Attract Top Legal Talent in 2026.

How Law Firms Can Reduce Hiring Costs and Still Attract Top Legal Talent.

Law firms can reduce hiring costs and still attract top legal talent by shifting away from traditional recruitment methods and moving toward a more insight-led, data-driven hiring model. By using real-time talent insights, firms can quickly identify the right candidates, reduce time-to-hire, and minimise dependency on expensive percentage-based recruitment fees. Streamlining internal hiring processes and building a proactive talent pipeline also helps firms hire more efficiently, while employer brand clarity ensures they remain competitive in a challenging market. This smarter, insight-first approach allows firms to secure exceptional talent without inflating their budget.

Hiring top legal talent is only getting harder and more expensive

In 2026, law firms are navigating rising recruiter fees, increased competition for mid-senior lawyers, and a market where candidates expect greater transparency, flexibility, and clear career development. But reducing hiring costs doesn’t mean lowering your standards. It means adopting a more efficient, structured, and insight-led approach to talent acquisition. This approach allows law firms to attract top legal talent while maintaining cost control in an increasingly competitive market.

By using real-time market intelligence, modern hiring tools, and better internal processes, law firms can consistently hire high-calibre lawyers while significantly reducing cost per hire. Here is how firms across Australia and New Zealand can achieve this in 2026.

Why Legal Hiring Costs Are Rising in 2026

The hiring challenges facing law firms are reflected clearly in the data. Insource Insights provides a detailed view of how lawyers have moved across firms, countries, and practice areas over the past 12 months, and it’s this movement that is escalating costs and competition.

Significant Lawyer Movement in Australia

• Among 20 Australian organisations with 100+ lawyers, more than 4,800 lawyers were hired in the last 12 months.
  • 68.19% of these hires moved into private practice.
  • Over 50 hires were from New Zealand, and more than 70 came from London—highlighting both domestic and international competition.
• These same organisations lost more than 3,200 lawyers.
  • 72.53% of leavers came from private practice.
  • Over 80 lawyers moved to London, and 18 moved to New York.
  • Net private practice losses were recorded.
• Among organisations with 50–100 lawyers:
  • Over 581 lawyers left, mostly within Australia.
  • They hired 800+, but just 44.71% went into private practice, signalling a shift toward in-house and government roles.

New Zealand Faces Similar Challenges

• 20 New Zealand organisations with 100+ lawyers hired 300+ lawyers, with 72.44% joining private practice.
  • Fewer than 20 hires came from offshore.
• However, these organisations lost 400+ lawyers, with 76.43% leaving private practice.
  • Approximately 70 moved offshore, with more than 30 moving to Australia.

Attract Top Legal Talent in 2026 – The takeaway:

Across both countries, private practice is losing more lawyers than it’s gaining. High mobility and global demand are pushing firms into more competitive—and therefore more expensive—talent markets.

What “Cost-Effective Hiring” Really Means for Law Firms

Cost-effective hiring is not about doing more with less. It’s about eliminating unnecessary spend and reducing process friction. This includes:

• Reducing time-to-hire
• Eliminating high-percentage recruiter commissions
• Improving engagement with the right candidates early
• Increasing retention by identifying stronger fits
• Making decisions based on real market data not assumptions

This shift isn’t about cutting corners—it’s about raising the standard of hiring while lowering cost.

How Law Firms Can Reduce Legal Hiring Costs and Attract Top Legal Talent in 2026

1. Use Data to Target the Right Candidates Faster

With thousands of lawyers moving between firms, practice areas, and countries each year, firms need real-time insights to stay competitive so they can understand the depth or lack of depth in the talent pools they are looking to hire from.

Insource Insights allows firms to:

• See candidate movement patterns
• Understand experience shifts and practice area demand
• Track competitor hiring activity
• Identify active and passive talent pools
• Predict when talent is likely to move

When firms know exactly where talent is coming from—and going to—they hire faster, avoid misalignment, and dramatically reduce wasted cost.

2. Reduce or Remove Traditional Recruiter Fee

Percentage-based fees remain one of the largest, yet most avoidable, hiring expenses.

Insight-led talent models help firms:

• Avoid 18–25% salary commissions per lawyer hired
• Make direct, data-driven decisions
• Build internal hiring capability
• Reduce long-term spend by 50–70%
• Increase retention

It’s a fundamentally more sustainable approach to recruitment. By targeting the right candidates faster, firms not only reduce wasted spend but also improve their ability to attract top legal talent before competitors engage them.

3. Streamline Your Hiring Process

Many firms lose great candidates because their processes are slow or unclear. Every delay increases cost.

Key improvements include:

• Clear role definitions aligned with market data
• Reduced interview stages
• Faster decision cycles
• A consistent and transparent evaluation framework
• Hire candidates you already know that are known to your firm or your firm’s talent

An efficient process saves time, saves money, and strengthens your employer brand.

4. Build and Maintain an Active Talent Pipeline

With private practice experiencing net losses, reactive hiring is increasingly impractical and costly.

A proactive pipeline helps firms:

• Forecast needs
• Engage the right candidates early
• Avoid last-minute recruitment premiums
• Reduce dependence on agencies

Insight tools make pipeline development predictable, scalable, and far more affordable than traditional methods.

5. Strengthen Your Employer Brand—Without Increasing Spend

In a market where movement is high, employer perception matters.

Lawyers in 2026 value:

• Career progression clarity
• Leadership accessibility
• Flexibility and balance
• Transparency in expectations and workload

These factors drive interest and retention—often more than salary.

6. Invest in Legal Hiring Technology

The legal sector now has modern recruitment tools designed specifically to reduce cost and improve hiring outcomes.

These platforms provide:

• AI-powered candidate identification so you can source talent directly faster
• Talent movement analytics
• Salary and competitor benchmarking
• Automated workflows
• Faster shortlisting

Technology enables smarter decision-making and reduces both direct and indirect hiring costs.

How to Attract Top Legal Talent Without Paying More

Attracting top legal talent without increasing spend requires clarity, consistency, and a strong value proposition — not inflated salaries.

What matters most:

• A compelling career path
• A supportive culture
• A streamlined hiring experience
• Flexible work options
• Strong leadership visibility

These are powerful differentiators and cost nothing to implement.

Traditional Recruitment vs Insight-Led Hiring: The Cost Difference

Traditional Recruitment	Insight-Led Hiring
High percentage-based fees	No commissions
Slow, reactive, inconsistent	Fast, proactive, structured
Limited transparency	Real-time market insights
Reliant on CVs	Based on skills, data, and fit
Higher risk of poor hires	Higher-quality, evidence-based hiring

Insight-led hiring is not simply more efficient—it is strategically necessary.

2026 Legal Hiring Checklist: Hire Better for Less

• Do we use real-time talent insights?
• Are we eliminating unnecessary recruiter fees?
• Are our briefs clear and market-aligned?
• Is our hiring process efficient?
• Do we have a proactive talent pipeline?
• Is our employer brand clearly articulated?

If the answer is “yes” to most of these, you’re already ahead.

Conclusion: To Attract Top Legal Talent, The Firms Who Act Early Will Win

The data is clear: Australia and New Zealand’s legal markets are experiencing significant movement, heavy competition, and net private practice losses. The firms that win in 2026 will be those who embrace insight-led hiring, reduce unnecessary spend, and leverage real-time data to attract better candidates faster.

Reducing hiring costs while improving hire quality is not only possible—it is now a competitive necessity.

Firms that act early will reduce hiring costs, improve hiring quality, and consistently attract top legal talent in a highly mobile market.