I N S U R A N C E

What makes Clyde & Co different?

As a sector-focused global law firm, Clyde & Co houses unparalleled expertise across the insurance, transport, energy, infrastructure and trade & commodities industries Founded in 1933 and having opened our Melbourne office in 2013, you can expect to find a tight-knit and collaborative team with the world-class resources available to lawyers at a large global law firm. Our Australian offices take great pride in our challenger brand that has nurtured a culture of inclusion, innovation, high performance and joy

What kind of work do we do?

Our Melbourne office often deals with some of the most complex insurance law matters in the country On the contentious side, you’ll gain exposure to a wide spectrum of disputes including highprofile commercial litigation, class actions, regulatory investigations, and financial lines and large casualty disputes. On the non-contentious side, our Melbourne Insurance team deals with matters such as coverage advice, corporate transactions including acquisitions and divestments of insurance businesses and related assets, as well as advising both local and foreign underwriters on the risks in M&A transactions and coverage under warranty and indemnity insurance

Our client list includes some of the largest Australian insurers, London market underwriters and reinsurers, government departments and agencies and third party claims administrators. Owing to the nature of the insurance and reinsurance industry, our Clyde & Co lawyers in Melbourne also regularly represent insureds including building and construction professionals, lawyers, financial planners, accountants, recruitment agencies, owner corporation managers, health practitioners, travel agents, directors and officers, healthcare professionals, real estate agents, and IT professionals.

Graduate insights

As a graduate, you’ll be assigned a buddy who’ll be at your side and ready to guide you through your career at Clyde & Co. You’ll also be surrounded by some of the sharpest minds in the sector and led by Partners who are consistently recognised by their peers as market leaders. As one of the most diverse areas of the law, you’ll be exposed to matters run across almost every court and tribunal in the country. Depending on your interests you can be involved in cases concerning directors’ and officers’ (D&O) liability, professional indemnity, personal insurance or workers’ compensation.

You’ll consistently be kept engaged with work such as preparing for a court case, observing in court, discussing high-level strategy with senior lawyers, reviewing evidence or even drafting advices to clients on the prospects of a case. You can also expect to sit in on meetings and conferences, conduct legal research and prepare memorandums, and correspond and prepare briefs to counsel and experts. If this excites you, then Clyde & Co may be the place for you!

Law students are often drawn in by the glamour of legal dramas in film and TV shows or the excitement of mooting competitions. Life as a banking and finance lawyer doesn’t always come to mind! However, in my opinion, banking and finance is a great space to build a career in law.

The reason is simple: the amount of client engagement and matter autonomy for a junior lawyer is arguably greater in banking and finance than in any other practice group

Banking and finance is a bit like one of those hidden laneway bars: very few know of its existence, yet you’ll have the time of your life once you’re there. Allow me to flick on the neon light and beckon you all in no commerce degree required!

What does banking and finance involve?

The practice involves assisting financial institutions or their clients with the legal aspects of their financial transaction It encompasses a range of sub-practice areas, including: acquisition and leveraged finance asset and structured finance corporate finance project finance real estate and development finance debt capital, securitisation and derivatives increasingly, social and green finance

I predominantly work in the project, property and development finance space at Corrs, generally for lender clients As such, I’ve worked on deals for the purchase and development of city skyscrapers, suburban residential estates, shopping centres and petrol station networks There’s something very tangible about the work when you can look outside of your office window and see the projects you’ve helped to fund.

What do banking and finance lawyers do?

Broadly, the work of a junior banking and finance lawyer can be summarised in three key tasks: drafting the necessary legal documentation for the deal, negotiating the legal elements of the deal, and deal management

Drafting

Generally, most of the commercial elements of the deal will be negotiated between the transacting parties. It is a banking and finance lawyer’s job to distil this information into a set of legal documents.

There’s more to this than just pulling out a precedent: the drafts must take into account the deal structure and your client’s position in it, any client policy positions, current market practice and, of course, client instructions, as well as cross references between the documents.

Clients often also instruct the banking and finance team to complete due diligence to uncover legal and commercial risks of the deal. This will inform both how to structure the deal to minimise the commercial risk and how to draft the document suite to mitigate the legal risks.

As a junior lawyer at Corrs, I’ll often draft a first cut of the document suite and make subsequent amendments. As such, I am in constant contact with all transacting parties and have been since I began in the practice!

Negotiating and advising

Outside of pure drafting, a client will also need a banking and finance lawyer to negotiate the legal elements of the deal This is a much more collaborative task than it first seems – while you are there to advance your client’s interests and instructions, all parties are generally willing to work together to find an agreeable middle ground.

This process is multi-faceted, involving regular communication with your client, your team, and other lawyers to determine positions and reflect them in updated document drafts You’ll be expected to assess the risks and rewards of various positions available to your client or put forward by the other parties as well as advising your team and the client on the best options.

Within my team at Corrs, I regularly make an initial assessment of the options available or the issues with the other party’s position and present them to the client It is really interesting to have the opportunity to think strategically from both a commercial and legal sense!

Deal management

The hallmark of a great banking and finance lawyer is their skill in client and deal management. If the negotiated set of documents is the product, then deal management is the customer service. Our goal is to make the transaction as smooth as butter for the client.

Ultimately, this is a matter of good time management and anticipating the next steps Keeping the client and the other side informed of the matter status, answering any client questions and proactively seeking the necessary information and documentation from all parties and agencies is a big part of the job, even as a junior lawyer.

One of the exciting things about the practice, at least at Corrs, is the speed and number of deals you’ll work on. A deal can wrap up within weeks and you’ll often be across several deals at any one time.

Why specialise in banking and finance?

If you’re looking for a fast-paced environment, a good yarn with clients, the opportunity to work on commercial and legal aspects, and to have some carriage over your own matters, you’d be hard pressed to find a better practice than banking and finance!

DLA Piper’s Litigation and Regulatory practice group is a varied and dynamic litigation practice at the core of DLA Piper’s business, being the largest practice group in the Melbourne office

The group consists of several distinct teams with practices spanning international arbitration, insurance litigation, financial services litigation, class actions, investigations (both private and regulatory) and competition regulation. A number of DLA Piper’s Partners and lawyers are recognised in Chambers and The Legal 500 for their skill and expertise. Notably, DLA Piper’s Australian arbitration practice is recognised as a tier one practice by The Legal 500

DLA Piper consistently wins high value (often in the billions of dollars) and consequential mandates that shape the commercial and regulatory landscape of Australia. We are frequently able to leverage the global nature of DLA Piper when taking on large and complex matters For example, a DLA Piper team consisting of lawyers in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore and London (among other places) acted in multiple parallel arbitrations stemming from Australia’s largest LNG dispute with several billion dollars in contention.

We are also often instructed in high profile regulatory and competition related matters, including the recent data breaches that have affected a number of Australian companies Recently, our Melbournebased competition team acted for Perth Airport in its successful claim against Qantas regarding the fees paid by Qantas for its use of aeronautical services at Perth Airport. The decision handed down by Justice Le Miere last year has affected the entire airport sector in Australia and the airlines it services. The DLA Piper competition team continues to be instructed in matters flowing on from this decision

As a young lawyer, graduate or clerk in the DLA Piper Melbourne Litigation and Regulatory Group you will have access to industry leading lawyers and be given genuine ownership of your work. As a group, we are committed to producing work of the highest quality and every Partner and lawyer contributes to a culture of mentorship and constant learning You may be given complete responsibility over smaller disputes with the capacity to make strategic decisions with the support of a Partner or senior lawyer. Or you may be part of a larger team working together on complex litigation where your responsibilities will range from legal research to assisting with discovery or the preparation of submissions and evidence

Although each team focusses on varying subject matter, you will build a fundamental set of skills common to every litigator. You will be become an expert in the procedures that govern dispute resolution, whether a matter is heard by a tribunal, court or regulator.

You will be given the chance to develop your understanding of the preparation of evidence and production of documents. And you will become a sophisticated advocate able to approach any dispute or regulatory matter with confidence. DLA Piper prides itself on having litigation and regulatory lawyers who are experts not only in the law but also in the sectors that our clients operate in So, you will have the chance to join sectors within the firm (e g tech, energy, construction) and build your personal brand as an expert in industries that are relevant to modern economies and that genuinely excite you.

We are also proud of DLA Piper’s global pro bono practice, one of the largest in the world with over 200,000 hours of global pro bono work The Litigation and Regulatory Group is a key component of this practice. As a junior, you might take the lead on small pro bono matters referred to us through our relationships with community legal centres and Refugee Legal. Litigation lawyers have recently assisted female judges fleeing Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover. You may also be involved in larger pro bono matters DLA Piper has a longstanding relationship with the government of Timor Leste which has been nurtured through our pro bono practice and resulted in larger litigation mandates.

As we have noted, DLA Piper is committed to nurturing a culture of mentorship and excellence. To that end, we have recently been joined by the Honourable John Middleton AO KC, former Justice of the Federal Court and now Special Advisor at DLA Piper. Lawyers in the Litigation and Regulatory Group have access to Mr Middleton’s wealth of knowledge and experience when seeking his views on legal issues, key matters and from a mentoring perspective. This informal access is open to all lawyers, regardless of seniority, and reflects DLA Piper’s depth of resources and opportunities for professional improvement growth within the global firm

The Gadens Construction team is well known for our expertise in major urban and retail developments, remediation, and defect disputes We have extensive experience across all aspects of construction and are well equipped to manage both front-end (transactional) and back-end (litigious) construction matters.

Key clients

Some of our key clients include Cbus Property, PDG Corporation, Gibb Group, Monash University, South East Water, the GPT Group, Greystar, and more.

Graduate experience

As a Graduate in the Construction team, you will have exposure to a wide variety of both front-end and back-end work including: preparing pre-contract advice on issues such as project delivery methods, project finance, and procurement preparing standard and bespoke construction contracts assisting in the negotiation of construction contracts preparing advice on issues such as contract administration and interpretation reviewing contracts for institutional lenders such as ANZ and Westpac drafting construction tripartite deeds for lender client assisting with adjudication applications including drafting submissions and statutory declarations shadowing client meetings, mediations, and court hearings

In this team, you will have the opportunity to work directly with Partners and other team members across all levels of seniority and - we have a strong culture of mentorship at Gadens. All members of the Gadens team will provide support throughout your career. We pride ourselves on our balance of work, including direct client contact, which happens from very early on in your journey.

Planning and Environment

Planning and Environment at Gadens is a broad practice within the broader Real Estate and Construction group, that typically involves advising and representing clients in relation to their projects and commercial transactions

We act for a range of clients, including developers, schools, hospitals and pro bono referrals.

We act across every stage of a development project, including initial advice about the viability of the project, preparing the necessary applications, working with a team of broader experts and representing clients across the relevant courts, tribunals and panels. In addition to development projects, we also act for clients in compulsory acquisition matters, contaminated land issues, and policy changes.

In this team, you can expect to be involved in lots of research, drafting advice, preparing briefs to counsel and coordinating expert evidence. You can expect a lot of variety in your day-to-day tasks. The team is relatively small, meaning you get to work closely with everyone and directly with the Partner, have direct client contact, and also have carriage of some matters. On some complex matters, you can also expect to work collaboratively with other teams within the Real Estate and Construction team, such as including development and construction. As a whole, the Real Estate and Construction team is very welcoming. There is great mentorship, and you will have the opportunity to put your hand up for different types of matters that pique your interest.

After working at Gadens for a number of years as a Legal Assistant, I commenced the Graduate Program in March 2017. During my year on the program, I rotated through the Intellectual Property and Technology team, as well as Real Estate and Construction.

I undertook various matters that saw me gain a broad range of experience in intellectual property, technology, retail leasing, commercial leasing, and planning and environment matters At the end of my Graduate year, I settled in the Intellectual Property and Technology team.

As part of the program, I undertook a variety of Pro Bono legal tasks, including research projects and volunteering at a public housing tenancy clinic that Gadens staffed in partnership with Moonee Valley Legal Service As I had a keen interest in social justice and pro bono work, I was given the opportunity by the firm to dedicate a lot of my time to this type of work. At the end of that year, I was managing the operation of the public housing tenancy clinic at Moonee Valley Legal Service.

As I progressed my legal career, my involvement with Pro Bono legal work also increased This gave me exposure to colleagues in different practice groups on these matters, as well as being responsible for managing projects and files whilst I was still a junior lawyer, gaining valuable hands-on experience. Whilst in the Intellectual Property and Technology team, I was both a Lawyer, then later an Associate, and also our Pro Bono Coordinator.

In April 2020, I moved from the Intellectual Property and Technology Team into our Brand, Clients and Markets team as a Business Development and Pro Bono Coordinator. This gave me invaluable experience in working with all of the firm's practice groups, as well as a number of clients – I could see how the firm was marketing itself, maintaining key relationships and securing work from new clients

In March 2021, there was an opportunity for me to work full-time within our Pro Bono practice (now Sustainability and Social Impact). Having taken this opportunity, I am now a Senior Advisor in the Sustainability and Social Impact group and have a range of responsibilities, including managing pro bono partnerships, working on pro bono legal files, being actively involved in our reconciliation and sustainability initiative and leading our corporate volunteering program. I work alongside our Partner and Head of Sustainability and Social Impact, Sophie McNamara, and Shabnum Cassim, Senior Associate.

One of the great parts of working within the Sustainability and Social Impact team is that we work very closely with our Graduates and junior lawyers on a range of pro bono projects, from legal clinics to research projects, and individual pro bono matters that are referred to us from our pro bono Partners at various community legal centres and other organisations

Our people are given autonomy and carriage of these matters, deal directly with clients and play a vital role in the continued growth and development of our Pro Bono Program.

Gadens is supportive of its people and their career ambitions – I was supported in making the changes that felt right for me in my legal career, which has led me to a role that I am incredibly passionate about and love working in. I was also supported in my parenthood journey and took a year of parental leave when I had my daughter in September 2021.

I would strongly recommend Gadens for Clerkship and Graduate roles We are incredibly focused on mentoring and developing our junior lawyers to encourage people to follow their passions and interests. We know that one size does not fit all and we take pride in working with our lawyers to help find the legal career that best suits them.

The clerkship application process can be an absolute whirlwind. The flurry of events, drafting applications and firm research can leave you feeling like you’re drowning in information. When it comes to understanding the different workstreams in a commercial law firm, it is even more challenging, especially if you’ve never set foot in one before.

When I was applying for clerkships, I remember finding it difficult to articulate my interest in an area without having any firsthand experience in it

This article will give you an insight into the type of work we do in the Corporate Advisory team at Gilbert + Tobin (otherwise known as G+T). Hopefully by the end, you will have a better understanding of the reality of corporate work, and who knows, it might ignite a passion for you to clerk in this area!

The work we do in Corporate Advisory

G+T has one Corporate Advisory team which deals with a large variety of work. The work falls into three key categories: Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Equity Capital Markets (ECM) and Corporate Governance

M&A is at the core of our practice. We assist clients with the buying and selling of companies. Our team has extensive experience in both public and private M&A transactions, and is frequently involved in the most significant commercial transactions. Private M&A relates to the buying and selling of businesses through private contracts and public M&A relates to transactions that are governed by the Corporations Act, including takeovers and schemes of arrangement This area also involves helping clients to navigate the regulatory requirements of the ASX, ASIC and FIRB.

ECM work is all about helping companies to raise capital, for example by issuing shares. We advise companies on becoming publicly listed through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) as well as launching share purchase plans and stock placements

Corporate Governance work involves providing guidance to companies and their directors on ensuring compliance with the Corporations Act. This includes advising on issues like director's duties, continuous disclosure, payment of dividends and shareholder communication

What is it like working as a grad in G+T’s Corporate Advisory team?

Working in G+T’s Corporate Advisory team is a unique experience. There is always an immense variety of challenging and stimulating work on offer Our clients comprise a diverse mix of private companies, ASX listed companies and private equity investors

The benefit of the Corporate Advisory practice group at G+T is that, as a graduate, you can work across all areas of corporate work and for a variety of Partners. This approach is quite unique as some other firms choose to split that work into specialised teams As a result, I’ve found that you can expect to gain a breadth of corporate experience in the team at G+T

A few of the tasks you will get involved in as a graduate include assisting with due diligence for M&A transactions (which usually involves reviewing lots of contracts), conducting research, lodging documents with ASIC and ASX, drafting advice on governance matters, and liaising with specialist teams

I have been given lots of responsibility and ownership over tasks. Despite my limited experience in corporate law, the Partners and lawyers involve me on complex matters and encourage me to take an active role in the team I have attended client meetings, been given real work, and am encouraged to form and share my opinion on the tasks I am doing

The Partners and lawyers in the team are highly regarded in the field and working directly with and learning from them is an invaluable opportunity for a graduate. The team places a large emphasis on mentoring, with more-experienced lawyers taking the time to regularly check in with juniors and provide guidance We also have fortnightly team meetings where lawyers share knowledge about transactions they’ve recently worked on, discuss issues in the market and share practice tips.

Aside from the work, we also have a lot of fun. G+T organises fantastic social events and we have a very connected graduate group Most days, you can find us gathered in the kitchen for lunch chatting with colleagues from other teams and enjoying the views over Melbourne Within the Corporate Advisory team, coffee catchups with colleagues are also a common occurrence.

Takeaways

I hope this overview has provided you with a better idea of what it’s like to work in a corporate team. If any part of it caught your attention, I strongly encourage you to give a corporate rotation a try in a clerkship! Before my clerkship at G+T, I was initially sceptical of whether I would enjoy corporate work but am very glad that I made the decision to give it a go.

I also want to clear up any misconceptions that a commerce degree is a pre-requisite to work in this field. It is absolutely not. I completed a double degree in Law and Criminology at Deakin and many people in the G+T team have diverse academic backgrounds. If you are an arts student, don’t hesitate to explore a clerkship in a corporate team You will never know what practice area you might like until you try it yourself