Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Senior

LAW

The central service supplied by a law firm is to advise clients, corporations or individuals, about their legal rights and liabilities. Law firms represent clients in a broad range of areas including civil or criminal cases, business transactions, taxation, intellectual properties and other matters in which legal advice and assistance are sought. Law firms are generally structured around a partnership between lawyers wherein partners share the firm’s profits as well as liabilities, and employ other lawyers to work with them as associates.

Corrs Chambers Westgarth is Australia’s leading independent law firm. We’re known for delivering legal excellence, exceptional client service and outstanding results.

Our significant work

We let our work speak for itself, and are proud to work with some of the biggest organisations in the world on their most important matters. Our clients include more than half of the top fifty ASX‑listed companies, some of the largest privately owned companies in Australia and a number of global Fortune five hundred companies. We work with well‑known organisations like AGL, Amazon, BP, Blackstone, CBA, Coles, eBay, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Medibank, NAB, PayPal, TPG Telecom, Wesfarmers and Westpac. We also work with governments, Federal and State, as well as on major transactions that make the news.

Corrs’ Lawyer Development Program

The Lawyer Development Program is designed for lawyers in the formative stage of their career. It aims to build the capabilities and relationships that will drive career progression and underpin future successes, as rapidly as possible. Unique features of the program include: • Mentor partner – Each lawyer is allocated a mentor partner (in most cases their supervising partner in their first rotation) who remains in this role throughout the program and potentially beyond. This will build a personal and enduring relationship that transcends everyday transactional work. Lawyers will also be supported in each rotation by a supervising partner and SA/SC who will source meaningful and challenging work. • 12 x 6 x 6 rotation structure – We have extended the first practice group rotation from 6‑months to 12 months to ensure lawyers have time to learn on the job and build strong capabilities and relationships in their first year. In the second year, when lawyers have an increased level of experience and confidence, they will complete two 6‑month rotations in order to gain exposure and build relationships across different groups. • Formal learning – The program incorporates comprehensive formal learning opportunities including our national Graduate Academy, local Graduate

Orientation, practical legal training with the College of

Law, practice group induction sessions, and the national

Legal Excellence program.

Diversity & Inclusion

We strongly believe that diversity in all its forms should be embraced and celebrated. This benefits our people, our clients, our firm and the industry at large. Our culture is defined by excellence, collaboration, commitment and respect. We’ve established flexibility as standard business practice and an option for all our people, including partners. Even before COVID‑19 fast tracked the general approach to workplace flexibility.

Community & Pro Bono

We think it’s important to contribute to the community and to facilitate access to justice. We perform around 20,000 hours of pro bono and volunteer work each year, helping those who need it most. We feel that it is our responsibility to ensure legal services are available not only to those who can afford it, but to those who cannot, to those who are disenfranchised and to those who have genuine legal issues of public interest that need to be pursued, even if those issues are unpopular or politically sensitive.

Wellbeing Program

Corrs recognises the importance of health and wellbeing and is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace through a range of programs and policies. Our wellbeing program provides a range of initiatives to assist people in maintaining good overall health. Some of our activities include mixed netball, pilates and yoga, touch football, cricket day, Friday night drinks, family days, trivia nights, End of Financial Year party and Christmas Party.

Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Graduate Profile

Ivan Brcic

What do you do? What are the duties, functions and responsibilities that you are involved in as a part of your role? I am a lawyer in the graduate program at Corrs Chambers Westgarth (Corrs). The graduate program involves three rotations, and currently I am working in the competition group. Broadly, my role involves supporting senior lawyers and partners in fulfilling the legal needs of our clients. As a junior lawyer, no day is the same. One day I may be preparing a submission to the competition regulator regarding a multi-national merger, and another day I could be assisting in a high-profile court case. This is what makes being a junior lawyer great, as variety enables you to become involved in a diverse spectrum of matters. Can you tell us a little bit about Corrs Chambers Westgarth’s work culture and the environment? What sets it apart? At Corrs, the work culture is both nurturing and stimulating. The firm, as well as the individual practice groups, work hard to ensure that each member is supported in their professional development For example, every junior lawyer is assigned a mentor within the firm to oversee their development. I think what sets Corrs apart is its open and collaborative work environment. As a lawyer, you are consistently provided with opportunities to work with other practice groups, enabling you to expand your professional development beyond one particular area of law. How did you get started in this field? How well did your work relate to the experiences or studies you had in university? I completed a Bachelor of Commerce (Information Systems) and Bachelor of Laws at UNSW. I always knew that I wanted to become a lawyer and so I sought out a job in a small suburban law firm in my third year of law. After working there for a year, and gaining valuable experience, I undertook the clerkship program at Corrs. Following the clerkship, I continued to work at Corrs on a casual basis until I began the graduate program in 2021. While my law degree has obviously been essential to my role as a lawyer, I have also had to rely upon my commerce degree on more than several occasions. As a lawyer you are often working with unfamiliar industries, and I have found that my commerce degree has prepared me to better navigate and understand the commercial realities of our clients.

Do you have any advice for someone applying for your company? Or more specifically, the role you’re involved in?

It is important that you go out and seek experience – whether it be volunteering at a legal centre, becoming a member of a club or society, or working for a small law firm as I did. While you’re not expected to be as polished as Harvey Spectre (I had to get the Suits reference in somewhere), firms place value on the experience and dynamism you can bring. What do you find to be the most interesting or challenging part of your work? Navigating clients through complex legal issues is simultaneously the most challenging and interesting aspect of my work. It means you never stop learning and ensures that you are always improving as a lawyer.