Mallesons ‘Fail Jail’; Firm Restructure Gives Useless Lawyers a Second Chance

In a Firm Spy exclusive, we can today report some big changes at Australian top-tier heavyweight Mallesons

Stephen Jaques.  According to one insider, the firm is proposing to scrap its competition and IP groups, which will be assimilated into the M&A and litigation teams.  The internal reshuffle is apparently being billed as a way to respond to ‘changing client demands’.

The move seems intended to place underutilised Mallesons staff in areas with more work. Mallesons has not yet announced any official redundancies and the measure is clearly a preferable alternative to laying off staff.  Says one unnamed source:

‘The firm had to do something. People have been busy but not ‘too’ busy for many months now and this move will hopefully address that so that there are no redundancies. That said, relocating offices into the fail jail wont be accompanied by high-spirits.

In contrast to Allens, Minter Ellison and Freehills, no pay freeze has yet been announced by Mallesons. Of course, any such measure would likely be met with serious employee discontent, especially since managing partner Robert Milliner recently reported that the firm is expecting to achieve ‘record revenue results similar to last year’.

If these strong financial results want stop Mallesons partners from considering whether it is time to ‘chop spare lawyers’, what will?  Send the Firm Spy your news and views first!

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