The Anomalously Transparent Mud Review; Mallesons Lifts Pay Freeze

We reported yesterday the rumour that AAR recently informed staff that frozen pay would be thawed as of July 1. If true, this move would bring it into line with its competitor Blake Dawson. We went onto add that, if that rumour were true, Mallesons would be the only major Australian firm not to have lifted its pay freeze.

Well, it appears that Mallesons informed staff yesterday that the pay freeze is officially at an end. Sort of, anyway.

In order, we received the following comments from anonymous Mallesons spies yesterday:

Actually Mallesons has told professional staff at lawyer/partner lunches that the salary freeze will be lifted and pay will be reviewed based on “market” as part of the normal performance review process with pay increases to come on 1 July. The obvious question for underpaid junior lawyers is how much will the increase be? There is common knowledge amongst staff that they are underpaid compared to their peers, even taking into account the 3% bonus and the [more general market]  pay freeze.
In the last week Mallesons has secretly given pay increases to those lawyers who are performing well above budget. These increases were around a 5% increase in salary backdated to January 1. For those overworked the discontent remains – but a small rise gives hope of a bigger bounty to come in July.
The problem with Mallies is that you have a “two speed firm” – sections of lawyers busting their bums well above budget for the year and others billing well below. Those busting their bums expect good bonuses and pay rises or watch the mass exodus to the other large nationals knocking at the door

Then this:

anomaly reviewing action shot

FS – thought this was interesting – my friend (a Senior Associate at Mallesons) was yesterday approached out of the blue by a partner and given an envelope with a 6% pay rise backdated to January, and with another pay review promised in July. She apparently had been singled out along with a handful of the firm’s ‘high achieving’ lawyers to receive this pay review. Perhaps the Mally’s pay freeze is lifting??

And then finally, the following scathing critique (excellent work!):

In a firm-wide communique apparently penned in response to your post today, his Highness Robert Milliner informed staff that the pay freeze was “officially at an end” and that Mallesons partners are “committed to being transparent about pay”. He then went onto say that the firm had conducted an “anomaly review” in which partners had compared our salaries with those prevailing in the marketplace. Very transparently, Milliner then said that where there was a “significant” anomaly between market and Mallesons pay rates, adjustments had been made.

Firm Spy, does anyone in your team happen to know what “significant” means for these purposes? If we’re paid 25% under market rates, is this a “significant” difference that would warrant, say, a 5% increase in pay?

Excellent questions! We’re not sure of the answer, but if a few dozen lawyers declined to return to work after the Easter break, our guess is that the partnership would take significant steps to clarify precisely how vast the disparity is between Mallesons wages and those in the market.

But getting back to the anonymous comments themselves, if we’re reading them correctly, and if they are truthful, Mallesons has trumpeted its remuneration transparency, conducted an “anomaly review” which is about as clear as mud, and awarded back-dated pay increases to a handful of high-performers. Doesn’t sound to us like lawyers have any reason to question the integrity of the oh-so-transparent “anomaly review”.

And if the pay freeze is lifted, or will be on July 1, it appear to be a fate far better than that of cross-town rivals AAR. In an update to comments we revealed yesterday, comes this from another anonymous AAR spy:

Allens certainly have not lifted the pay freeze! Some graduates-2yr lawyers were granted small pay rises at Xmas, but they are still paid substantially less than Allens lawyers at the same level in years prior! Not only have AAR not lifted the pay freeze but there is some strong indication that salaries will be further based on a bell curve, calibrated grading/bonus system that noone has any faith in and lowers morale…

We would be indebted to any spies who would care to clarify whether AAR has confirmed it will lift frozen pay on July 1.

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