A good part of the blame, he suggests, lies with the trickle-down effect of "unrealistic" deadlines imposed by the commission. This was a common criticism by royal commission law firms, but it remained unspoken for fear of incurring Commissioner Kenneth Hayne's wrath.

Billings data 'meaningless'

"There is an interesting challenge for the profession at large," Mr MacLaren said.

"It's not necessarily the clients that are driving this, but the senior members of the profession putting deadlines and conditions around the delivery or information which finds its final home with junior lawyers sitting in firms having to deliver against time frames that are unrealistic."

He is not fan of "presenteeism" and says it is much less of an issues in other markets – like London. "There are very high expectations of performance and delivery there, but presenteeism is not part of the equation."

Mr MacLaren is seven months into his tenure as Corrs' CEO. The former Allens and Freshfields partner says he "came on board with a desire to change the firm and that's what is happening".

One of his first moves was to drop daily billable hour targets, a change that attracted a good deal of cynicism because annual targets remained in place.

He also granted all staff an extra week's leave – there has been a 74 per cent take-up for 2018-19 – and the firm agreed to make superannuation contributions during paid and unpaid parental leave.


"My focus isn't on the cynicism its on the reaction of our people and those who want to join us – and it's been very positive."

He has now removed the access of partners to daily billing information, saying it was "meaningless".

Paid scholarships for offshore study

"Legal work doesn't come in daily chunks, it comes in waves. You have to be able to ride those waves, which also means being able to fit it in with the rest of your life."

Corrs is now introducing what Mr MacLaren believes is an an industry first – paid scholarships for offshore masters programs.

"If you can get into a BCL at Oxford or a masters at Cambridge we will fund that.

"The management consulting firms in Australia have done this for a number of years but the law firms haven't."

He cites recent articles in The Australian Financial Review on graduate discontent as he makes the case for change.


"They [young lawyers] want access to partner time, time that helps them develop their skills and gives them access to interesting work. They also don't want to be doing it in a sweatshop environment.

Human rights

The firm has hired two people Mr MacLaren knew from Allens – litigators Craig Phillips and Abbey Gill – plus Phoebe Wynn-Pope as head of business and human rights.

Dr Wynn-Pope, who is the daughter of former prime minister Malcolm Fraser, spent most of her early working life in war zones such as Bosnia, Iraq and Iran before gaining a PHD in international law and taking on senior roles with organisations such as the Red Cross.

She cited modern slavery provisions as just one example of "why corporates need to do human rights due diligence".

Mr MacLaren has the comfort of knowing he's making the changes in a thriving market for legal services.

"Like most law firms in the Australian market we are set for a record year. We should be at least 20 per cent better than our previous best."