Australia’s popularity as an expansion market for global law firms looks set to continue, stoked by robust demand for corporate law services in the region, industry players say.
Over the past 15 years, a wave of international law firms has set up shop in Australia, a trend largely attributed to the country’s proximity to the rising powers of China and India. The superpowers’ rise has prompted more global firms to follow big businesses pushing into the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, with Australia viewed as an ideal launchpad given the similarity of its legal, political and economic systems to those of North America and Europe.
A case in point is US-based law firm King & Spalding, one of the most recent entrants.
In October, it opened a Sydney office, and says it aims to win transactional, regulatory and litigation work for Australian-based and global multinational clients doing business in APAC.
The entry comes despite claims several international firms have battled to gain momentum in Australia’s competitive legal industry, which has grown robustly since the pandemic.
Last year, global law firm Hogan Lovells shuttered its Australian outpost, while in 2021 UK-listed firm DWF announced the closure of offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle.
There was also the December announcement that King & Wood Mallesons’ Chinese and Australian partnerships would formally separate by March 2026, returning to operate as “King & Wood” and “Mallesons” under discrete brands.
Sam Braithwaite, CEO of Jim’s Legal, the Australian franchise group that entered the legal market in 2023, predicts more overseas players will arrive in Australia in coming years as “Australia is seen as a safe, stable market with a strong disputes and insolvency pipeline”.
“International firms want to be where their global clients already operate. For US and UK firms in particular, Australia fills a strategic gap in the Asia-Pacific,” Braithwaite says.
“Disputes, restructuring and regulatory work are the big ones. There’s also been a steady increase in cross-border matters involving Australian businesses, foreign investment and Asia-Pacific capital.”
He adds that “client expectations play a role too. Large corporates want advisers who can act across jurisdictions without constantly handing work off to local firms”.
The comments come against a backdrop of enticing legal market conditions in Australia. For instance, the Australian Financial Review’s most recent Law Partnership Survey, which looked at the second half of 2025, found increased activity by corporate and competition regulators, class actions and workplace disputes, as well an improving deals landscape.
Global recruiter Randstad, in its latest legal job market research, pointed to a surge in commercial law jobs, particularly for any top-tier commercial lawyer in Sydney, and lifting demand for specialised compliance roles across all industries.
In a global context, Australia continues to outperform many other legal markets, assisting to make it an attractive target for large growth-oriented players offshore.
Indicatively, Australian law firms saw demand lift by 3.6 per cent in FY25 – a rate unmatched by US firms since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis according to Thomson Reuters analysis.
UK law firm Pearl Lemon says Australia is attractive for expansion because of its “practical work, not hype” as a profitable legal market closely connected to APAC.
“Cross border transactions are picking up, energy and resources remain busy, and tech and data regulation keep getting more complex,” CEO Deepak Shukla says.
“Australia also offers something global firms value more than they openly admit: a stable legal system that overseas clients trust.
“Instead of flying partners in and out for one-off matters, many firms now want a proper local presence so they can support clients consistently.”
He says having a local team in Australia is advantageous as it helps to build trust with clients and is easier to operate than dealing with APAC clients from London or New York.
For clients, in-country presence in Australia means “immediate support”, the CEO says.
“There’s someone who really gets the local rules, and continuity in relationships. Instead of flying partners in for a one-off matter, a local team can see what’s coming, work more naturally with Australian stakeholders, and handle disputes or negotiations with a proper feel for how local courts operate,” he says.
“Clients end up getting that international know-how without the annoying lag or uncertainty of distance.”
Shukla says while his firm is not actively planning an Australia entry, he keeps “a close eye on Australia because it’s attracting more global firms and there’s plenty happening that’s worth noting – there’s always something interesting going on there”.
Economic power shift
Governance expert Kath Hall attributes the growth in global law firms operating in Australia, including mergers between global and leading Australian law firms, to the greater role of Asian markets and a “shift in economic power from the West to the East”.
“For such firms there are clear market and competitive drivers for expansion into Australia including proximity to rapidly developing Asian economies and increased opportunity to expand the firm’s global brand,” she says in a major academic work probing the issue.
According to Hall, understanding the role played by Australian law firms in these developments can be tricky, but they usually take one of three approaches.
“For some newly merged global firms, the Australian operations are central to the firm’s regional and global expansion, allowing the firm to draw upon the strong performance and reputational capital of the Australian offices,” she says.
“For other global firms their alliances with Australian firms provide a strategic foundation for their expansion into Asia.
“And for third group of firms Australia remains a destination in its own right, sitting within the firm’s overall global network of international offices.”
The trend has been dated back to 2010 when London-based firm Allen & Overy took Clayton Utz partners and announced the set up of Australian offices – moves said to have sparked fears Australia’s corporate law sector was under threat from larger offshore players.
Since that time, many more overseas players have arrived, resulting in a more crowded Australian legal sector, according to Shukla.
One of the impacts, he says, is that firms in Australia are increasingly being pushed to specialise more clearly and put a focus on price reduction and cost cutting.
“Competition for senior lawyers is also tighter,” he says.
It’s a point echoed by Braithwaite, who says the greater number of overseas law firms operating in Australia has added to staffing problems at some firms.
Talent is an obvious pressure point, he says, given that international firms can often pay more and “dangle” global career paths. This makes retention harder for local firms.
Local firms are also forced to compete harder on pricing and service delivery, he agrees.
“Clients are far less patient with inefficiency than they were even five years ago and overseas firms tend to be more aggressive around project management and fee structures.”
Industry research backs him up. While the average lawyer in Australia logs about 1450 billable hours per year, those at many US firms often record 1700 to 2300 hours.
It’s the same scenario in the UK, where global law firms have increased their presence in recent years, logging double digit growth in work done for UK clients.
Like in Australia, billable hour expectations in the UK lag those of the global players.
Braithwaite predicts the pressures on some local firms will prove too much.
“Some firms will merge to gain scale or geographic coverage, others to shore up specialist practice areas. For certain mid-tier firms, consolidation will be about survival. For others, it will be a growth strategy.”
Even so, making it in Australia can be tough for offshore players.
Just this year, several partners reportedly left global firm Squire Patton Boggs for a local outfit, while Baker McKenzie is also reported to have lost partners to rivals.
Meanwhile, White & Case and Clifford Chance have opted to work in small niches in the face of dominant local players, according to local media, which reported that the fastest-growing firms in 2025 were those headquartered locally.
Braithwaite says Australia is definitely “not an easy market to crack”.
“We’ve seen overseas firms come in before thinking brand alone would carry them and that hasn’t always worked,” he says.
“While expertise is important, cultural authenticity and immersion is critical,” he says.
“Australians value working with people who understand our culture and the nuances of our operating environment. “
“Some will absolutely succeed and embed themselves long-term, especially those that invest properly in local leadership and understand the market,” he adds.
“Others will underestimate how competitive and relationship-driven Australia is and quietly exit after a few years. You can’t just fly a flag here and expect it to work.”
Benefits of competition
He urges local firms not to see competition from overseas players as a bad thing, arguing it forces domestic firms to lift standards and rethink how they deliver value.
“In the long run, the firms that succeed will be the ones, local or international, that focus less on brand and more on actually solving clients’ problems.”
Maike Barton, managing director of consulting firm Your GM, says finding those solutions is getting harder for local firms due to many suffering a “leadership vacuum”.
By contrast with global firms, Barton says many local law firm succession plans are stalling, while the next generation of lawyers “no longer see partnership as the pinnacle”.
“They want purpose, flexibility, and structure,” she says. “The firms that survive will be the larger international firms, those that professionalise leadership, not just pass it down.”
From an operational and strategic perspective, she says this shift is creating both opportunity and pressure for local firms exposed to more international competition.
“Client expectations are globalising,” she says.
“Australian firms are being pushed to lift service delivery standards, adopt integrated technology stacks, and introduce more transparent performance metrics.” Talent dynamics are also changing, according to the Melbourne-based consultant.
She points to offshore entrants offering broader career paths and brand prestige, forcing local firms to rethink EVP (Employee Value Proposition), culture, and leadership models.
“I don’t think clients are benchmarking Australian firms solely against their domestic peers. Increasingly, they are measuring them against a broader and more sophisticated reference set,” Barton says, adding that such benchmarking goes well beyond traditional law firms.
She highlights AI-enabled legal, global professional service firms, and multinational operators with deeply integrated technology stacks.
This recent shift has altered client perceptions of value and capability, particularly with smaller national and boutique firms, she says.
“Larger, international providers are consolidating their market position by leveraging scale, capital, and advanced AI to deliver faster turnaround times, greater transparency, and more consistent service delivery,” Barton says.
“They have the capital to implement these upgrades and pay for training whereas smaller firms that lack both technological investment and clear succession planning are finding it increasingly difficult to compete on these dimensions.
“At the same time, digital platforms and AI-enabled workflows have materially raised client expectations around accessibility and responsiveness. Clients now expect real-time visibility over their matters, clearer communication, and shorter feedback loops.”
This is what she calls the “must have it now” standards which were once considered premium offerings of global law firms, but are now rapidly becoming baseline.
“In practical terms, a client in Melbourne now expects the same level of service quality, clarity, and responsiveness they would receive from a top-tier firm in London, New York, or Singapore,” she says.
Even so, Richard Smith, director of Sydney-based GSJ Consulting, notes that some offshore firms may be reassessing their role in APAC given the looming KWM demerger.
“What is being abandoned is not Asia, but a set of assumptions that never really held true: the belief that permanent offices automatically create advantage, that mergers with local firms outperform unofficial alliances with true subject matter experts, that scale guarantees success and profitability,” Smith says.
“Replacing this is a more commercially disciplined mindset, one that recognises the value of strategic flexibility.”