Latest news Mills Oakley a jobs powerhouse data breaches common for counsel smaller firms top growth charts

Mills Oakley heads rankings for job creation

Mills Oakley Lawyers has topped the rankings for job creation for the third year in a row, according to The Australian newspaper’s end of year ­partnership survey.

Conducted by Beaton in partnership with Macquarie Bank, the survey reveals that Mills Oakley grew its legal workforce by 47.2 per cent in the past year, the equivalent of 68 full-time positions. Hall & Wilcox’s partnership team rose by 41.8 per cent, from the equivalent of 41.6 full-time positions to 59. Among the large firms, partner numbers increased fastest at Thomson Geer, up 10.4 per cent.

The survey shows that mid-sized national law firms recorded the greatest percentage growth in their legal workforce, including partner numbers, in 2015, while the biggest cuts in legal employment were at the largest firms. The biggest firms cut their legal workforce in the past 12 months by an average of 2.8 per cent. The survey notes that large firms are less likely to score highly on percentage growth by virtue of their size.

The findings show that overall recruitment fell, with 22 out of 44 firms surveyed making cuts in lawyer numbers, with an average reduction of 0.4 per cent. Large firms shrank their partnerships by 4 per cent on average, with the biggest cuts coming at Allens, Clayton Utz, DLA Piper and Norton Rose Fulbright.

Data breaches a worry for in-house counsel

More than one in three Australian in-house counsel have experienced a corporate data breach, with employee error the main cause of breaches, according to a new report from the Association of Corporate Counsel Foundation.

The foundation’s State of Cybersecurity Report reveals that 36 per cent of in-house counsel have had a data breach at either their current or former company, highlighting the fact that no sector is immune from potential problems such as loss of proprietary information, damage to an organisation’s reputation or brand, and harm to business continuity. The global report includes information from more than 1000 in-house counsel at 887 organisations in 30 countries.

With cyber security insurance, only 25 per cent of in-house counsel in Australia and New Zealand say their organisation has such cover, whereas the global average is 47 per cent. But 36 per cent of respondents in Australia and New Zealand say they are “very confident” that the law firms their company employs are appropriately managing the security of client data, while internationally just 22 percent are “very confident”.

The report also found that breaches were more than twice as likely at the largest companies and most often the result of internal factors. Employee error is the most common reason for a breach and, while almost half of all in-house counsel say that mandatory training exists, few have a policy of testing knowledge or tracking attendance at these training sessions.

Smaller firms report stronger growth figures

The 2015 Legal Benchmarking Results indicate that smaller law firms have outperformed larger rivals in terms of growth. The report reveals that one in every two firms surveyed increased profits in 2015, down from 57 per cent in 2013.

Small firms achieved the largest rises with an average of 14 per cent. Large firms grew their profits by 5 per cent, while mid-size firms held steady at 2 per cent growth. The report is based on a survey of equity partners, directors, CFOs and general managers at 226 legal firms across Australia, ranging from sole practitioners to large national firms.

The key drivers of profit growth, according to survey respondents, include retaining quality staff, maintaining strong client relationships and providing excellent service. Large firms see relationships as the key (75 per cent), while the highest-performing firms in terms of growth put retaining talent and making investments in technology at the top of their lists.

Firms are optimistic for 2016, with 72 per cent expecting their profits to rise and one third predicting an increase of 20 per cent or more. Large firms are the most optimistic, with 81 per cent predicting stable conditions and none saying conditions will worsen.