The largest firms in Australia are planning to continue hiring graduates to ensure a strong pipeline of legal talent, even as the COVID-19 crisis endures.

Most large firms say they will continue with their hiring plans for 2021, and many anticipate a similar amount of graduate hires for 2022.

"We are still going ahead with graduate recruitment for 2021," said Joanne Dean, human resources manager for the national graduate program at Ashurst. "Offers were made earlier in the year for Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra. Perth and Melbourne 2021 graduate offers will be going out soon."

Ashurst's graduate pipeline is "critical," Dean said. The firm anticipates a "slightly reduced" graduate intake in 2022.

Firms recruit many of their graduates via their student clerkship programs, where students in or approaching their final year at law school work as interns over the summer or winter university holidays. Like many other firms, Ashurst is largely maintaining its program.

"We are still going ahead with clerk recruitment over the summer," Dean said. "We have created a virtual clerkship program for our winter clerks in our Melbourne office which they are currently participating in. Brisbane and Perth winter clerkships did not happen this year."

MinterEllison said its plans for graduate hires and summer clerks are unchanged, and it has begun its 2022 graduate recruitment program.

Likewise, Corrs is offering clerkships and graduate positions consistent with its approach in previous years. "Clerks, graduates and junior lawyers are, and will remain, vitally important to our firm and its future," the firm said.

Australia's large law firms have performed well so far this year, with earnings increasing despite the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the broader economy.

Benchmarking data on revenue, hours worked and demand collected by Thomson Reuters Peer Monitor revealed that average fees worked for April and May this year were up a combined 5.4% compared with the previous year. For the 11 months to the end of May, fees worked—a proxy for revenue—was up 8.1%.

Like many of its peers, corporate firm Gilbert + Tobin is continuing to take on student clerks.

"Our clerkship programs are running as per normal, and our current applications processes are underway. Our Melbourne winter clerks commenced this week with a full virtual schedule," said managing partner Sam Nickless.

The firm said it will be welcoming graduate hires as planned in 2021, although it may consider staggered start dates. Asked about graduate recruitment beyond 2021, Nickless said: "It is an important part of our growth trajectory. We don't typically determine intake numbers until we have visibility of the candidate pool; however, we are anticipating a full program in the coming year."

He added that the firm will ensure it can fill its pipeline and that natural attrition will likely be lower than in a normal economic environment.

Hiring of graduates by Australian firms has been strong over the past couple of years as firms bolstered graduate numbers to account for those leaving for the United States or United Kingdom after gaining three to five years' experience, according to Shaaron Dalton, a partner at ECP Legal, a consultant to law firms.

"Firms were stocking up at the graduate level to make sure that they had enough for at least a 25% dropoff by the time people got to midlevel," she said.

But with the novel coronavirus putting an end to almost all international travel for the foreseeable future, this won't be a factor. Dalton expects firms to reduce their graduate intakes in coming hiring cycles. Mid-tier and insurance firms have already canceled or cut back on their student clerkship programs, which suggests they will be reducing graduate hires, she said.

Balancing this is the lesson firms learned from the global financial crisis, when they cut back graduate hires and then found they didn't have enough transactional lawyers as the economy recovered.

"Our graduates are our future leaders, and it's important to us to keep recruiting that talent. As with all firms, we'll plan our intake based on our anticipated business needs," Clayton Utz said.

The firm will continue with this year's clerkship programs—although its Melbourne program will be virtual after a resurgence of the virus there—and will continue hiring graduates for 2021.

Allens has committed to taking 96 graduates and 212 clerks across the firm this year. "We see our clerk and graduate pipeline as a critical talent pool," the firm said.

DLA Piper, too, intends to keep its clerkship and graduate hiring, which it said are essential to its success.

Even with many large firms continuing their recruitment program, it is a nervous time for law students contemplating entering the job market.

"Students are generally quite anxious about their employment prospects this year," Margaret Cai, the president of the Australian Law Students' Association, said. "Stories of graduate and paralegal retrenchment early in the pandemic, as well as widespread work and salary reductions across the profession, have unfortunately amplified this feeling."

Some firms have cut back on clerkship programs, and mid-tier firms in particular have pulled back on their promotional activities at law schools, Cai said.

Graduates are casting the net wider in their job applications, she said, adding that she expected firms with clerkship programs would receive more applications than in previous years.