Mr Gilbert acknowledged in an email sent to all staff and seen by The Financial Review that "many of you have very demanding workloads and that this has been the case for some time".

"The DNA of our firm is about looking after the best interests of our clients and we operate in a very demanding environment," he said.

"Often that means our people work long hours solving complex problems under considerable time constraints. While this is a reality of life across the top end of the legal profession and elsewhere, we must look after our people."

The managing partner said that providing better hours was not simple, however, and the firm may never manage to effectively balance its staff workloads and client and court demands.

"This is hard to do and we may never get it completely right, but we will try. It is an ongoing process of continuous improvement," the email said.

"While it seems simple that long work hours are to be avoided, our consultations with a medical expert have helped us to understand that it is difficult to set hard, one-size-fits-all guidelines for when workloads are too much.

"The amount of rest and sleep required and desired depends on the individual. People may require more or less, depending on their own physiological make-up."

He said steps taken by the firm to improve hours included taking on more staff – it has hired 44 lawyers this year – and expanding its offshore capacity for document review.


Mr Gilbert said the firm also "will be taking several additional actions ... that will strengthen our already strong and open culture".

These included implementing a system that automatically alerted partners and human resources of high workloads, more training for partners and lawyers on workload and fatigue management, and a strong focus on partner performance around team management.

It also committed to sharing its approach to excessive workloads with major clients through panel review meetings and in new panel tenders.

"Someone will die"

The first SafeWork complaint filed against Gilbert + Tobin alleged some lawyers slep in their offices "60-80 nights per year" and "abuse[d] supplements and drugs in the banking and corporate team" to "keep up with demands".

The solicitor told SafeWork in November last year that they feared "extreme" working conditions had reached a "point someone will die or have some other physical or mental health episode".

The firm found in its own investigation that these supplements were Oxyshred, a legal caffeinated pre-workout supplement. An internal search of all staff emails showed no evidence of illegal drug use in the office.

Working past midnight, weekends and sometimes 13-14 hour days is common for junior lawyers, according to an anonymous survey by The Australian Financial Review of young lawyers at corporate firms, including Gilbert + Tobin, earlier this year.

Mr Gilbert told staff the firm was fully co-operating with SafeWork ahead of Monday's inspection and noted the regulator had closed its investigation into the first complaint without taking further action.