Fox Tucker was the clear winner of RollOnFriday's Australian Firm of the Year 2011. The brand new firm scored highly across the board and received high praise for its decision to split away from this year's winner of the wooden spoon, DLA Phillips Fox.

As the legal world emerges from the GFC, it seems that the key issues are firms' openness with their business plans and their willingness to develop new talent. Fox Tucker wiped the board in these categories, scoring 90% and 95% respectively. The firm garnered much praise for partners who are "easy to talk to and spend lots of time teaching you". All of which was in stark contrast to bottom of the heap firm DLA Phillips Fox - which scored a miserable 25% for development and 43% for openness. Respondents complained that there was "no investment in staff" and "people are made redundant without an announcement."

In terms of pay, last year's Firm of the Year Gilbert + Tobin came first (92%). Although lawyers are "worked like slaves for it", which may explain the firm's relatively low score for work/life balance. Lawyers were most unhappy with their financial lot over at DLA Phillips Fox, which was at the arse end of the table again for pay (29%). Corrs Chambers Westgarth also came in for a bit of a kicking. Scoring just 42% it was criticised as a firm "run with a view to maximising partner profits at all costs" and where everything, including associates' pay, is "done on the cheap".

The firm which most improved its position on last year was Mills Oakley, which was placed tenth last year but this time managed to nab second place. The firm did consistently well across the board but won convincingly when it came to work/life balance - which may not be surprising for a firm where the "staff break out room is like some funky cafe" complete with a table tennis table. "Enforced karaoke" at the Christmas party - horrendous as it may sound - also proved an unlikely hit.

And down at the arse end of the table, DLA Phillips Fox came last in pretty much everything. It scored just 33% overall, and inspired bitter complaints about stealth lay-offs, "non-collaborative partners" and "weak leadership." Clayton Utz where there has been "a large turnover of staff" and "a massive leadership gap" wasn't far behind, scoring just 44% overall. Complaints ranged from "sociopaths abound" to the delightful "the toilets are designed specifically to show up skid marks".  But it's not all bad: the catering staff "leave the fridge door unlocked at night so you can sneak a few treats".

A full set of results is set out on Inside Info.

Winners
	Pay	Development	Work/Life	Openness	Biscuits	Toilets	Social
1	Gilbert + Tobin	Fox Tucker	Mills Oakley	Fox Tucker	Mallesons	Fox Tucker	Fox Tucker
2	Fox Tucker	Mills Oakley	Fox Tucker	Mills Oakley	Gilbert + Tobin	Mallesons	Mills Oakley
3	Mills Oakley	Gilbert + Tobin	Freehills	Gilbert + Tobin	Clayton Utz	Gilbert + Tobin	Allens Arthur Robinson
4	Freehills	Freehills	Gilbert + Tobin	Corrs Chambers Westgarth	Fox Tucker	Blake Dawson Waldron	Freehills
5	Minter Ellison	Malleson	Allens Arthur Robinson	Freehills	Freehills	Allens Arthur Robinson	Mallesons

Losers
	Pay	Development	Work/Life	Openness	Biscuits	Toilets	Social
7	Allens Arthur Robinson	Allens Arthur Robinson	DLA Phillips Fox	Blake Dawson Waldron	Blake Dawson Waldron	Clayton Utz	Minter Ellison
8	Blake Dawson Waldron	Corrs Chambers Westgarth	Blake Dawson Waldron	Mallesons	Mills Oakley	Freehills	Blake Dawson Wadron
9	Corrs Chambers Westgarth	Minter Ellison	Corrs Chambers Westgarth	DLA Phillips Fox	Minter Ellison	Corrs Chambers Westgarth	Clayton Utz
10	Mallesons	Clayton Utz	Minter Ellison	Minter Ellison	DLA Phillips Fox	Minter Ellison	Corrs Chambers Westgarth
11	DLA Phillips Fox	DLA Phillips Fox	Clayton Utz	Clayton Utz	Corrs Chambers Westgarth	DLA Phillips Fox	DLA Phillips Fox