MinterEllison
Largest Australian law firm by headcount, full-service legal and advisory practice.
On the record
Checkpoint: FY26 annual report showing whether profit-per-partner absorbs AI margin gains or clients claw efficiency back via lower bills
The call
MinterEllison's revenue and regulatory position look solid while AI hollows out the junior pipeline that used to feed its partnership.
MinterEllison is a big law firm in Australia that helps companies and people with legal problems. It has grown its total money from about A$627 million to A$862 million over six years, and it is using AI tools to do work faster instead of fighting against them like some firms do. The hard part is that AI is now doing the work that junior lawyers used to do, so the firm is hiring fewer new lawyers, even though the firm itself is still growing. Other big Australian law firms like Ashurst and Clayton Utz compete with them, and new AI-only legal services like Harvey might eventually steal some of the regular work. The key question is whether the senior partners at the top are keeping the extra money that AI saves, or whether customers are forcing them to charge less for the same work, which would show if the firm's old advantage of being trusted and having relationships is starting to weaken.
Why
01
AI pressure: Harvey, Legora and similar AI-native legal drafting tools. Could eventually take mid-market drafting and review work; for now the firm is using AI internally to cut its own junior headcount first. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: Ashurst. Ashurst is publicly campaigning to overtake Big Six rivals on ESG, cyber and M&A work. Could a giant copy it? Probably.
03
What protects it. Only licensed practitioners can give admissible legal advice, and client relationships plus private case data keep matters sticky.
What would change this call
MinterEllison's FY26 annual report shows profit-per-partner and revenue-per-lawyer trends. Reveals whether AI margin gains accrue to the firm's top or get passed back to clients as lower bills.
Other Big Six firms (Ashurst, Allens, Clayton Utz, HSF Kramer, KWM) announce graduate intake cuts citing AI in FY26-27. Shows whether junior pipeline contraction is sector-wide, not specific to MinterEllison.
Harvey, Legora or similar AI-native tools publicly reported winning mid-market legal matters from Big Six firms. Would show AI-native challengers displacing incumbent firms directly, not just automating internal work.
Other Big Six firms (Ashurst, Allens, Clayton Utz, HSF Kramer, KWM) announce graduate intake cuts citing AI in FY26-27. Shows whether junior pipeline contraction is sector-wide, not specific to MinterEllison.
Harvey, Legora or similar AI-native tools publicly reported winning mid-market legal matters from Big Six firms. Would show AI-native challengers displacing incumbent firms directly, not just automating internal work.
Key numbers
- Revenue grew A$627m to A$824.5m, FY19 to FY24
- Graduate intake cut nearly a third, to 72 spots
- Chief AI Officer appointed to lead firmwide AI strategy
Named risks
- AI-driven contraction of graduate and associate pipeline undermining future partner pool.
- Ashurst and other Big Six peers actively contesting MinterEllison's top-tier position.
- AI-native challengers like Harvey and Legora could win mid-market matters directly.
- Australia's automated-decision-making privacy reforms take effect December 2026, adding compliance burden.
- Sector-wide AI-driven billable-hour compression could pressure traditional fee revenue model.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Ashurst | gaining on | Explicitly targeting Big Six top spot via ESG, cyber, M&A focus as of 2026-01-28 |
| King & Wood Mallesons | contesting | Sino-Australian partnership ends 2026-03-31, reshaping Big Six competitive dynamics |
| Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer | contesting | Also cut graduate cohorts by 2026-06-11 but without public AI attribution, unlike MinterEllison |
| Harvey and Legora (AI-native legal tech) | contesting | AI-native tools active in legal market as of 2026-07-26, threatening mid-market work |
| Clayton Utz | contesting | Reported FY2024 revenue A$594m, smaller scale than MinterEllison's FY2024 figures |
Questions people ask
- Is MinterEllison profitable in 2026?
- MinterEllison does not publish net profit, but revenue grew from A$627m in FY2019 to A$824.5m in FY2024 according to Wikipedia, and the firm added 12 new partners and 161 senior promotions in June 2025, suggesting continued financial health.
- Is AI replacing jobs at MinterEllison?
- Yes for junior roles. MinterEllison cut its 2025-26 graduate intake by nearly a third, from over 100 to 72 positions, and became the first major Australian Big Six firm to publicly blame AI for absorbing routine junior-lawyer work, per AFR reporting dated 2026-05-10.
- Who owns MinterEllison?
- MinterEllison is a private partnership, not publicly traded, owned and governed by its equity partners under ABN 91 556 716 819. Virginia Briggs has been CEO/Managing Partner since July 2021, and Katrina Groshinski is Chair, per IBISWorld's company profile.
- Who is MinterEllison's biggest competitor?
- Ashurst is explicitly positioning to overtake MinterEllison and other Australian 'Big Six' firms via ESG, cybersecurity, energy transition and M&A focus, according to Capital Brief reporting dated 2026-01-28. Other Big Six peers include Allens, Clayton Utz, HSF Kramer and Mallesons.
- Could AI replace MinterEllison as a law firm?
- Unlikely to replace the whole firm since only licensed practitioners can give admissible legal advice or appear in court, but AI has already displaced junior document review and drafting work, evidenced by MinterEllison's one-third graduate-intake cut announced 2026-05-10.
- Has MinterEllison had layoffs or headcount cuts?
- Global headcount declined 7.3% from 2,527 in 2023 to 2,343 in Q4 2025, including a 3.0% year-over-year drop in 2025, per Revelio Labs data dated 2026-06-29, alongside a nearly one-third cut to graduate hiring for 2025-26.
Timeline
- 2026-06-17MinterEllison appoints its first Chief AI Officer to lead firmwide AI strategy
- 2026-06-11Reports note other Big Six firms cut graduate cohorts without publicly blaming AI
- 2026-05-10MinterEllison cuts 2025-26 graduate intake from 100+ to 72, citing AI
- 2025-11-02Microsoft case study features MinterEllison early-career lawyers using Copilot
- 2025-09-18CEO Virginia Briggs reports using Microsoft 365 Copilot daily for every task
- 2025-06-23MinterEllison announces 161 senior promotions and 12 new partners
- 2024-05-23MinterEllison Consulting expands via 2023 acquisition of Wells Advisory
- 2021-07Virginia Briggs becomes CEO/Managing Partner of MinterEllison
- 2021-03-11CEO Annette Kimmitt ousted after internal email controversy over Christian Porter representation
Revision history
26 July 2026
First assessed. Protection under test. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Minter Ellison Number of Employees 2026 (2026-06-29)
- MinterEllison
- MinterEllison - Company Profile Report
- Graduate hires at MinterEllison... fall as law firms embrace AI (2026-05-10)
- MinterEllison cuts graduate intake by a third and blames AI (2026-05-11)
- MinterEllison appoints Chief AI Officer (2026-06-17)
- MinterEllison's AI Leap: Copilot in Daily Law Firm Work (2025-09-18)
- Discovery and Data Intelligence
- AI Advisory: walk your AI pathway with confidence
- Ashurst eyes top spot among Australia's 'Big Six' elite law firms (2026-01-28)
- wikipedia.org (2026-07-25)
- MinterEllison CEO Annette Kimmitt leaves after sending email criticising firm (2021-03-11)