Disputes and construction are topping the list of the most popular practice areas in the recent round of partner promotions, an ALB analysis has found.

The analysis was based on 64 new internal partner promotion announcements made over the months of June, July and August. The top five practice areas were disputes and construction (13 percent each) and property, corporate and workplace relations (about nine percent each).

But Burgess Paluch director Doron Paluch says that the real story behind these figures is the absence of any stand-out “boom” practice area. “We are not seeing a substantial trend anywhere in any particular area for partner promotions and these figures demonstrate that,” he said. “My reading of the figures would be that there’s no trend at all. If [one practice area] was at 30 percent, I’d say there’s something there, but those figures are telling us that some practice areas happen to be only slightly ahead of the others. Construction is a bit unusual at 13 percent but that’s well within the standard margin of error. It could simply be a matter of certain partners being in the right place at the right time.”

But Paluch was interested in the lower prevalence of banking & finance promotions, which accounted for six percent of promotions. “It appears that banking & finance has been left behind a little bit; traditionally it would be up there,” he said.

Paluch also noted that it was not entirely unusual to see partner promotions in areas that were not performing well. “Even when partner numbers are reduced, if you’re a  good lawyer and you have been on the cusp for a long time and you are still pulling your weight and the firm doesn’t want to lose you, they will still need to make you up,” he said. “That’s why you’re still seeing some movement even in areas that are not doing so well.”

He added that he was seeing more positive signs of activity in the hiring market. “The Australian national firms have been quiet for so long; they’re now showing signs of waking from slumber,” he said.  “Maybe it’s the lead up to the election or the new financial year;  we’re just  starting to see the first signs of awakening.”

PARTNER PROMOTIONS – TOP PRACTICE AREAS
Disputes – 13%
Construction/infrastructure – 13%
Property – 9%
Corporate – 9%
Workplace relations – 9%