2027 Best Lawyers® in Australia spotlights best and brightest legal talent

AUGUSTA, Ga. (April 16, 2026) – Best Lawyers® releases the 2027 editions of rankings The Best Lawyers in Australia™ and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Australia™, highlighting Australia’s emerging and established legal talent.

This year’s Best Lawyers rankings, which provide a benchmark for professional excellence through a rigorous peer reviewed process, honor more than 4,600 lawyers for their professional excellence – the top 4.8 percent of practicing lawyers.

The 19th edition of The Best Lawyers in Australia™ sees 326 honorees awarded the highly prestigious title of Lawyer of the Year, having received the highest overall peer feedback for their practice area and geographic region.

While The Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch™ has pointed towards an expanding talent pool among early career professionals with a record 1,001 emerging lawyers recognized this year.

Best Lawyers CEO Phillip Greer said the rankings highlighted new and established talent in the Australian legal market.

“With a record 3.5 million evaluations made as part of our rigorous peer-review process, these rankings not only highlight the depth and caliber of Australian legal talent but provide a third-party validation of expertise and talent for lawyers, firms and clients in a highly competitive industry,” Greer said.

“The rapidly evolving risk and economic landscape continues to drive change in Australia’s legal market. From an increased focus on litigation, succession planning, and charities law among other practices areas, to the growing presence of legal talent outside of Australia’s traditional major legal hubs, this year’s rankings provide a true pulse read of Australia’s legal market and the talent shaping it,” he added.

Evolving risk and regulation environment driving growth among litigators

Litigation remains the most recognized practice area once again in 2027 with nearly twice as many litigation practitioners listed compared to the next closest practice area, Insurance Law.

Best Lawyers Senior Vice President of Research and Product Strategy Elizabeth Petit said that while litigation has always performed well in The Best Lawyers in Australia, the evolving economic landscape and wide-reaching regulatory and legislation changes have driven growth in the specialty.

“Litigation is on the rise across Australia as the Federal Government introduces new regulation across everything from competition to corporations law,” Petit said. “We’ve seen new regulations set out by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to enforce new rules concerning the pricing of essential services and greenwashing concerns, as well as the introduction of new merger controls."

“Challenging economic conditions are also causing a spike in business distress and increased insolvency litigation as a result," she added. “These factors are all contributing to growth in the specialty and we are seeing this reflected in our results with year-on-year increases in the number of litigators recognized.”

Further insights on the strength and state of Australia’s legal market will be released in coming months with Best Lawyers to announce the 2027 Best Law Firms™ - Australia on May 28, 2026, and the Australian Legal Market Report on June 2, 2026.

Search The Best Lawyers in Australia™ and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Australia™ results by lawyer name, firm, region and/or practice area by visiting www.bestlawyers.com.