employers can browse candidates by experience, speciality, location, salary range, and more. Once a profile is selected, we seek the candidate’s consent to release further information and begin our regular recruitment process — including interview coordination, reference checks, and placement guarantees. We’re proud to confirm all candidates in the Legal Talent Pool are: Interviewed by an experienced recruitment consultant, with relevant notes including salary expectations and years of experience Ready to start a role immediately (subject to notice periods) Confirmed to have a minimum of 18 months PQE and are of high calibre — many have been “silver medallists” in other roles Legal Talent Pool – End of Year Promo Terms Candidate employment contracts must be completed by 31 December 2024 Clients must mention this promo when requesting candidates and must have signed terms Promo is only valid for new CVs requested from the Talent Pool from 4 November 2024 The Free Graduate Promo is only offered to clients who have been invoiced by Elias Recruitment in the last 12 month Please note: graduate candidates have not been interviewed, and no placement guarantee applies

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Elias Legal Jobs
Uncategorised

Elias Legal Jobs Index Report Q4 2022

The jobs market remains  buoyant.  54% of HR leaders expect their headcount to grow and demand continues to outstrip supply in a candidate short market. The national unemployment rate is at a record low of 3.5% the lowest since 1974 and 1.7 points below March 2020 when the pandemic first struck.  The highest areas of demand are in Banking and Finance, Corporate, Property, Insurance, Commercial Litigation and Employment law.  Some trends we have observed are:  Biggest jump in roles was insolvency, Increasing by up to 67% but from a small sample size so to be treated with a grain of salt.  Insurance roles stayed consistently high this quarter A 79% decline in family roles  The main level of hiring was at the mid associate / manager level, although reporting a slight drop from last quarter by 8%, whilst other roles at a lower seniority such as Junior Associates and managers rose by 30%.  There were zero Director / Partner roles listed this quarter. Area Q3 FY22 Q4 FY22 % change Banking & Finance 43 47 9% Corporate / M&A 59 51 -14% Employment 35 37 6% Family 14 3 -79% In House 39 35 -10% Insurance / Reinsurance 45 45 0% Litigation / Dispute Resolution 49 48 -2% Real Estate 39 34 -13% Regulatory 20 21 5% Personal Injury 24 21 -13% Insolvency 3 5 67% Tax 9 7 -22% Technology 27 34 26% TOTAL 406 388 -4% Seniority Q3 FY22 Q4 FY22 % change Department / Div Head 4 6 50% Director / Partner 5 0 -100% Junior Associate / Manager 10 13 30% Mid Associate / Manager 276 255 -8% Snr Associate / Manager 163 157 -4% TOTAL 458 431 -6%  

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Legal Jobs
Resources

What’s happening in the legal jobs market? March 2021

The Elias Legal Jobs Index is compiled regularly and provides an insight into changes in legal job ad volume in NSW and Victoria, by practice area and by role seniority. Changes in job ad volume reflect hiring intentions, and is often used as an indicator of market confidence. In this latest analysis, we have compared data from Q1 FY21 (Jul-Sep 2020) versus Q2 FY21 (Oct-Dec 2020) to assess the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic. Across all practice areas, there was an increase of 22% in the number of roles advertised. The only practice area with a meaningful decrease in ads was Insurance- which may have been affected by anticipated slashing of the iCare workers comp panel in NSW.[1] The largest growth was in Banking & Finance, Corporate / M & A, Regulatory, Property, Construction and Employment Law. Given the increase in business confidence with the relative control of the pandemic,this is no surprise (business confidence rose 9pts to +12 index points in November.)[2] There was a 1,600% increase in Banking and Finance roles. Elias Recruitment Director and recent winner of Talint International’s Business Leader of the Year, Jason Elias, noted this was due to a surge in business confidence, low interest rates and pent up demand from deals put on hold during the uncertain early days of the pandemic. When comparing job ad volume by seniority, there was a decrease of 600% of graduate roles but this needs to take into account the seasonal recruitment of graduates over the spring/summer period. It is however a positive sign that firms are investing in graduate programs and hiring early career lawyers. There was a 40% increase in roles for Division Heads and Senior Associates but a corresponding 40% dip in Partner level roles being advertised. It is clear that the Legal sector was adversely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic in the first few months of the pandemic but towards the back half of 2020, demand snapped back dramatically. Anecdotally, many firms were noting that they had never been busier and many were off Jobkeeper pretty quickly. There are also some who have mentioned increased profitability with the government subsidies, rent reductions and some reduced staffing costs (eg front of house and temp support staff has drastically been reduced). The start of 2021 has continued this trend and we look forward to presenting the stats on the next quarter shortly. Area Q1 FY21 Q2 FY21 % change Banking & Finance 1 17 1,600% Corporate / M&A 10 31 210% Construction 7 12 71% Employment 10 17 70% Family 1 1 0% Financial Services / Funds 9 9 0% In House 126 123 -2% Insurance / Reinsurance 42 39 -7% Litigation / Dispute Resolution 25 28 12% Real Estate 7 13 86% Regulatory 1 2 100% TOTAL 239 292 22% Seniority Q1 FY21 Q2 FY21 % change Department / Div Head 5 7 40% Director / Partner 5 3 -40% Graduate / Entry 0 6 600% Junior Associate / Manager 11 13 18% Mid Associate / Manager 144 164 14% Snr Associate / Manager 103 144 40% Jason Elias is the Founder and CEO of Elias Recruitment, a boutique legal recruitment consultancy that specialises in finding lawyers for law firms, NFPs, and corporate in-house teams. [1] https://www.icare.nsw.gov.au/news-and-stories/icare-selects-new-legal-service-provider-panel-for-workers-compensation#gref [2] https://business.nab.com.au/monthly-business-survey-november-2020-43972/

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Corporate/ M&A leads legal jobs surge in the first quarter FY18

The first quarter of FY18 saw an overall jump in the number of corporate legal jobs advertised, with 480 jobs listed in July-September 2017, compared to April-June 2017. The big winners were corporate/ commercial/ M&A, property, insurance and intellectual property. Other sectors were also up, including technology and media law, dispute resolution, employment and in-house roles. The only areas to see a slump were personal injury and insolvency and tax law. The end of the financial year saw steady figures in banking and finance, litigation and family law, according to the Elias Legal Jobs Index. Robust jobs growth across all major practice areas Demand for corporate/ M&A and commercial roles saw a sharp rise of 148%. Property law followed, with a 43% increase in property roles advertised. Insurance also experienced robust growth, with jobs up 64% over the two quarters. Intellectual property and trademarks roles rose by 50%, with technology and media law rising by 36%. Employment law roles rose by 80%. The only areas of practice to see fewer roles advertised were personal injury, dipping by 55%, and insolvency and tax, which also declined. The full picture See the table below for a complete breakdown of where each vacancy was across Q4 2017 and Q1 2018: Area Q4 2017 Q1 2018 % change Q1 2018 SYD Corporate/ Commercial/ M&A 64 158 146% 43 Property 37 53 43% 23 Banking/ Finance 31 31 3% 20 Litigation 33 33 0% 24 Insurance 17 28 65% 21 IP/ Trademarks 6 9 50% 7 Tech/ Media 11 15 36% 7 Personal Injury 14 9 36% 3 Dispute Resolution 8 11 37% 9 Employment 10 18 80% 8 In-house/ Big 4 12 15 25% 10 Family 4 4 0% 3 Insolvency/ Tax 7 11 57% 6 Competition/ Compliance 12 10 16% 6 Franchising 2 1 50% 0 Energy 2 1 50% 0 Pro-bono 1 2 100% 1 Criminal 1 1 0% 0 Jason Elias runs Elias Recruitment, a boutique legal recruitment consultancy that specialises in finding lawyers for law firms, NFPs and corporate in-house teams. For more information, email [email protected]

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