Melbourne Vacation Clerkship Program (Nov 2024)

The opportunity:

Finding the right fit for you is key to deciding where to start your legal career. Since working together is a good way to get to know each other, we offer a range of clerkships in each of our Australian offices. We encourage students to participate in our vacation clerkship program and we fill the majority of our graduate positions through this program.
Spend part of your summer with us and you’ll get a great understanding of how we go about meeting the needs of our clients. The program includes a detailed introduction to the firm and to each practice group, as well as the opportunity to work with our legal Practice Groups, Digital Law, Legal Operations and Pro Bono & Citizenship teams on real matters.

Skills, experience and qualifications:

We recruit people with the desire and ability to be exceptional, commercial lawyers. This means that we look for more than just a great academic record and strong technical aptitude. We seek people who are curious, empathetic and understand the importance of building relationships with clients and colleagues. We also look for an international mindset and a desire to work within our global network, not just in one office.

Diversity & Inclusion:

We aim to have a diverse, innovative culture where high performance, client focus and highly engaged people are our differentiators and where we celebrate the uniqueness of our people. Our firm is made up of people with a range of experience and backgrounds. We strive to ensure that our inclusive environment means our people feel valued and able to perform at their best by being their authentic selves at work. We know that our future success not only depends on being innovative and progressive in the changing legal market but, most importantly, on our people feeling engaged.

We understand that our people have commitments and personal interests outside of work and we strive to create an agile working environment based on mutual trust and respect, in which people can perform at their best whilst maintaining sustainable balance across their work and non-work lives.

Herbert Smith Freehills is committed to the inclusion of all individuals participating in the application and interview process, and while performing job functions. This includes providing reasonable accommodations to those who require them. Please note that you will have the opportunity to request accommodations at each stage of the assessment process. To request accommodations before scheduling an interview, please reach out to the Graduate Recruiter for this office and we will follow up shortly. 

Please note:

Applications are open to students who are in their penultimate and final year of their law degrees.

We accept applications from international students in their penultimate or final year of their Australian or New Zealand law degree, provided that you have unrestricted legal rights to work in Australia when you commence your clerkship.