Jones Day’s presence in Australia has grown significantly. The Firm has added new offices in Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane over the last six years in addition to our office in Sydney, reflecting our commitment to expanding our service to the Australian market.
Jones Day’s Australian offices, an integral part of the worldwide Firm, are seeking highly skilled clerks, graduates and lawyers who are interested in working as part of an integrated team of lawyers on a truly global scale. Joining Jones Day means starting your career in a dynamic global law firm, in which you will find ample opportunity to acquire the full array of skills and experience necessary to meet the legal-services needs of sophisticated clients on a worldwide basis.
Summer Clerks spend eight weeks between November – February (with two weeks off over Christmas) gaining exposure to the day to day life of a Lawyer at Jones Day and developing their legal and commercial skills. Summer Clerks enjoy the benefits of our non-rotational training program, which allows individuals to work with any practice at any time and tailor their experience with the office and work across their areas of interest. We rotate the seating locations of our Summer Clerks to ensure that they gain broad exposure and develop relationships across the office, however, this does not prevent the Summer Clerks from working with various practice groups regardless of their location.
Summer Clerks work closely with Associates and Partners, engaging in a wide variety of tasks including drafting transactional and dispute related documents, conducting research, attending court hearings and client meetings, writing opinions and research memos, gaining insight into business development and building client relationships, and learning about the mechanics of closing a deal and the key steps and processes involved in a major dispute. We work with industry-leading local and international clients and our Summer Clerks gain first hand exposure to the high-calibre nature of the work that we undertake.
It is our aim that all Summer Clerks will become future Graduates of the Firm. The Summer Clerk program allows both the candidate and Jones Day to use the experience to assess suitability. Summer Clerks who go on to join the Graduate program will attend our global New Lawyers Academy held in the Washington DC office, spending a week meeting their global graduate cohort, hearing from the Managing Partner and senior Partners from across the Firm’s international offices, and better understanding the Firm’s operations on a global scale. Understanding the values and culture of Jones Day is an important element of the program.
A thorough induction program is conducted across the first week to assist Summer Clerks in attaining important information and developing skills that will support their time in the Sydney office. We do not expect our Summer Clerks to have any prior legal experience, all required training will be provided in the induction and on the job. Each Summer Clerk is assigned a buddy to support their learning, assist with questions and help with introductions to other team members. We run various lunches, dinners and social activities to assist with relationship building amongst the Summer Clerk cohort and across the office. As a highly collaborative and team-orientated Firm, it’s important that our Summer Clerks feel supported, encouraged and included across the office. Summer Clerks will be invited to attend various training sessions held as part of our annual L&D programs including the New Lawyers Group Development Program and the National CPD Program.
We are seeking candidates who have a strong desire to forge a successful career in commercial law. We don’t expect candidates to have any prior experience or to know what area of practice they would like to work in. We will provide the training and guidance, in return, we are seeking individuals who are smart, hardworking, reliable, agile, driven and committed. We want to meet candidates that have the enthusiasm to learn and take on new opportunities. Our lawyers are not held back by title or years of experience, those that show the capability are provided with the opportunity. This approach supports our lawyers in developing their learning and exposure at an accelerated rate. We seek candidates who will be great colleagues to our high performing and collegiate team. We are committed to a culture of teamwork, collaboration and respect and our internal practices ensure that this is driven at all levels of the Firm.
As a Summer Clerk, Paralegal and Graduate at Jones Day, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a huge range of exciting matters with a number of different people. In the Global Disputes practice, I have prepared briefs and chronologies, written memos and advice, attended court for a week-long hearing, and conducted discovery. I also had the opportunity to have a case note I co-wrote with a senior lawyer published in a law journal.
In the Private Equity practise group, I was lucky enough to be involved in the full lifecycle of a transaction, which included conducting due diligence, drafting transaction documents, and preparing for the completion of a $340 million deal. Last year I attended the NLG Academy in Washington DC. It was
a great chance to meet colleagues at my level from around the world.
Since Summer Clerks and Graduates are not in fixed teams or rotations, we are able to seek out matters that spark our interest. I quickly discovered my own work style, and continue to work with the Partners and Associates whose style suits mine best. My working relationships have been strengthened through social sport, shared lunches and Friday drinks.
The Sydney office is small enough that all the faces are familiar but big enough to get involved in internationally significant work. Jones Day has a small firm feel with big firm opportunity.
Applications must be made online. Please visit us at www.jonesdaycareers.com/australia and follow the link to the relevant page.