Australian Law Job Market
New Zealand lawyers are among the sought-after professionals Australia is seeking through Australian law job roles offering major opportunities, according to a leading Australian legal recruiter.
New Zealand is used to seeing professionals in fields like healthcare, IT, and engineering quite apart from a wide range of trades.
Legal recruiters have periodically made some significant drives to recruit New Zealand lawyers, the most recent being major Australian law firm Allens who LawFuel ran advertisements for seeking New Zealand lawyers earlier this year.
Many Kiwi lawyers have made the move to Australian law firms and both government and corporate entities, although exact numbers are difficult to quantify, and provide the obvious attractions of working in Australia with reciprocal qualifications and significant financial and professional advantages.
Kirsty McNay, (left) a senior recruiter with Burgess Paluch and herself a former New Zealander, said the fact that there was no need for sponsorship, and requalification were major attractions, not to mention the proximity to home and similar cultures between the two countries.
The attractions of Australia for legal work was also more significant with the slowdown in the London market.
“With the downturn in recruitment being experienced in the London market, the Australian market presents a brilliant opportunity for NZ lawyers to accelerate their career in terms of the increased complexity and size of the matters/deals on offer here, in conjunction with higher salary packages.”
Australian law salaries are often markedly higher than those paid in New Zealand. Although figures and surveys differ, a recent report from Beacon Legal indicated that a New Zealand lawyer with 2-3 years PQE earning NZD$97,000 would earns NZD$130,000, while a lawyer with 6-7 years PQE would earn from NZD$135,000 to NZD$195,000.
Obviously these figures will differ both regionally and in terms of practice areas and level of expertise, along with other factors, and there are also cost of living and other matters to be considered, but the Australian market continues to provide significant opportunities for new Zealand lawyers, even if it is an interim move for the lawyer.
“It provides a great stepping stone to London as a stint at a leading Australian firm will improve the chance of scoring a career-enhancing London (or global) role,” Kirsty McNay told LawFuel.
