Stop poaching mid-level lawyers: AI founder says firms are paying more to stand still
Quillio
Key Facts:Quillio clients report growing 30 to 40 per cent in a year without adding headcount.
ALPMA figures show demand is strongest for lawyers with three to eight years' experience, with legal salaries rising 4.0 per cent in 2025 against 3.4 per cent nationally.
The Fair Work Commission reports its workload grew by more than 70 per cent in three years, principally attributed to growing AI use by potential litigants.
SYDNEY, 30 September 2026. Australian law firms are spending more to poach mid-level lawyers from each other and ending up no better off, according to Quillio founder Samuel Junghenn, whose clients report growing 30 to 40 per cent in a year without adding headcount.
"Firms are pinching a mid-level lawyer from the firm down the road, then losing one of their own to someone else," said Mr Junghenn, founder and CEO of Australian legal AI company Quillio. "Net net, nobody ends up better off. Everyone is fighting over the same people, and the pool isn't getting any bigger."
Figures published by ALPMA show demand is strongest for lawyers with three to eight years' experience, with legal salaries rising 4.0 per cent in 2025 against 3.4 per cent nationally.
"When everyone else zigs, you need to zag," Mr Junghenn said. "Implementing AI properly costs a fraction of hiring a mid-level lawyer, and the firms doing it are taking on more work with the team they already have."
"The biggest shift our clients keep telling us about is in their juniors," Mr Junghenn said. "Partners are telling us their lawyers are producing work at the quality of someone four years their senior. A first-year is turning in work they'd expect from a fifth-year, and a fifth-year is working at a ninth-year standard. That's because they've got high-quality, legal-specific AI sitting alongside them. It isn't replacing their judgement. It's helping them get the work done."
"Partners also tell us they're doing less review work, because what lands on their desk is better. This isn't about replacing juniors. It's about making them far more valuable, far earlier."
"Partners tell us a graduate with the right AI sitting alongside them is the best-value hire in the building," he said. "Firms cutting graduate intakes because of AI have it backwards."
Roberto Clemente, managing partner of Adelaide plaintiff personal injury firm C&F, said AI now handles much of the work that once went to mid-level lawyers.
"Preparing a formulated claim, with a chronology of the client's background, their injuries and their treatment, is one of many tasks a mid-level lawyer would do. Much of that can now be done by the platform very quickly," Mr Clemente said. "We've come off one of our most successful financial years, if not our most successful, and I attribute a significant portion of that to the speed at which we're now able to do the work."
"You can't train a nine-year lawyer in a year," Mr Junghenn said. "But you can give a five-year lawyer the tools to work like one."
He said the pressure would only grow. "AI has made it easier for people to start a legal matter, so demand is rising while the supply of experienced lawyers isn't," he said. "The firms that win the next five years won't be the ones that outbid everyone for talent. They'll be the ones that get more out of the people they already have."
ENDS
Notes to editors
Salary and demand figures are from the Australasian Legal Practice Management Association (ALPMA). The Fair Work Commission has reported its workload grew by more than 70 per cent in three years, which its President attributes principally to growing AI use by potential litigants. Video interviews with Quillio client firms describing their growth are available on request. Roberto Clemente is a Quillio client and holds a SAFE note in Quillio. Samuel Junghenn and Roberto Clemente are available for interview.
About us:
Quillio is an Australian-owned legal AI platform built by lawyers and used by more than 230 law firms across Australia and New Zealand. It is the official AI training partner of the ACT Bar Association and holds ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certification. quillio.au
Contact details:
Samuel Junghenn, Founder and CEO, Quillio
[email protected] | 0402 680 779