The expectation of an average 9am to 6pm workday has the potential to radically upturn a profession where young graduates are known to work some 60 to 80 hours a week. There have been safety investigations of Gilbert + Tobin and King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) in the past year and the Law Council has been under pressure to address the issue.

Mr Spurio said the firm had "always recognised that making the move from full-time study to work is a big transition, especially as graduates continue to balance study commitments alongside career prior to admission".

Corrs' Mr MacLaren said the firm would be conducting a monthly review of hours worked.

Danny Gilbert's graduate staff will use an online calculator to ensure they are not underpaid. Jessica Hromas.

“We do not encourage or expect that on a regular basis our pre-admission graduates will work outside the hours specified in the award," he said. "To the extent that they do so, they will be paid in accordance with the award on a monthly basis."

Gilbert + Tobin managing partner Danny Gilbert said graduates would be submitting their start time, end time, breaks and leave.

"This will be used to calculate their award entitlement as against their annual salary,'' said Mr Gilbert.

"We will be reconciling these amounts each month and making additional payments where necessary. They [graduates] will be provided with an online calculator to compare their annual salary against their Award entitlements. "


Mr Gilbert has attracted criticism for saying hard work and long hours are part of being a lawyer, but said graduates were "not expected to work at elevated levels for extended periods of time".

"We do not think hard rules for hours work for our graduates," he said. "We pay at a rate that gives the flexibility to cover for occasional bursts of high activity on interesting work that our graduates tell us they want to be involved in."

Some firms made it clear they would follow legal advice that they can still comply with the award if they use "offset" clauses in common law contracts.

Berkeley Cox says KWM will rely on common law offset clauses in its grad contracts. Janie Barrett

The offset clauses mean firms escape some of the more prescriptive award requirements, such as specifying maximum hours, but they must still not underpay staff and are required to keep timesheets when overtime or penalty rate hours are involved. This would only apply to graduate lawyers who have not been admitted to practice, with firms still having to comply with the reporting for all non-lawyers, such as paralegals and administrative staff.

KWM managing partner Berkeley Cox said the firm had decided to go down the common law route.

"We have spent a considerable amount of time working through how we will comply with the changes to the award.

"This approach will give our people autonomy while still giving us visibility of their hours so we can monitor and manage workloads appropriately."


Clayton Utz managing partner Rob Cutler said the firm was "viewing it as a dynamic rather than fixed process".

"As a starting point, we'll be asking grads to provide details of their start, finish and break times when they record their time." Mr Cutler said. "We'll get a report every fortnight that we'll review to identify any trend in hours worked.

"That may then lead to a conversation about workload or top-up pay depending on the situation."

Annette Kimmitt hopes staff training will help her firm meet its employment law obligations.

Ashurst's head of human relations, Richard Knox, said the firm had reconfigured its systems and "updated" its employment contracts. It would compensate staff who worked extra hours with time off in lieu or overtime payments.

"We are not intending to cap hours for our award-eligible staff,'' he said.

MinterEllison said employees covered by the award would be recording their start and finishing times and unpaid break times.

"We have also undertaken extensive awareness training and briefings for all our staff so that they understand and can operate consistently with the award requirements," said chief executive Annette Kimmitt.

Mid-tier firm Mills Oakley said the award "merely formalises what we already do".

Managing Partner John Nerurker said the requirement to record hours would mean "a slight behavioural shift for some staff such as legal assistants, IT and HR professionals".

"This may require ongoing education and encouragement,'' Mr Nerurker said.