The Federal Government has announced its hotly awaited Commonwealth legal services multi-use list (LSMUL) with a total of 68 Australian firms, from small to large, making the cut. This represents a dramatic reduction on the 152 legal services providers used by the Commonwealth last year.
The Government has introduced the list as a way of enhancing the management and delivery of legal services across the Commonwealth. Government agencies without existing arrangements for ongoing legal services will be required to use the LSMUL from today (1 June 2012). Transitional arrangements will allow agencies with existing panel arrangements to continue to use those arrangements, or the LSMUL, until 1 June 2013. Agencies wishing to use an existing panel arrangement beyond the transitional period must contact the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner for approval.
Within the overall LSMUL there are four lists of legal providers: Corporate and commercial law, dispute resolution and litigation, government and administrative law and all other legal services. Dispute resolution and litigation has the highest number of firms for government departments to choose from, with 60 firms in total. Eight firms were chosen for each of the four lists, including the Australian Government Solicitor, Ashurst, Clayton Utz, DLA Piper, Hunt & Hunt, HWL Ebsworth Lawyers, Minter Ellison Lawyers and Sparke Helmore.
Last year Clayton Utz secured the highest amount of government legal spend amongst the private practice firms with A$36.6 million (13 percent) of the $281.6 million paid to external legal services providers, according to the Commonwealth Legal Services Expenditure Report 2010-11. Next in line was Blake Dawson (now Ashurst), which secured A$25.3 million (nine percent), followed by DLA Phillips Fox (now DLA Piper) with A$19.7 million (seven per cent) and Corrs Chambers Westgarth with $16.9 million (six percent). The government-owned Australian Government Solicitor claimed the majority of the spending, with 41 per cent of external expenditure.
The full Commonwealth legal services multi-use list (LSMUL)
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Corporate and commercial law 1. Aitken Partners 2. Allen & Overy 3. Allens Arthur Robinson 4. Australian Government Solicitor 5. Baker & McKenzie 6. Banki Haddock Fiora 7. Bartier Perry 8. Bennet & Philp Lawyers 9. Ashurst 10. Brown Wright Stein Lawyers 11. Corrs Chambers Westgarth 12. Clayton Utz 13. Craddock Murray Neumann 14. Cridlands MB 15. Curwoods Lawyers 16. Dibbs Barker 17. Dibbs Barker Canberra 18. DLA Piper 19. Doyles Construction Lawyers 20. Eakin McCaffery Cox 21. Hunt & Hunt 22. Fox Tucker Lawyers 23. Francis Abourizk Lightowlers 24. Freehills 25. Gadens Lawyers Brisbane 26. Gadens Lawyers Melbourne 27. Gilbert & Tobin 28. Griffith Hack 29. Henry Davis York 30. Hicksons 31. Holding Redlich 32. Hunt & Hunt 33. HWL Ebsworth 34. Hynes Lawyers 35. Jackson McDonald 36. Johnson Winter & Slattery 37. Kennedys 38. Lander & Rogers 39. LLSJ Pty Ltd t/as Lawson Smith 40. Maddocks 41. King & Wood Mallesons 42. McInnes Wilson Lawyers 43. Middletons 44. Minter Ellison Lawyers 45. Moray & Agnew 46. MSP Legal 47. Norton Rose Australia 48. O’Loughlins Lawyers 49. Proximity Legal 50. Russell Kennedy Pty Ltd 51. Sage Legal Services 52. Simpsons Solicitors Pty Ltd 53. Sparke Helmore 54. SRB Legal 55. TressCox Lawyers 56. Williams Love & Nicol Lawyers |
Government and administrative law 1. Allens Arthur Robinson 2. Australian Government Solicitor 3. Baker & McKenzie 4. Bartier Perry 5. Ashurst 6. Clayton Utz 7. Corrs Chambers Westgarth 8. Curwoods Lawyers 9. DibbsBarker 10. DibbsBarker Canberra 11. DLA Piper 12. Eakin McCaffery Cox 13. Freehills 14.Gadens Lawyers Melbourne 15.Gilbert + Tobin 16. Harmers Workplace Laywers 17. Henry Davis York 18. Hicksons 19. Holding Redlich 20. Hunt & Hunt 21. HWL Ebsworth 22. Jackson McDonald 23. Johnson Winter & Slattery 24. Lander & Rogers 25.Maddocks 26. King & Wood Mallesons 27.McInnes Wilson Lawyers 28.Meridian Lawyers 29.Middletons 30.Minter Ellison Lawyers 31.Moray & Agnew Lawyers 32.Norton Rose Australia 33. Proximity Legal 34. Russel Kennedy 35. Sparke Helmore 36. Thomsons Lawyers 37. TressCox Lawyers 38.Williams Love & Nicol Lawyers |
Dispute resolution and litigation 1. Aitken Partners Pty Ltd 2. Allens Arthur Robinson 3. Allygroup 4. Australian Government Solicitor 5. Baker & McKenzie 6. Banki Haddock Fiora 7. Bartier Perry 8. Bennett & Philp Lawyers 9. Ashurst 10. Clayton Utz 11. Corrs Chambers Westgarth 12. Craddock Murray Neumann 13. Curwoods Lawyers 14. DibbsBarker 15. DibbsBarker Canberra 16. DLA Piper 17. DLAW Pty Ltd as Trustee for the DL Trust t/as Doyles Construction Lawyers 18. Eakin McCaffery Cox 19. Hunt & Hunt 20. Fox Tucker Lawyers 21. Freehills 22. Gadens Laywers Brisbane 23. Gadens Lawyers Melbourne 24. Gilbert + Tobin 25. Griffith Hack 26. Harmers Workplace Lawyers 27. Henry Davis York 28. Herbert Geer 29. Hicksons 30. Holding Redlich 31. Hunt & Hunt 32. HWL Ebsworth 33. Hynes Lawyers 34. Jackson McDonald 35. Johnson Winter & Slattery 36. Kelly Hazell Quill Lawyers 37. Kennedys 38. Lander & Rogers 39. Littles Lawyers 40. Lawson Smith 41. Lobban McNally Lawyers 42. Maddocks 43. King & Wood Mallesons 44. Maurice Blackburn 45. McInnes Wilson Lawyers 46. Meridian Lawyers Limited 47. Meyer Vandenberg Lawyers 48. Middletons 49. Minter Ellison Lawyers 50. Moray & Agnew Lawyers 51. MSP Legal 52. Norton Rose Australia 53. O’Loughlins Lawyers 54. Proximity Legal 55. Russel Kennedy 56. Sparke Helmore 57. SRB Legal 58. Thomsons Lawyers 59. TressCox Lawyers 60. Williams Love & Nicol |
All other legal services 1. Australian Government Solicitor 2. Ashurst 3. Clayton Utz 4. DLA Piper 5. Hunt & Hunt 6. HWL Ebsworth Lawyers 7. Kennedys 8. Lander & Rogers 9. Minter Ellison Lawyers 10. Sparke Helmore |