There’s absolutely no Ashurst “type”. We want to actively involve a broad range of minds with a broad range of backgrounds, all united by a common set of strengths:

• Excellent academic record and a passion to develop a career in an elite international law firm
• Outstanding communication skills
• Analytical ability, motivation, determination and drive
• Commercial awareness
• Teamwork and interpersonal skills

Graduate positions are offered to successful clerks and offer dates vary depending on the state you are applying to.
Our Early Careers team will work closely with you to plan your three rotations, and we’ll review this regularly over the 12 month programme.

Induction & Activate Programme

The Graduate programme kicks off with an induction and learning opportunities where you’ll meet your peers in one location. This gives you the chance to build your networks across the nation and learn the skills required to hit the ground running once you commence your first rotation.

Back in your home office, you’ll benefit from a local induction plus an in-house Practical Legal Training (PLT) course. It's tailored to our firm and so, as you might expect, some modules are chosen for you. We cover all course costs.

As part of your Graduate year, you will take part in the Activate Programme. The programme is specifically designed for graduates and incorporates technical legal and business skills training. It provides the platform for you to create the extraordinary and build capability across the key areas in which the firm practices, to ensure you have a holistic view of the legal markets in which we operate. Sessions are conducted by subject matter experts, including Partners.

Practice Team Training

Throughout your rotations you will undertake tailored sessions delivered by your practice groups. This includes graduate rotator inductions and Continuing Legal Education (CLE) programmes on legal topics relevant to each team's work, to ensure you stay ahead of the future of law.

Graduates will develop technical legal skills specific to each practice group during their rotations, which will build on the fundamental legal content delivered in the Activate Programme.

Embark

To support you in the next phase of your career after your graduate year, you will take part in one of our milestone career transition programmes, Embark. Embark is designed to provide capability development as you make the transition to a newly qualified lawyer, to allow you perform at your best and thrive in your career, together. This is one of many career transition programmes and other learning opportunities that you will experience over your career at Ashurst.

Please see below a high level overview of your learning journey during the graduate programme. 

Your Opportunity

We hold clerkships in each of our offices to give you an intensive experience of our culture and the kind of work we do. The role will give you great exposure to high quality commercial legal work and provide you the opportunity to apply and develop your skills across a broader range of practice areas, clients and industries. Our clerkship programme includes a range of activities and events designed for you to get to know us as a firm and find out if a career at Ashurst is what you are looking for. It includes a comprehensive induction programme, events to understand each practice area and activities to ensure you build connections and relationships within the clerkship cohort and across the firm.

Your Impact & Contribution

You will rotate through one (Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth offices) or two (Sydney and Canberra offices) teams during your clerkship at Ashurst. Depending on the team you are rotating in, you can expect to be involved in a wide variety of work and activities:

• Drafting documents, court documents and advices
• Research for client advice and contracts
• Preparing briefs to counsel
• Attending and taking notes at client meetings and meetings with counsel
• Preparing file notes and case summaries
• Reviewing contracts
• Assisting with pro-bono matters and research projects;

About You

There’s absolutely no Ashurst "type". We want to actively involve and include a broad range of minds with a diverse range of backgrounds, all united by a common set of strengths or competencies.

All successful clerks will demonstrate characteristics of: analytical ability, flexibility, motivation, determination and drive. They will have outstanding communication and interpersonal skills, commercial awareness, attention to detail and work well in a team.

Applicants for our clerkship programmes must be in their penultimate or final year of study.

For Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, applicants will need Australian citizenship or be a permanent resident at the time of application. For the Canberra office, applicants will need Australian Citizenship at the time of application.

Your Development

Apart from the legal and commercial skills you will develop in your day to day work with our practice groups and clients, you will also be provided with ongoing support, training and mentorship from our senior legal practitioners and access to the firm’s award winning Learning & Development programmes.

Our clerks and graduates take part in a combination of legal expertise, industry and business skills sessions which lay the foundations for continuous learning at Ashurst. In addition, our graduates complete our in-house fully funded PLT course delivered by the College of Law.

You can access one or all of our open access virtual internships which focus on the legal work we do as well as delivering programmes that focus on your employability skills. Our hub also has a number of resources which will give you further information on the work we do as well as our people and culture.

The legal modules include Intellectual Property Risks, Attending a Client Meeting, Commercial Negotiation and Shadowing an ACCC Investigation.

In addition to the legal modules we have created a resource hub to build your skills. These modules include Building your Personal Brand, Managing Self Doubt and Imposter Syndrome, Commercial Awareness and Resilience and Wellbeing  

We offer pre-penultimate programs to students in all five offices.

This program is an opportunity for pre-penultimate students to gain an understanding of what life is like as a commercial lawyer. It will provide you with the chance to network with graduates and lawyers from the firm. We also aim to provide you with advice and tips on what experiences you should seek out in the following years if you want to apply for clerkships.

"First Nations voices need to be in rooms where decisions are made – our voices deserve to be platformed and prioritised"

Trent Wallace, First Nations Lead.  Trent is a Wongaibon person who was raised on Darkinjung country and now resides in Meanjin (Brisbane).

During your Internship you may:

• work on cases and transactions
• attend court
• join client meetings
• sit in on client calls
• work with pro bono matters
• attend CLE sessions 
• complete research

We want you to get a realistic understanding of what it's like to be an Ashurst lawyer. 

We invest in our people.  As an Ashurst First Nations Legal Intern you'll have a dedicated partner mentor, supervising lawyer, buddy and support from the Early Careers Team. 

Your internship will include many chances for professional (and personal!) development.  There are formal training courses, informal 'on the job' learning, networking opportunities and exposure to pro bono and social impact work.

As an Ashurst IT Intern you'll join a team aligned to your interest and expertise.  You'll

• have a dedicated Manager mentor
• develop your IT and business skills
• get insight into working within a technology team at a global law firm.

During your internship you'll be given real work in areas like:

• Cybersecurity
• Data
• Business analysis
• Development
• IT engineering

We want you to get a realistic understanding of what it's like to be a technologist at Ashurst.

Your internship will include many chances for professional (and personal!) development.  There are formal training courses, practice insight sessions, informal 'on the job' learning, networking opportunities, sporting events and exposure to pro bono and social impact work.  There are plenty of social activities too!

Your IT internship leads places! Most of our graduate roles are offered to people who have completed an internship with us.

Ashurst provides these benefits at their discretion and they are subject to change, addition or removal. Additionally not all of these benefits will apply to all employee types. 

	Career Advancement Secondment Opportunities (with clients and pro-bono providers nationally) Global Opportunities (secondments and short/long term relocation to one of our 32 offices) Learning & Development (award winning program that assists in developing your technical and soft skills) Study support (including financial assistance and paid study leave of post-graduated qualifications) Pro bono (assisting marginalised and disadvantaged people and communities)
	Health & Wellbeing EAP (confidential, fully subsidised professional counselling service available to you and your immediate family) Healthcare (discounted corporate Health Plans and free vaccinations) Gym membership (fully subsidised corporate memberships) Headspace (free access to the Headspace App for mindful mental health support) Social Activities (a range of social and corporate sports teams and events)
	Flexible Working Hybrid working (including ergonomic support to work from home) Flexible working (including job-share, part-time, sabbaticals, varied hours and working from home) Additional leave (purchase up to an extra 3 weeks of leave per year)
	Family & Caring 26 weeks parental leave (irrespective of gender identity and caring role) Family support (paid leave and support for those experiencing pregnancy loss or accessing fertility treatments) Circle In (end-to-end program that supports and educates employees throughout their parental leave journey and beyond Domestic violence support (10 additional days of paid leave)
	Financial Benefits Competitive salaries (with salary packaging options, and performance incentives offered for many roles) Personal insurance (including salary continuance and life & total permanent disablement insurance) Referral bonuses (up to $10,000 depending on the role) Corporate and financial discounts (with a range of banking and retail partnerships)

As an Ashurst IT Grad, your 12 month programme includes:

• Real work, aligned to your skills and expertise
• 3 team rotations
• Ashurst Activate
• Settlement into a team! 

During your Grad year you'll have the chance to work in areas aligned to your skills and expertise.  Teams you may rotate through include:

• Cyber security
• Data
• Business analysis
• Development
• IT Engineering
• and more! 

You'll to get a realistic understanding of what it's like to be an Ashurst technologist in each Team you join. 

At Ashurst, we know each graduate's journey is unique to them.  Senior management and the Early Careers Team work with you to identify the best fit between Grads and Teams.  At the end of the programme, you'll find a place to start your career as an Ashurst technologist! 

Most of our graduate roles are offered to people who have interned with us.  We do occasionally recruit outside of internship programmes. These ad hoc opportunities will be advertised on the careers website.

Inclusion, Diversity & Belonging

Fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone feels a sense of belonging is key to Ashurst’s vision of being the most progressive global law firm. It allows us to offer exceptional service to our clients and create an extraordinary place for our people to work.

Inclusion, Diversity & Belonging are an integral part of who we are as a firm and why our culture is unique. By valuing differences and creating a safe space for colleagues to be themselves and thrive in their careers, we ensure our people experience a sense of belonging.

Accessibility

We are committed to making all stages of our recruitment process accessible to candidates with disabilities or long-term health conditions. If you consider yourself to have a disability or a long-term health condition, please feel able to be open about this at any point during the recruitment process. If you are not sure what adjustments you require, we will work with you to establish the most suitable adjustments at each stage of the recruitment process. Please note that our online application form includes a section which allows you to advise us of any extenuating circumstances that are relevant for us to consider when reviewing your application form.

If you would like to talk to a member of the team in relation to any queries you may have on your disability or long-term health condition and the recruitment process, please get in touch( [email protected]). Any information disclosed on your disability will remain strictly confidential.

Disability & Wellbeing

It is critical that we ensure that our premises and work environment are inclusive and accessible to all our people. We know that not all disabilities are visible, as a firm we continue to raise awareness to promote a culture that is supportive with regards to both physical and mental health. We have a number of initiatives that support the delivery of this approach through the following:

• A global network of Wellbeing Allies that have been trained in mental health first aid to support colleagues who may be struggling. 
• Workplace Adjustments Passports available to anyone at the firm who may require adjustments to ensure they are supported to be at their best.
• We offer all of our people globally with an ongoing corporate subscription to Headspace, mindfulness and wellbeing experts.
• Various learning opportunities through the disABILITY network for allies to learn how they can support colleagues living with a disability. 
• We are founding signatories to the Mindful Business Charter and The Valuable 500.
• We are proud members of the Australian Network on Disability and the UK Business Disability Forum.

Creating a workplace that is committed to improving gender equality and balance within the firm is important to us. Women make up over half of our business and it is critical we retain and nurture this talent by providing opportunities to develop and thrive. Our Women's Networks organise a range of events and discussions related to gender equality issues, and provide mentoring and sponsorship opportunities. Our Global Chief Executive Officer, Paul Jenkins is personally committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture and is a member of the Champions of Change Coalition.

Ashurst have set new gender targets, which were determined by the Board in consultation with the Executive Team and the Committed to Change Advisory Group. The following targets are to be achieved by 2026:

• 40% women, 40% men and 20% flexible (women, men or non-binary persons) representation at partnership and senior leader level.
• These targets will help continue to drive change within the firm and marks our clear commitment to inclusion, diversity and belonging and improving gender equality.

Caring Responsibilities

We know that our partners and employees can be their best when they are supported both professionally and personally, we are focused on empowering our people to find the flexibility they need to accommodate their varied responsibilities. Many people assume multiple caring responsibilities over the course of a lifetime and these responsibilities may vary as personal circumstances change.

Parental Leave, Pregnancy Loss & Fertility

We have established a Global Parental Leave Policy that applies consistent entitlements to all of our people across all offices which include:

• 26 weeks fully paid leave – available to any eligible staff member irrespective of gender identity;
• No distinction between primary/secondary and maternity/paternity - no gendered language with a strong focus on gender equality;
• Enhanced leave options including more flexibility within the first two years after the child's birth/adoption, where leave can be taken in one consecutive block, two blocks or may incorporate a fixed term part time arrangement;
• Inclusion of surrogacy, foster and kinship care;
• Pregnancy Loss Provisions which includes two weeks paid leave plus an additional five days for related appointments;
• Inclusion of five days paid leave per year for anyone needing to access fertility treatments; and
• Legal staff to have a three-month reduction in chargeable hours targets when they return from extended parental leave to support their transition back to work.

We also offer all staff the opportunity to participate in 1:1 parental leave coaching.

We are proud employers of LGBTI+ staff and aim to foster a supportive and inclusive culture where our people can bring their whole self to work, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Our LGBTI+ network "Spectrum" supports the firm's LGBTI+ population and works to raise awareness of issues relevant to and affecting the wider LGBTI+ community. The network actively welcome LGBTI+ members and allies from across the firm.

We celebrate LGBTI+ days of significance such as Wear It Purple Day, Pride Month and IDAHOBIT, adopted a Gender Affirmation policy, have launched a LGBTI+ Inclusive Language Glossary, participate in annual benchmarking through Australian Workplace Equality Index and deliver regular LGBTI+ Workplace Awareness and Ally training.

As a firm, we have worked with First Nations Peoples since the 1970's, having assisted with the establishment of the Aboriginal Legal Service, in collaboration with community advocates in Redfern and other key figures. 

Our Global Pro Bono and Social Impact Partner, Sarah Morton-Ramwell, currently sits on the Business Council of Australia (BCA)'s Indigenous Engagement Task Force, and we also sit on the BCA's Business Indigenous Network. Trent Wallace is the First Nations Lead, Pro Bono and Social Impact, based in our Brisbane Offices. Joining the firm in 2020 in Sydney, Trent is the first Aboriginal lawyer to sit in such a role within a global law firm. As an Aboriginal person, he brings lived experience to his role and provides a strong First Nations voice to the work. Trent is also Co-Chair of the Legal Profession Reconciliation Network and regularly advocates for First Nations law students and First Nations Peoples in the legal profession. 

We launched our first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in 2014 and this sets out our four key objectives in the areas of capacity building, legal assistance, employment, and cultural recognition and awareness. 

Our commitment to working to achieve reconciliation has been set out in our first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), which was launched in 2014. Our stated goals published in our first RAP are to:

• work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations using our skills and resources (legal and non-legal) to help build capacity within these communities and organisations;
• provide legal assistance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and organisations and contribute to the development of the law to reduce disadvantage for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
• increase employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, particularly in the law; and
• increase the awareness and recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, achievements and challenges among partners and staff.

In 2018 we  launched our second Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) at Stretch level. This document is our public statement of our commitment to support reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous Australians, and it sets out the actions we will take over the next two years to drive reconciliation in Australia. As a firm, we have been deeply committed to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through the provision of pro bono legal assistance since the early 1970s. Our vision for reconciliation is that, through listening to each other and working together, we will all create a more united and equitable Australia, with respectful relationships at the centre of the way we all interact and work with one another.

We have been offering a First Nations paid internship in Brisbane since 2016. In 2020, Sarah Morton-Ramwell developed a Pro Bono and Social Impact Cadetship to shadow Trent's role. We have also launched a First Nations clerkship in Perth in 2021. In addition to this, we are currently working with CareerTrackers in Brisbane and Sydney, alongside developing a relationship with Yalari. 

In 2022, we  launched our third RAP that reaffirms our commitment to First Nations Peoples and organisations.