4 reasons why international legal professionals should call Australia home

We speak to Robert Kruger, Managing Consultant for Robert Walters who leads the legal practice for Sydney for his perspective on why Australia is a great place for legal professionals to be.

1. Strong Australian legal market in 2022

Economic sentiment in Australia is the strongest it has been since the start of the pandemic, with continued positivity forecast for 2022 and beyond. This has created increased demand in the legal recruitment market across both private practice and in-house roles.

Australian M&A activity soared in 2021 and is expected to stay strong as global consolidation in financial services and interest in infrastructure, technology and healthcare continue to drive deals. New South Wales is seeing significant levels of investment in infrastructure spend by the government, and therefore construction lawyers are in significantly high demand.

2. London experience highly sought after

Robert Walters has successfully placed a number of Australian nationals returning from London and UK qualified lawyers into major Australian firms. London experience is highly sought after, particularly within Banking & Finance and M&A, which often attracts premium salaries where firms compete to win the best lawyers.

3. Fast track career opportunities

We are witnessing top performers are clearly being identified for fast-track progression to partner. The talent shortage in Australia is more acutely identified at the senior associate and special counsel level and many firms, particularly boutique national firms, are clear in discussing swift promotion paths to equity partnership for candidates at this level.

4. Favourable lifestyle – relaxed and balanced

From national parks to beautiful beaches, the Australian lifestyle offers a refreshing change. The work life balance in Sydney for lawyers is generally more favourable with many firms now offering work life balance support services, promoting mental health counselling, fitness training and healthy eating advice as extra work benefits to employees.