Through the first half of the financial year 2025, Australian firms experienced broad-based demand growth, according to the Australian Legal Market Midyear Update (Midyear Update).
The Midyear Update, issued today by the Thomson Reuters Institute, shows moderation on the pace of growth, but “underlying structural strength in the region”.
“Thus far, Australian law firms have successfully followed FY 2024’s exceptional results; however, the region’s final victory has yet to be decided,” states the Midyear Update.
What are the current demands in the legal market?
The demands on law firms for legal work ebb and flow by practice area. These can shift according to local and global trends, and significant events taking place in the region that require legal expertise.
In the Midyear Update, data shows that many practice areas are experiencing a mixed surge in demand growth. These range from the banking and finance practice areas to workplace relations and construction.
As per the commentary in the Midyear Update, “the region is seeing several areas of demand contractions, and growth is starting to be more concentrated within a smaller group of practices and office locations.”
Find out what they are with your copy of the Australian Legal Market Midyear Update here on Legal Insight.
How is legal client sentiment in Australia?
The measurement of client sentiment is a useful data set for firms to understand how clients intend to invest their legal spend in the coming months.
Included in the Midyear Update is a metric called net spend anticipation (NSA). It takes the percentage of respondents that anticipate increasing their spend. Then, it subtracts the percentage of respondents that anticipate decreasing their spend.
Through the first half of the financial year, the NSA score for Australian general counsel reflected a more cautious outlook than prior years.
Explore more performance indicators of the Midyear Update by accessing your copy here on Legal Insight. The complimentary resource includes metrics such as lawyer headcount, and typical hours per lawyer per month.
You can also browse earlier editions of Australian legal market reports and updates, issued by the Thomson Reuters Institute here:
