We reported on Monday the rumour that Freehills (Perth Office) was flouting the WA Law Society Guidelines designed to create a ‘level playing field’ for graduate recruitment.
In response to that post, we received the following comments from an anonymous spy:
Mr Spy, Your Freehills Perth rumour is 100% true. A few firms (eg Minter Ellison) have been making offers early the last few years but have held the offers open till the traditional law society ‘offers day’ so students could weigh up all their options. The top tiers didn’t seem to care too much because it was only Minters, but there was an understanding that they would each continue to abide by the law society guidelines. That is till this year when Freehills without warning made offers the day before the cutoff for applications closed. They didn’t hold the offers open until offers day but only gave the students 1 week to accept. Nice way to bully students into making a choice before other firms had even decided who to interview. No surprise the other top tiers have now followed suit and the law society guidelines are no longer worth the paper they are written on. PS Mallesons apparently had so many deferred starts from last year they’re hardly hiring anybody this yr. Great year to be a law student in Perth!
Thanks to the spy for such an excellent insight. The Firm Spy obviously cannot comment on the validity of anonymous rumours, however we can confirm that it is not a good year to be a law student anywhere in Australia.
Have you heard rumours of law firms flouting Law Society rules?
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