The Australian legal sector suffe-
red in 2016 as the country's economy continued to struggle. For the second year in a row, none of Australia's three largest independent firms—Clayton Utz, Minter Ellison and Allens—made the Global 100 revenue ranking.

The economic slowdown that began in Australia in 2015 with the collapse of commodity prices and the decline of Chinese economic growth intensified last year, with the worst third quarter since the 2008 financial crisis. Meanwhile, the Australian dollar continued to depreciate, trading at A$1.34 per dollar, down 17 percent from 2014.

International firms weren't shielded from the downturn. Last year Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom closed its five-lawyer Sydney office after 27 years, and DLA Piper pulled out of national capital Canberra in April 2017, six years after gaining the six-lawyer office through the merger with local firm Phillips Fox.