Clayton Utz
Melbourne Seasonal Clerkship Program (Nov 2025)
Melbourne
Opportunity details
- Internship, Clerkship or Placement
- AUD 75,000 - 80,000 / Year
- 40-50 vacancies
- Apply by 12 Aug 2025
- Start date 17 Nov 2025 - 15 Jun 2026
Sometimes it's hard enough to know where you will be tomorrow, let alone in ten years. Who knows what the world will look like then.
But you know you want to be ready for it. You want to help create it. That means building up your legal skills, industry knowledge and networks. Doing work that stretches you and shapes society. Learning more about yourself and the world. Forging connections in Australia and overseas. Making friends. We get that. It's what we do every day. Let us help you do it too.
Our Clerkship Program is the step before our Graduate Program and gives you a feel for what it’s like to be a Graduate and why Clayton Utz is a great place to start your career.
As a law student in your penultimate year, you will be exposed to the fast pace of a full-service commercial law firm. See the law in action in a firm where individuality is embraced, and innovation actively encouraged.
In the Clerkship Program, you will...
- explore new areas of commercial law through 2 practice group rotations;
- work on challenging, complex and high-profile transactions and matters;
- be supported in each rotation by a Partner, Special Counsel / Senior Associate and Lawyer;
- expand your knowledge of commercial law and build practical skills through development sessions;
- give back through Pro bono work and our Community Connect program; and
- participate in social and sporting activities.
How do I apply?
Click on the ‘apply’ button and follow the steps outlined in the application form. You will need to upload your resume and academic transcript, no cover letter is required. Please ensure all questions are answered with the appropriate details for your application to be considered.
We want every candidate to have equal access and opportunities, so please contact us if you need any support or reasonable adjustments to complete your application.
Hiring criteria
- No experience required
- Australian Citizen +more
- Law, Legal Studies & Justice +more
- Bachelor or higher
Reviews
I have been working on some big matters and have generally been working on tasks for those matters. Additionally I have been picking up work around that and have gotten experience in making chronologies, summarising medical documents and drafting an advice or brief to counsel.
This is extremely team dependent. Personally I am tasked with the negotiation, drafting and project management of various 'deals' - i.e. the legal aspects of an acquisition or financing which requires contracts to be entered into. At the more junior level (i.e. when you just start) you are typically expected to do banal checks of documents until you prove you have the attention to detail required to: (i) learn what the documents do; and (ii) therefore apply the risk tolerance of your respective client to the words in those documents. This is like learning a new language.
As a graduate I am given the opportunity to get involved in lots of really interesting, high profile matters. I am treated like a lawyer in the team and I am given meaningful work like drafting key legal documents, attending team meetings to contribute to the strategy and conduct of matters, managing the preparation of briefs to counsel, reviewing documents and conducting legal research.
About the employer
Clayton Utz
3.8
1,000 - 50,000 employees
Law
Proudly Australian. Globally connected. As one of Australia's leading law firms, Clayton Utz gives confident, innovative and incisive legal advice.
Pros and cons of working at Clayton Utz
Pros
The best there is. You know where you stand with people here. If you come into the firm eager to learn and apply yourself to the work, everyone will invest in you.
As a graduate, I am given the opportunity to get involved in lots of really interesting, high-profile matters.
The partners really care about the people in their team and I have felt supported and accepted throughout my experience at the firm.
The support system at the firm helps with this quite a lot. People are able to maintain a great work-life balance as long as they communicate well.
Diversity is a strong factor at Clayton Utz. It is embraced throughout the firm, and everyone is welcoming of differing backgrounds and opinions.
Cons
The hours can be (very) long during busy periods and there can be limited flexibility during those times.
Remuneration could be better.
They could improve the office snacks.
The work demands.
They provide so much training, almost too much.