Clayton Utz
Brisbane Seasonal Clerkship Program (Nov 2025)
Brisbane
Opportunity details
- Internship, Clerkship or Placement
- AUD 75,000 - 80,000 / Year
- 30-35 vacancies
- Apply by 9 Aug 2025
- Start date 18 Nov 2025 - 16 Jun 2026
No matter how good your law degree, there's always a gap between theory and practice, and finishing university can be daunting. How do you make the jump to working in a commercial law firm?
That's where we come in.
If you're a law student in your penultimate year, our Clerkship Program will expose you to the fast pace of a full-service commercial law firm and show you the law in action. You'll be working under the guidance of some of the sharpest legal minds in Australia, on challenging, complex and high-profile transactions and matters. You'll be mentored by partners and lawyers who are leaders in their fields, in a firm where individuality is embraced and innovation actively encouraged.
With our programs you'll get…
- a support structure consisting of a Supervising Partner, Coach and Buddy who will give you the inside information and meaningful performance feedback so you know you're on the right track.
- continuing legal education programs and professional development support so you can become the lawyer you want to be.
- the chance to participate in our Community Connect and Pro Bono programs and really give back.
- social and sporting activities, because we know it's not all work and no play.
Accessibility and Inclusion
We are committed to making reasonable adjustments to provide a positive, barrier-free recruitment process. Do you require any support or reasonable adjustments to complete your application? If so, please contact the recruiter via email to careers@claytonutz.com.
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.