Aus Legal Careers Advance

If you are a law student who is wondering what the Australian commercial law landscape looks like, here is a non-exhaustive list of commercial law firms operating in Australia (in no particular order). Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash Bird's Eye View of Australian BigLaw BigLaw generally includes all top-tier and mid-tier commercial law firms and international law firms with Australian offices.   Many BigLaw firms are full-service  law firms. Many BigLaw firms are participating employers in clerkship and/or graduate program recruitment.  A majority of graduate positions at the BigLaw firms are filled by seasonal clerks.  However, some BigLaw firms will "go to market" for graduates from time to time and some BigLaw firms may only run graduate programs (i.e. no clerkship programs). In legal ranking publications such as Chambers and Partners, Legal 500 and Doyle's Guide, many of the ranked firms in each practice area are often BigLaw fi...

Dear [your name] Thank you for your application for the 2023/24 Seasonal Clerkship Program at [firm name].  Congratulations, we are delighted to invite you to a first round interview.  Photo by Sebastian Herrmann on Unsplash If you are one of the very few law students who have received or will receive an email to this effect, congratulations!  Given how competitive it is for clerkship applications (think 1000+ applications for perhaps 100-150 first round interviews and ultimately 30-50 clerkship positions at the larger firms in Sydney), you should be proud of getting at least a first round interview.  The firm has actually been "impressed" by your application (unlike those who were unfortunately rejected).     However, the clerkship process is not over yet and you may or may not end up with clerkship offer(s) at the end of the process.   Didn't receive any clerkship interviews (despite firms politely saying that they were "impressed" with yo...