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Desk Emptying Frenzy; Minter Ellison Juniors Allegedly Leaving Firm En Masse
Posted by The Spy | Posted in Firm Gossip, Minter Ellison | Posted on 9.25am
The lateral mobility of junior staff in the post-GFC era has, until now, been primarily a phenomenon facing Big4 accounting firms. We have repeatedly published rumours that Big4 juniors have been emptying their desks in search of greener pastures on the back of poor treatment during the GFC, poor pay and current over-utilisation.
Take the “max-assured” KPMG audit staff as an example!
Well, if the following comments from a Minter Ellison spy are to be believed, it would appear that law firm juniors are finally getting mobile too:
Dear Firmspy,
It may interest you to know that so far this year a whopping 26 lawyers have resigned from Minter Ellisons Sydney office, and there are definitely more resignations in the offing. Of the 26 who have resigned so far, 7 have been senior associates and a staggering 19 have been young lawyers, mainly in the coveted 2 -4 year post admission experience range.
Why the sudden exodus? Is it:
a) the unending pay freeze young lawyers have been subjected to while the partners prepare to celebrate yet another budget busting year;
b) the appalling treatment numerous young lawyers have been forced to suffer at the hands of their power mad superiors;
c) the frustrating impotence of a farcically inept HR team; or
d) all of the above?
Even though the construction and finance groups have been left particularly short staffed and are scrambling to find replacements for the recent departures, the partnership shows no sign of making any serious changes to the financial/working/living conditions of its young lawyers, but is instead attempting to buoy the spirits of its disenchanted workforce with such scintillating initiatives as national hard hat day (unfortunately I’m not joking). Adding to this the fact that the firm has only 9 new graduates starting in the Sydney office in the next 12 months, the question has to be asked - how many rats have to desert the ship before it is officially declared a disaster?
Why would Minter Ellison staff be looking to leave the firm? Did the firm misbehave during the GFC and in its aftermath?
A quick look back through our Minter Ellison files suggests that the answer is a resounding “yes”. For example, in announcing a firm-wide pay freeze last year, Minter Ellison chief executive partner John Weber said:
… we are not generally proposing salary increases this year… Limiting salary increases was not an easy decision, but it was one that we felt was appropriate, given the prevailing market conditions and to preserve jobs. Partners will also be lowering their earnings next financial year.
According to the AFR Law Firm Profit Survey, Minter Ellison:
… paid a bonus to many partners last year, for the third year in a row. The very top equity partners took home $1,450,000.00, while about 40% got $1,100,000.00, inclusive of bonus, last year.
Minters also reported 4.7% growth in revenue last year. These results came despite the firm’s headcount contracting by 4.5% over the last financial year, which included the departure of a highly regarded senior associate and apparently a:
property lawyer three months after the mother of five children was promoted to senior associate and six months after she was recruited to the firm from a state government position.
A mother of five … apparently made redundant 3 months after being made senior associate! Ironically, on its website, Minter Ellison makes the following bold assertion:
Minter Ellison. Building trust through business understanding.
Yes, plenty of “business understanding” in relation to the mother of five! Meanwhile, the “about us” section of the Minter Ellison website reads:
the values that drive our behaviour: integrity and trust; enduring relationships; balance; and excellence.
- With integrity and trust, we are talking about being honest, constructive, fair and ethical.
- By balance, we mean respecting the diverse contributions of our people to the firm and the needs of each individual outside work.
With integrity and trust, is Minter Ellison talking about - as reported by the AFR yesterday (24/6) - working for both the Port Phillip Council in Victoria and the developer in relation to the St Kilda triangle development project?
The Ombudsman was … less that happy … that Minter hosted a councillor-heavy soiree at Donovans restaurant to celebrate a Triangle project milestone.
What about other allegations of Minter Ellison partner deception?
How well is Minter Ellison maintaining its stated values? Is the firm acting with integrity, trust and balance? Or has it engendered distrust among juniors through a lack of balance and integrity?
Is the firm fostering “enduring relationships” with juniors, or is it happily opening the exit door for disillusioned (but now laterally mobile) juniors with the welcome-mat in position for the next crop of graduates?
Send the Firm Spy your news and views!
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Where there’s smoke, there’s fire , as the top nobs of Minter Ellision pockets bulge its time they take a step back and look at how they treat their young lawyers.
Why the sudden exodus? Is it:
a) the unending pay freeze young lawyers have been subjected to while the partners prepare to celebrate yet another budget busting year;
b) the appalling treatment numerous young lawyers have been forced to suffer at the hands of their power mad superiors;
c) the frustrating impotence of a farcically inept HR team; or
d) all of the above?
YES (d) all of the above and more
Open your eyes Minter Ellision this includes their incompetent HR team
As for hard hat initiatives, they should give a hard hat to anyone brave enough to go into the construction group.
It’s all take and no give at minters. Partners are so ungrateful. So cheap. They can do there own grunt work from here on.
26 has now become 28 with two Finance Senior Associates leaving.
Hi there! Your comments about Minters are interesting..and according to a friend of mine in their construction group are spot on.
My friend says that recently at their weekly group meeting the partners noted that staff morale was really low..and the solution?? ..to organise a footie tipping competition for the group! Are these people for real??!! AA
To the first commenter - the fact that you can’t even spell “Minter Ellison” suggests that the firm would probably be better off if you left, as well.
I left, so add another one to that list. They are cheap, nasty and HR really is a shocking disaster.
This also shows that if firms don’t treat junior lawyers well they will leave and it doesn’t look good for the firm. Also lawyers talk and firms who don’t treat staff well will have trouble attracting talent.
Cr01 - heard of the pot calling the kettle black? Putting a random comma in your post does not make you appear more intelligent.
You wouldn’t happen to be one of those ‘inept’ HR staff would you?
Worst place I’ve ever worked - agree with the comments about HR and Partners.
Worst place I’ve ever worked - 4 words to describe it would be cheap, nasty, rude and inept - agree with the comments re partners and HR.
“This also shows that if firms don’t treat junior lawyers well they will leave and it doesn’t look good for the firm. Also lawyers talk and firms who don’t treat staff well will have trouble attracting talent.”
Spot on. I’m looking to change firms, and I know I won’t be sending my cv to minters.
Even worse, some of those promoted to SA last year didn’t get payrises until 2010 - a direct contradiction to what was said to the media. HR team are full of cruel, vindictive puppets of the partners - I was there so I know.
Conclusion: WORST TOP TIER FIRM EVER. Never, ever apply there. You can do a lot better.
[…] friends inside Minter Ellison have repeatedly told us in recent weeks that quality lawyers are departing the firm in unprecedented numbers. Preliminary results on the FIrm Spy Remuneration Survey (please continue the great work with the […]