New Year, New Hires, a New Way
As the New Year begins in earnest across the legal industry, now is the time that firms, legal practices and legal teams start to look at their resources and what they need for the year ahead. Invariably a key part of this is the people they currently have, and the expertise they are looking to recruit in the year ahead.
“he tangata, he tangata, he tangata”
The Māori phrase above translates to “it is the people, it is the people, it is the people”. And this absolutely resonates for all legal teams and legal services providers. Even at the dawn of the age of AI, it is the legal expertise of qualified and trained lawyers and the advice and counsel they provide that is valued by businesses and those they engage with. In-house legal teams and law firms grow in size and stature based on the expertise and market reputation of their people.
Therefore, the identification of that legal talent in the year ahead is vital for future growth and success.
This is how we’ve always done it!
Traditional hiring methods have started to produce dwindling results. Increasingly the costs of using these methods have escalated and the results don’t always live up to expectations. When hiring a new lawyer for your firm or team, it is of course vital that they have the required expertise, however, it is also vital that they are a good cultural fit and align with your values.
If you’ve found over the last few years that your hiring experience has been costly, and it hasn’t produced the results you are looking for, why are you still recruiting using the same methods?
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” ― Henry Ford
The rising cost of legal recruitment
No doubt you know how much it costs to hire a lawyer at various different levels, in the current market. However, let’s run through a scenario just to demonstrate how much using a recruiter actually costs. Bear in mind this excludes any costs of using advertising platforms such as Seek.
- Recruiters charge upwards of 20% of the new lawyer’s starting salary.
- 2 years PAE average salary is currently around $105,000 AUD*
- Therefore, it costs $21,000 AUD to hire a lawyer with 2 years PAE.
This means each new hire is a considerable cost to the business.
*Beacon Legal Australian Private Practice 2024/2025 Salary and Market Report, the average starting salary in mid-tier law firms for a lawyer with 2 years PAE is now $105,000 across all major Australian states.
“More people should learn to tell their dollars where to go instead of asking them where they went.” – Roger Babson
Legal vacancies have to be filled
It creates a strain for an in-house team to be light on expertise. For a law firm or legal provider, your lawyers are in effect your product. When you lose a lawyer, it impacts on your future revenue. This means that firms panic and revert to what they know to hire a new lawyer, as soon as possible. The fees for an individual hire become immaterial, but at the end of the year when Partner profits are hit by these escalating costs, it becomes an issue.
Embrace a new way of proactive hiring
By identifying and understanding what new hires you’ll need in the year ahead and what skills your team currently has, you can map this against the legal expertise that is in the current market.
Our legal recruitment solution is a database with over 100,000 Australian and NZ qualified lawyers, who you can start building relationships with, before you have a vacancy. Invite them to your seminars, reach out to them and show an interest in their career development and you’ll be able to quickly reach out to them when you have a vacancy to fill.
“The way to bring about change is to be proactive and active.”– Octavia Spencer
You probably already know your next hire well!
The majority of lawyers are well-connected to other lawyers. They went to the same law schools and move in the same circles. At an organisational level, sometimes this is hard to quantify and analyse.
“The richest people in the world build networks. Everyone else is trained to look for work.”– Robert Kiyosaki
Our legal recruitment solution allows our clients to quickly see who within their organisation is connected to the legal talent in the marketplace. This makes it easier to contact these lawyers as there is already an existing relationship. It gives HR and in-house recruiters the ability to proactively work with the business and understand what relationships exist and how to leverage them to bring the right talent on board.
Conclusion – New Hires the New Way
As you undertake your planning for the year ahead, it pays to embrace new ideas. If your legal recruitment strategy is stale, ineffective and above all costly, then it’s time to make a change. Get in touch with us and we can talk you through the ins and outs of what makes us different, how our technology works, and how you can utilise it to save you time and money.
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new” – Socrates
