Managing partner Paul Jenkins said the request "only applies to teams or individuals who may not be as busy as normal" or those who had family responsibilities.

"This is all we are implementing at this point in time."

Top-tier commercial firm Gilbert + Tobin told staff that "all of us will have to share the burden".

In a video message sent on Monday, managing partner Danny Gilbert said: "We need to remind ourselves that no matter how difficult things are here for us, it’s nothing like what millions of people in other parts of the world are suffering with."

Gilbert + Tobin's Danny Gilbert ... "we all have to share th burden". Peter Braig

"I am pleased to be able to say that our business is holding up so far.

"However, there are worrying signs. Many of our clients have substantially reduced the commercial activities that require the types of services we provide to them every day."

Mr Gilbert said that "in the coming weeks, perhaps even earlier, we may be coming to you to ask for your co-operation in some changes to your conditions of work".


"I can’t be any more specific about it at the moment because I just don’t know what the future holds."

The Law Institute of Victoria wrote to state Attorney-General Jill Hennessy saying it had "already received reports of redundancies among the profession" and that it had been "inundated with concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on their clients and their own livelihood".

Mr Harvey said a special meeting of the the council of the NSW Law Society on Monday had looked at the varying impacts on the profession.

"It is very apparent that there has been an immediate reduction in court and transactional work,'' Mr Harvey said. "This is hitting small legal practices very hard.

“Further, those working in large law firms have indicated that the pipeline of advisory work is starting to thin and this is a very real concern".

He said the society was "working on developing an appropriate response to support the profession during these challenging and unprecedented times”.