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Legal Ethics Volume 17, 2014 - Issue 2
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Original Articles

Hypercompetitiveness or a Balanced Life? Gendered Discourses in the Globalisation of Australian Law Firms

Margaret Thornton Professor of Law & ANU Public Policy Fellow, Australian National University, Canberra. Earlier versions of this article were presented at International Legal Ethics Conference V, Banff, Canada, 1–3 July 2012 and the Research Committee on Sociology of Law Conference, Toulouse, France, 3–6 September 2013. Thanks to Hilary Sommerlad for organising this special issue of Legal Ethics and the referees for their helpful comments. Thanks also to Lucinda Shannon for research assistance and the Australian Research Council for financial support (DP 120104785). All websites accessed 24 February 2014.
Pages 153-176 | Published online: 07 May 2015

  • Ulrike Schultz and Gisela Shaw (eds), Women in the World's Legal Professions (Hart Publishing, 2003).
  • Women constitute 63.4% of all law graduates in Australia. See Graduate Careers Australia, www.graduatecareers.com.au/Research/GradJobsDollars/BachelorAll/Law/index.htm.
  • eg Law Society of New South Wales, 2011 Law Society National Profle: National Report (NSW Law Society, 2012) 1.
  • Iain Campbell, Jenny Malone and Sara Charlesworth, ‘“The Elephant in the Room”: Working-Time Patterns of Solicitors in Private Practice in Melbourne’, Working Paper No 43, Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law (University of Melbourne, 2008) 8.
  • Sharon Cook, for example, stated in 2011 that she was the only woman managing partner among Australia's largest 30 firms. See Chris Merritt, ‘Thousands Quit Private Practice: High Attrition Masks Demographic Shift to Women’ The Australian, 2 December 2011, 29. Compare with the UK, where none of the top 20 firms has a woman as senior or managing partner. Although women comprise approximately 46% of UK solicitors with practising certifcates, they account for less than a quarter of all partners (equity and salaried partnerships are not disaggregated). See Rosaline Sullivan, ‘Barriers to the Legal Profession’, Legal Services Board, London, 2010. Women are similarly underrepresented in major leadership roles in US law firms where they comprise 4% of managing partners and less than 15% of equity partnerships. See A Current Glance at Women in the Law February 2013, American Bar Association, Chicago, 2013; see also Hilary Sommerlad, ‘Minorities, Merit, and Misrecognition in the Globalized Profession’ (2012) 80 Fordham Law Review 2481, 2492.
  • Genevieve Lloyd, The Man of Reason: ‘Male’ and ‘Female’ in Western Philosophy (Methuen, 1984).
  • Margaret Thornton, Dissonance and Distrust: Women in the Legal Profession (Oxford University Press, 1990). Cf Eli Wald, ‘Glass Ceilings and Dead Ends: Professional Ideologies, Gender Stereotypes, and the Future of Women Lawyers at Large Law Firms' (2010) 78 Fordham Law Review 101, 137.
  • Thornton (n 7) 177–80. Cf Deborah Rhode, ‘The “No-Problem” Problem: Feminist Challenges and Cultural Change’ (1991) 100 Yale Law Journal 1731.
  • Margaret Thornton and Joanne Bagust, ‘The Gender Trap: Flexible Work in Contemporary Legal Practice’ (2007) 45(4) Osgoode Hall Law Journal 773, 775; Wald (n 7) 108.
  • NSW Law Society, Thought Leadership 2011: Advancement of Women in the Profession (2011) 14.
  • Ibid, 7, 14. Cf Wald (n 7) 119.
  • Wilkins, while focusing primarily on Black American lawyers, makes a compelling business case for diversity. See David Wilkins, ‘From “Separate is Inherently Unequal” to “Diversity is Good for Business”: The Rise of Market-Based Diversity Arguments and the Fate of the Black Corporate Bar’ (2004) 117 Harvard Law Review 1584.
  • Wald (n 7) 126. Cf Richard Collier, Men, Law and Gender: Essays on the ‘Man’ of Law (Routledge, 2010) 170.
  • Jean Comaroff and John L Comaroff, ‘Millennial Capitalism: First Thoughts on a Second Coming’ in Jean Comaroff and John L Comaroff (eds), Millennial Capitalism and the Culture of Neoliberalism (Duke University Press, 2001) 1.
  • John Flood, ‘From Ethics to Regulation: The Re-Organization and Re-Professionalization of Large Law Firms in the 21st Century’ (20 September 2011), http://ssrn.com/abstract-1582324.
  • Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 (Cth).
  • eg Victorian Women Lawyers, A 360 Review: Flexible Work Practices: Confronting Myths and Realities in the Legal Profession Firms (2002).
  • Sarah Squire and Jo Tilley, It's About Time: Women, Men, Work and Family (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 2007) xi.
  • The International Financial Law Firm Rankings (IFLR1000) is available across jurisdictions: see www.ifr1000.com.
  • Peter Roberts, ‘Rereading Lyotard: Knowledge, Commodification and Higher Education’ (1998) 3 Electronic Journal of Sociology, www.sociology.org/content/vol003/roberts.html.
  • Ashis Nandy, The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self under Colonialism (Oxford University Press, 1983).
  • Ibid, 9.
  • Collier (n 13).
  • Anshuman Prasad, ‘The Gaze of the Other: Postcolonial Theory and Organizational Analysis' in Anshuman Prasad (ed), Postcolonial Theory and Organizational Analysis: A Critical Engagement (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) 3.
  • Raewyn W Connell, Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual Politics (Allen & Unwin, 1987) 183–8 et passim; Raewyn W Connell, Masculinities (Allen & Unwin, 1995) 77–81 et passim. See also Collier (n 13); Richard Collier, ‘Fatherhood, Male Lawyers and Work-Life Balance in the Legal Profession: “I Don't See So Much of the Kids But that's Fine. It's Just How It Is”’, paper presented at the Legal Profession Group Meeting, Bonn, 1–4 July 2012.
  • Connell, Gender and Power (n 25) 184. The concept of hegemony is derived from Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith (ed and trans) (International Publishers, 1971) 12–13 et passim.
  • Anne Spencer and David Podmore, ‘Women Lawyers—Marginal Members of a Male-Dominated Profession’ in Anne Spencer and David Podmore (eds), In a Man's World: Essays on Women in Male-Dominated Professions (Tavistock, 1987) 113–33, 128.
  • Cf Juanita Elias, ‘Hegemonic Masculinities, the Multinational Corporation, and the Developmental State: Constructing Gender in “Progressive” Firms' (2008) 10 Men and Masculinities 405, 409.
  • In 2012, Fairfax Media Limited and News Corporation, which between them own the leading broadsheets in Australia, announced the shedding of thousands of jobs involving the restructuring and reformatting of newspapers and further digitisation in the face of massive losses in advertising. See ABC News, 2 June 2012, www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-20/live-blog3a-news-limited/4080756. See also, for example, RonNell Anderson Jones, ‘Litigation, Legislation and Democracy in a Post-Newspaper America’ (2011) 68 Washington and Lee Law Review 557; Ming-Li Wang, ‘The Fourth Estate under Siege: The Making of a Democratic Institution and its Pressing Challenges' (2012) 7(2) National Taiwan University Law Review 385.
  • Professional electronic services, such as Lawyers Weekly, may be supplanting newspapers with Twitter and social media serving a somewhat different purpose. See eg Patrick M Ellis, ‘140 Characters or Less: An Experiment in Legal Research’ (1 October 2013), http://ssrn.com/abstract=2343874.
  • Martin Conboy and John Steel, ‘The Future of Newspapers' (2008) 9 Journalism Studies 650, 651.
  • Geoffrey Craig, The Media, Politics and Public Life (Allen & Unwin, 2004) 8.
  • Christopher J Kollmeyer, ‘Corporate Interests: How the New Media Portray the Economy’ (2004) 51 Social Problems 432, 435.
  • Marcel Broersma, ‘The Unbearable Limitations of Journalism: On Press Critique and Journalism's Claim to Truth’ (2010) 72 International Communication Gazette 21, 26.
  • John Corner, Theorising Media: Power, Form and Subjectivity (Manchester University Press, 2011) 14.
  • Ibid, 40.
  • Karen Ross and Cynthia Carter, ‘Women and News: A Long and Winding Road’ (2011) 33 Media, Culture & Society 1148. The visibility of men through the privileged status of sport is notorious. See eg Louise North, ‘The Gendered World of Sports Reporting in the Australian Print Media’ [2012] Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies (JOMEC) Journal, 2 November 2012, 1.
  • See eg Michael Asimow (ed), Lawyers in your Living Room: Law on Television (ABA Press, 2009); Michael D Freeman (ed), Law and Popular Culture (Oxford University Press, 2005); Richard Sherwin, When the Law Goes Pop: The Vanishing Line between Law and Popular Culture (University of Chicago Press, 2002); Margaret Thornton (ed), Romancing the Tomes: Popular Culture, Law and Feminism (Cavendish Publishing, 2002).
  • But see Kath Hall, ‘The Expansion of Global Law Firms in Australia and Asia’ (7 August 2013), ANU College of Law Research Paper No 13–12, http//ssrn.com/abstract=2307333; Bruce E Aronson, ‘Elite Law Firm Mergers and Reputational Competition: Is Bigger Really Better? An International Comparison’ (2007) 40 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 763, 777.
  • It is notable that both of these papers are owned by News Corporation, which is controlled by media baron Rupert Murdoch. They both evince a conservative and pro-capitalist stance.
  • For an insightful study, see Hannah Brenner and Renee Newman Knake, ‘Rethinking Gender Equality in the Legal Profession's Pipeline to Power: A Study on Media Coverage of Supreme Court Nominees (Phase 1, the Introduction Week)’ (2012) 84 Temple Law Review 325.
  • Barbara Pocock, Natalie Skinner and Philippa Williams, Time Bomb: Work, Rest and Play in Australia Today (NewSouth, 2012) 95.
  • Natalie Reiter, ‘Work Life Balance: What DO You Mean? The Ethical Ideology Underpinning Appropriate Application’ (2007) 43 Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 273, 289.
  • Janet Smithson and Elizabeth H Stokoe, ‘Discourses of Work-Life Balance: Negotiating “Genderblind” Terms in Organizations' (2005) 12 Gender, Work and Organization 147, 159–60.
  • Lisa Pryor, The Pinstriped Prison: How Over Achievers Get Trapped in Corporate Jobs they Hate (Pan Macmillan, 2008) 78, 181.
  • Andrew Francis, At the Edge of Law: Emergent and Divergent Models of Legal Professionalism (Ashgate, 2011) 77 et passim.
  • See Ainslie van Onselen, ‘Tipping Point is Near as Women Take Over the Law’ The Australian (Sydney), 10 June 2011, www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/tipping-point-is-near-as-women-take-over-the-law/story-e6frg97x-1226072596434. For international coverage, see Schultz and Shaw (n 1).
  • Ainslie van Onselen, ‘Home Is Where the Work Is as Firms Get Flexible’ The Australian, 18 January 2013, 25.
  • Thornton and Bagust (n 9).
  • Kate Weaver, Human Resources Director for DLA Piper, quoted in Louis White, ‘Law Firm Puts its Breadth to Good Use’ The Australian (Weekend Professional) (Sydney), 23 July 2011, 3.
  • eg Nicola Berkovic, ‘Bid to Hang On to Women Sees Baby Leave Soar’ The Australian (Sydney), 22 July 2011, 29.
  • Jenny Knight, ‘Flexibility Keeps the Talented on Track: Being Successful Need Not Mean Working from Nine to Five’ The Times (London, UK), 13 April 2011, 11.
  • Nicola Berkovic, ‘Top Firm Works Hard to Redress Balance’ The Australian (Sydney), 16 December 2011, 30.
  • Nicola Berkovic, ‘Benefits in Culture Change’ The Australian (Sydney), 4 November 2011, 37.
  • Emma McDonald, ‘Life in the Firm Still No Picnic for Women’ Sydney Morning Herald, 9 June 2011, 15.
  • Nicola Berkovic, ‘Part-Time Lure's Full-Time Reward: Leading Firms Willingly Pay to Retain Talent’ The Australian (Sydney), 4 November 2011, 37.
  • Angela T Ragusa and Philip Groves, ‘Gendered Meritocracy? Women Senior Counsels in Australia's Legal Profession’ (2012) 1 Australian Journal of Gender and Law 1, 3.
  • Thornton and Bagust (n 9); Pryor (n 45) 179.
  • Justin Whealing, ‘Large Firms Lacking Balance’ Lawyers Weekly (Sydney), 18 May 2012, www.lawyersweekly.com.au/news/large-firms-lacking-balance.
  • Margaret Thornton and Richard Collier, ‘Balancing Law and Life’, Australian Research Council, 2012–14 (DP120104785). Cf Thornton and Bagust (n 9).
  • Edward Fennell, ‘Give Me a Break... ‘ The Times (London, UK), 28 April 2011, 75.
  • Hilary Sommerlad, Lisa Webley, Liz Duff, Daniel Muzio and Jennifer Tomlinson, Diversity in the Legal Profession in England and Wales: A Qualitative Study of Barriers and Individual Choices (University of Westminster, 2012).
  • Susan Segal-Horn and Alison Dean, ‘The Rise of Super-Elite Law Firms: Towards Global Strategies' (2011) 31 Services Industries Journal 195, 205.
  • Ibid, 207.
  • Sommerlad (n 5) 2509.
  • Emily S Bassman, Abuse in the Workplace: Management Remedies and Bottom Line Impact (Quorum Books, 1992) 77.
  • Features, ‘New Generation Rates Life Quality over Job’ The Times (London, UK), 19 January 2012, 11.
  • Nicola Berkovic, ‘Parental Leave a Big Hit with Men’ The Australian (Sydney), 21 September 2012, 30.
  • Collier (n 13) 171–2.
  • Amelia J Uelmen, ‘The Evils of “Elasticity”: Refections on the Rhetoric of Professionalism and the Part-Time Paradox in Large Firm Practice’ (2005) 33 Fordham Urban Law Journal 81.
  • Cf Collier (n 13) 161.
  • Alex Boxsell, ‘Freeland has Global Ambitions' Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 13 August 2010, 39.
  • Collier (n 25).
  • Georgina Dent, ‘Locals Man the Barricades' BRW (Business Review Weekly) (Sydney), 15 September 2011, 38; Leanne Mezrani, ‘Travel Bug Draws Lawyers to Merged Firms' Lawyers Weekly, 27 June 2012.
  • About DLA Piper, www.dlapiper.com/global/about/overview.
  • Chris Merritt, ‘Bathurst Rethinks “Drone” Attack”’ The Australian (Sydney), 11 May 2012, 33.
  • Ibid. Cf Alex Aldridge, ‘Boozy Lunches are Out but Long Hours and Flexible Working are In’ The Times (London, UK), 26 May 2011, 11
  • Norm Kelk et al, Courting the Blues: Attitudes towards Depression in Australian Law Students and Lawyers (Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney in conjunction with the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation, 2009).
  • James Eyers, ‘The Saddest Profession of All’ Australian Financial Review, 21 August 2010, 30.
  • Aldridge (n 77).
  • Edward Fennell and Frances Gibb, ‘“It's the Very Best Job in the Legal World”: Stuart Popham on 35 Years at Clifford Chance’ The Times (London, UK), 9 September 2010, 73.
  • Cf Sommerlad (n 5) 2507.
  • LHM Ling, ‘Sex Machine: Global Masculinity and Images of the Asian Woman in Modernity’ (1999) 7(2) Positions 277, 295.
  • Thornton and Bagust (n 9).
  • Cf Wald (n 7) 139.
  • Susannah Moran, ‘In-House Lawyers Urged to Step Up’ The Australian (Sydney), 20 January 2012, 25.
  • Lisa H Nicholson, ‘Making In-Roads to Corporate General Counsel Positions: It's Only a Matter of Time?’ (2006) 65 Maryland Law Review 625; Eli Wald, ‘In-House Myths' (2012) 407 Wisconsin Law Review 407.
  • Reiter (n 43) 289.
  • Ibid, 290–1.
  • Cf Janet Smithson and Elizabeth H Stokoe, ‘Discourses of Work-Life Balance: Negotiating “Genderblind” Terms in Organizations' (2005) 12 Gender, Work and Organization 147, 162.
  • Nandy (n 21).
  • Independent Committee of Inquiry into Competition Policy in Australia, National Competition Policy (Hilmer Report) (Australian Government Publishing Service, 1993). The main recommendations of the report were incorporated into the Competition Policy Reform Act 1995 (Cth).
  • Christine Parker, Tahlia Gordon and Steve Mark, ‘Regulating Law Firm Ethics Management: An Empirical Assessment of the Regulation of Incorporated Legal Practices in NSW’ (2010) 37 Journal of Law and Society 466; Susan Fortney and Tahlia Gordon, ‘Adopting Law Firm Management Systems to Survive and Thrive: A Study of the Australian Approach to Management-Based Regulation’ (2013) 10 St Thomas Law Review 152.
  • eg Andrew Grech and Kirsten Morrison, ‘Slater & Gordon: The Listing Experience’ (2009) 22 Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 535; Benjamin Esty and Scott E Mayfield, ‘Creating the First Public Law Firm: The IPO of Slater and Gordon Limited’, Harvard Business School Finance Working Paper No 213–019 (17 October 2012), http://ssrn.com/abstract=2183394.
  • Legal Profession Act 2007 (UK).
  • Aronson (n 39).
  • Ashurst Australia Chairman Mary Padbury, quoted in Leonie Wood, ‘Law Firms Build Ties with Asia’ The Age (Melbourne), 1 March 2012, 6.
  • Flood (n 15).
  • George Beaton, ‘Smart Firms will Follow in Slater & Gordon's Footsteps' The Australian (Sydney), 3 February 2012, 33.
  • Alex Boxsell, ‘Cutthroat Asia Demands Deep Pockets' Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 10 September 2010, 41.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • Dent (n 74).
  • Alex Spence, ‘London Law Firm Follows Mining Trail to Africa’ The Times (London, UK), 2 January 2012, 35.
  • Alex Spence, ‘Law Firm Ready to Break New Ground with Listing on Stock Exchange’ The Times (London, UK), 20 April 2011, 47.
  • James Eyers and Alex Boxsell, ‘Foreign Invasion a Game-Changer for Law Firms' Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 17 February 2011, 1.
  • Sarah Thompson and Paul Garvey (eds), ‘Scale of Justice: Law Firm Giants Looking to Merge’ Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 19 January 2011, 16. Cf Eyers and Boxsell (n 106).
  • Michael Sainsbury, ‘Navigating the Politics of Power’ The Australian (Sydney), 30 March 2012, 30.
  • Alex Boxsell, ‘Freeland has Global Ambitions' Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 13 August 2010, 39.
  • News: ‘Merged Firm Hails Canada’ Lawyers Weekly (Sydney), 16 October 2012.
  • Annabel Hepworth, ‘Taking Steppes to be Boom's Gobi-tween’ The Australian (Sydney), 3 August 2012, 20.
  • Alex Boxsell and James Eyers, ‘In Good Company’ Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 10 December 2010, 53.
  • Eyers and Boxsell (n 106).
  • Ibid.
  • Alex Boxsell, ‘Big Firms Compete for Top Talent’ Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 2 March 2012, 2.
  • Justin Whealing, ‘Editor's Note’ Lawyers Weekly (Sydney), 4 May 2012, 13.
  • Aldridge (n 77).
  • Alex Boxsell, ‘Cutthroat Asia Demands Deep Pockets' Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 10 September 2010, 41.
  • Alex Spence, ‘Lawyers' Pay Marks Return of Boom Times' The Times (London, UK), 6 July 2011, 31.
  • Chris Merritt, ‘Merger of Equals but Brits Develop an Aussie Accent’ The Australian (Sydney), 29 June 2012, 31.
  • Dent (n 74).
  • Samantha Bowers, ‘Law Firm Partners in Search of Greener Pastures' Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 9 March 2012, 43.
  • Boxsell and Eyers (n 112).
  • UK Law Society Gazette (n.d.) quoted in George Beaton, ‘Smart Firms will Follow in Slater & Gordon's Footsteps' The Australian (Sydney), 3 February 2012, 33.
  • Jonathan Ames, ‘Will “Eat what you Kill” Replace Lockstep?’ The Times (London, UK), 8 September 2011, 65; Alex Boxsell, ‘Performance Coach On Board’ Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 20 April 2012, 42; Nicola Berkovic, ‘Smaller Firms Need to Move Away from the “Lockstep” Model to Stay Competitive’ The Australian (Sydney), 11 May 2012, 33.
  • Once the major ‘tournament’ in which associates participated. See Marc Galanter and Thomas Palay, Tournament of Lawyers: The Transformation of the Big Law Firm (Chicago University Press, 1991). Galanter and Henderson have since revisited the issue in light of more recent developments. See Marc Galanter and William Henderson, ‘The Elastic Tournament: A Second Transformation of the Big Law Firm’ (2008) 60 Stanford Law Review 1867.
  • John Flood, ‘Lawyers as Sanctifers: The Role of Elite Law Firms in International Business Transactions' (2007) 14 Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 35, 44.
  • Dent (n 74).
  • Boxsell and Eyers (n 112).
  • Susan Segal-Horn and Alison Dean, ‘The Rise of Super-Elite Law Firms: Towards Global Strategies' (2011) 31 Services Industries Journal 195, 204.
  • As acknowledged by Galanter and Henderson (n 126).
  • Labour relations in Australia were transformed by the Howard Government as a result of WorkChoices in the 1990s. See Andrew Stewart and Anthony Forsyth, ‘The Journey from Work Choices to Fair Work’ in Anthony Forsyth and Andrew Stewart (eds), Fair Work: The New Workplace Laws and the Work Choices Legacy (Federation Press, 2009) 1.
  • Kollmeyer (n 33) 449.
  • Charles Derber, ‘Managing Professionals: Ideological Proletarianization and Mental Labor’ in Charles Derber (ed), Professionals as Workers: Mental Labor in Advanced Capitalism (GJ Hall & Co, 1982) 167.
  • Joanne Bagust, ‘Keeping Gender on the Agenda: Theorising the Systemic Barriers to Women Lawyers in Corporate Legal Practice’ (2012) 21 Griffth Law Review 137.
  • Katharine Towers, ‘Firms Split over Offshore Services' The Australian (Sydney), 20 January 2012, 25–26.
  • Alex Spence, ‘Belfast's Young Lawyers Lead the Charge as Dominance of the Elite Starts to Crack’ The Times (London, UK), 2 April 2012, 57.
  • In the US, more than 12,100 employees, one-third of whom were lawyers were laid off by major law firms in 2009. See Neil J Dilloff, ‘The Changing Cultures and Economics of Large Law Firm Practice and their Impact on Legal Education’ (2011) 70 Maryland Law Review 341.
  • Fennell and Gibb (n 81). Allen & Overy cut about 450 jobs, including 47 partners. See Alex Spence, ‘The Trick to Achieving Growth Now Lies Overseas' The Times (London, UK), 3 July 2012, 31.
  • While the size of such firms is unprecedented so far as law is concerned, it pales into insignifcance compared with accounting firms, with PricewaterhouseCoopers boasting more than 140,000 professionals. See Flood (n 127) 49.
  • Aronson (n 39) 765.
  • Alex Spence, ‘Contenders Punching Way Above their Weight’ The Times (London, UK), 9 July 2012, 32, 33. The strategic growth model, however, challenges the idea that bigger is necessarily better. See Eli Wald, ‘Smart Growth: The Large Law Firm in the Twenty-First Century’ (2012) 80 Fordham Law Review 2867.
  • Spence (n 142).
  • As occurred with the New York-based law firm of Dewey and LeBoeuf, which had 16 offices outside the US, together with a London office comprising more than 100 lawyers. See Alistair Osborne, ‘200 London Jobs at Risk after Dewey Collapse’ Daily Telegraph (London, UK), 7 May 2012, 3; Jonathan Ames, ‘Will a UK Firm be the Next Dewey's?’ The Times (London, UK), 10 May 2012, 50.
  • Caroline Binham, ‘Law Firms “Need More Restructuring”’ Financial Times (London, UK), 19 March 2012, 24 (emphasis added).
  • Wald (n 7) 119.
  • Cf Dilloff (n 138) 349.
  • Cf Wald (n 7) 116.
  • Debbie Guest, ‘Rejuvenated Minters on a Growth Spurt’ The Australian (Sydney), 22 June 2012, 33.
  • Alex Boxsell, ‘Big Firms Compete for Top Talent’ Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 2 March 2012, 2. Cf Samantha Bowers, ‘Law Firm Partners in Search of Greener Pastures' Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 9 March 2012, 43.
  • Chris Merritt, ‘Firms Freeze Hiring amid Weak Outlook’ The Australian, 7 June 2013, 25.
  • Flood (n 15) 6.
  • Michael Rose, ‘Rising to the Global Challenge’ The Australian (Sydney), 11 February 2011, 30.
  • Within seven months, four of Australia's top-tier firms moved to operate under new names as a result of mergers. See ‘No Turning the Tide’ Lawyers Weekly (Sydney), 24 July 2012, www.lawyersweekly.com.au/features/no-turning-the-tide. A ffth firm, Minter Ellison, is looking to effect strategic alliances with US firms, and other independent firms are also looking to effect ties with global firms. See ‘Minters Forms Firm Alliances' Lawyers Weekly (Sydney), 31 July 2012, www.lawyersweekly.com.au/news/minters-forms-firm-alliances?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Lawyers%20Weekly%20Newsletter%20MREC%20-%20send%20-%3E%202/08/2012%2012:49:48%20PM&utm_content=.
  • Rose (n 153); cf Hall (n 39).
  • Chris Merritt, ‘Giants See Asia-Pacifc Potential: Strong M&A Draws Global Players' The Australian (Sydney), 6 May 2011, 29.
  • Alex Spence, ‘Clifford Chance Plants Flag in Australia: Acquisitions Open Way for Growth in Asia’ The Times (London, UK), 17 February 2011, 43.
  • Ibid. Questions were nevertheless raised about the sustainability of the Australian ‘boom’ in light of the volatility of the Chinese economy. See Chris Merritt, ‘Ruling Is In: Minerals Boom Over’ The Australian (Sydney), 31 August 2012, 29.
  • Alex Spence, ‘Lawyers' Pay Marks Return of Boom Times' The Times (London, UK), 6 July 2011, 31.
  • Chris Merritt, ‘Local Revenue Boost Key to Generating Global Alliances' The Australian (Sydney), 27 July 2012, 30.
  • Caroline Binham, ‘Ashurst to Merge for Asian Growth’ Financial Times (London, UK), 27 September 2011, 18; Chris Merritt, ‘Top Firm in Global Alliance: Allens Links Up with Linklaters' The Australian (Sydney), 23 April 2012, 19. Canadian firm HopgoodGanim was reported as being keen to ‘muscle in’ on the lucrative Australian energy and resources market with Perth-based firm Q Legal. See ‘Merged Firm Hails Canada’ Lawyers Weekly (Sydney), 16 October 2012.
  • Dent (n 74). ‘Private equity heavyweight Philip Kapp’ is strongly critical of the imperative in favour of global firms, arguing that clients choose individual lawyers, not global law firms, and that overseas offices of merging firms would end up merely as ‘colonial outposts'. See Stephanie Quine, ‘Departing Clutz Head Says Global Firms Don't Work’ Lawyers Weekly (Sydney), 16 August 2012, www.lawyersweekly.com.au/news/departing-clutz-head-says-global-firmsdont-work.
  • Merritt (n 161).
  • Hepworth (n 111).
  • ‘Burma Opens to Foreign Investment’ Lawyers Weekly (Sydney), 14 September 2012, www.lawyersweekly.com. au/news/burma-opens-to-foreign-investment.
  • Sarah Thompson and Paul Garvey, ‘Scale of Justice: Law Firm Giants Looking to Merge’ Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 19 January 2011, 16.
  • Eyers and Boxsell (n 106).
  • Merritt (n 151).
  • Tony Boyd, ‘Chinese Companies Lawyer Up’ Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 31 March 2012, 64.
  • Alex Spence, ‘Asia the Prize as City Lawyer Seals Deal’ The Times (London, UK), 29 June 2012, 39.
  • Shane Barber, ‘Global Arrivals No Cause for Alarm’ The Australian (Sydney), 29 July 2011, 29.
  • Dent (n 74).
  • Spence (n 157).
  • Eyers and Boxsell (n 106).
  • Whealing (n 116).
  • Spence (n 137).
  • Briana Everett, ‘Chasing China’ Lawyers Weekly (Sydney), 5 April 2012, www.lawyersweekly.com.au/features/chasing-china.
  • News, ‘Merger Mixed Bag’ Lawyers Weekly (Sydney), 30 August 2012, www.lawyersweekly.com.au/news/merger-mixed-bag.
  • For an analysis of the role of the Chinese government in constituting the corporate law market (prior to the formation of Kind & Wood Mallesons) and the boundary blurring it induces, see Sida Liu, ‘Globalization as Boundary-Blurring: International and Local Law Firms in China's Corporate Law |Market'(2008) 42 Law & Society Review 771.
  • Everett (n 177).
  • Michael Sainsbury, ‘Navigating the Politics of Power’ The Australian (Sydney), 30 March 2012, 30.
  • Georgina Dent, ‘Third Time Lucky’ BRW (Business Review Weekly) (Sydney), 20 October 2011, 42.
  • Edward Said, Orientalism: Western Concepts of the Orient (Penguin, 1978).
  • Cf Elias (n 28) 408; Ling (n 83).
  • Spence (n 137).
  • Caroline Binham, ‘Mideast Expansion Deal takes Eversheds into Iraq’ Financial Times (London, UK), 25 May 2011, 4.
  • Caroline Binham and Lina Saigol, ‘Clyde & Co to Open Law Office in Libya Led by Gaddaf Defector’ Financial Times (London, UK), 11 July 2012, 22.
  • Chris Merritt, ‘Blakes, Ashurst Set Proft Pool Goal’ The Australian (Sydney), 2 March 2012, 33.
  • Elias (n 28).
  • Alex Boswell, ‘Unaligned Drawn to Slaughter’ Australian Finance Review (Sydney), 3 August 2012, 36; Chris Merritt, ‘Independence has its Benefits in Land of the Giants' The Australian, 3 August 2012, 19; ‘Minters Builds up Asian Practice’ Lawyers Weekly, 6 August 2012, www.lawyersweekly.com.au/appointments/minters-builds-up-asian-practice.
  • Susannah Moran, ‘Riding the Global Boom Out of Sub-Saharan Africa’ The Australian (Sydney), 20 January 2012, 25.
  • Thornton (n 7).
  • Margaret Thornton, ‘Authority and Corporeality: The Conundrum for Women in Law’ (1998) 6 Feminist Legal Studies 147, 168.
  • Collier (n 25) 152–94.
  • Nicola Berkovic, ‘Asian Shift Broadens Diversity Focus' The Australian (Sydney), 6 July 2012, 29.
  • Diversity issues are presently being addressed by the Legal Services Board (England and Wales). See Sommerlad et al (n 62).
  • eg News: ‘DLA Piper's Billion-Dollar Payday’ Lawyers Weekly, 8 February 2013, www.lawyersweekly.com.au/news/dla-piper-s-billion-dollar-payday?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Legal%20Loop%20Newsletter%20MREC%20-%20send%20-%3E%208/02/2013%203:05:24%20PM&utm_content=.

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