ALPMA’s role benchmarks place a dedicated HR Manager in law firms with more than 40 staff. The average Australian law firm employs 40 people.
So across a large part of the profession, recruitment, retention, performance and compliance sit with someone whose job title says something else entirely.
We took the challenges firm leaders raised with us in Geelong last week and tested them against the 2026 research from ALPMA, LEAP and Lawyers Weekly. Five stood out.
1. Sold the platform, then left to self-serve
Firms invest in an HR system, go live, and find the support thins out shortly afterwards. Configuration sits half finished, policies never get loaded and managers are never trained — so the manual work carries on alongside the software meant to replace it. The frustration we heard wasn’t with the technology. It was with being left alone once the invoice was paid.
2. The Practice Manager role has no edges
In firms averaging around the 50 staff mark, one person covers finance, IT, marketing, facilities and people. Everything except people work carries a hard deadline, so the people work moves to next week. And the week after that.
3. Small teams have no slack, and cohesion goes first
One resignation or one extended absence, and the rest of a 12-person practice absorbs the load on top of their own matters. Thirty-three per cent of Australian firms have no documented process for what happens when someone leaves, so the knowledge and the relationships walk out the door with them. Turnover across the profession is holding at 23%.
4. Growth plans outpacing the hiring engine
59% of firms expected to grow in 2025 and 39% did — a gap ALPMA attributes to hiring difficulty and turnover. When a mid-tier firm wants to grow, it briefs its talent team. When a 20-person practice wants to grow, the principal writes the ad between client matters and hopes something decent arrives.
5. Your culture is fine, your retention isn’t
Twenty-one per cent of private practice lawyers intend to leave their firm within 12 months, and culture isn’t the reason. Satisfaction with wellbeing support and recognition is falling, and the highest flight risk sits in the 40–49 bracket — the same people supervising your juniors and holding your client relationships.
Where this leaves smaller firms
A firm of 25 doesn’t need an HR department to address any of this. It needs specialist support it can draw on when required — whether that’s getting an HR system working properly, or covering the gap when a key person leaves.
That’s what we built Prosperity People Solutions to do.
So the question we keep coming back to: who looks after the people in your firm at the moment?
Start with a conversation
If you’re weighing up a hire, a people problem or a plan for growth, a short conversation is usually the fastest way to work out what you actually need.
Book a 15-minute discovery call with Dominic Roberts, or email him directly.