Ashurst
Areas of Legal Practice Our presence in the world’s leading financial and resource centres in Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and the USA gives us the scale to attract global mandates, with cutting-edge capabilities in four key areas: Corporate, Finance, Projects & Real Estate and Strategic Advisory. In Sydney, clerks and graduates will have the opportunity to choose from 15 different practice areas within the four main capabilities. Including Banking & Finance, Capital Markets, Competition and Anti-Trust, Corporate and M&A, Digital Economy, Dispute Resolution, Employment, Financial Regulation, Infrastructure, Intellectual Property, Environment & Planning, Investment Funds, Projects, Real Estate, Restructuring, Insolvency & Special Situations, Tax. Number of Lawyers National: 147 Partners and 548 Lawyers; Global: 412 Partners and 1583 Lawyers Clerkship Opening and Closing Dates In Sydney applications open on Tuesday 9 June and close on Sunday 12 July 2020 Sydney Clerkship Intake: We are looking for 25 – 30 clerks in our Sydney Office. What specific qualities does Ashurst look for in a potential Clerk? 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
What kind of responsibilities/tasks can a Clerk expect at Ashurst? The work undertaken by clerks is varied and depends on the team you are in. Tasks include case law research, drafting legal expertise updates, note-taking during meetings and contract review. You could also be involved in attending court, drafting advice to clients. You can also attend a one week client secondment or accompany a lawyer to a pro bono clinic. After becoming a clerk, what are the prospects of obtaining a graduate role? The prospects are high, we recruit all of our graduates from our clerks. In Sydney 100% of our recent clerks have been offered graduate roles with us. What is unique about Ashurst’s culture? With our technical expertise, local knowledge and international network, we deliver an experience for our clients that other professional service providers find hard to match. We are committed to being a sustainable global law firm, having positive impacts for our clients, employees, profession, the environment and the communities in which we are based. Are there any international secondment opportunities? A small number of international secondments are offered to graduates in their third rotation. There are also opportunities on settlement and post the graduate program to work in one of our international offices.
What training and development opportunities does Ashurst offer? Throughout the clerkship we offer a range of learning & development sessions to assist with developing technical legal skills, and personal growth. These programs are designed to challenge clerks to start thinking like lawyers. A support network of supervising partner, lawyer and buddy are also provided and are fundamental to your on job learning, providing informal and formal feedback. How does Ashurst value Corporate Responsibility? Corporate responsibility (CR) at Ashurst encompasses our community involvement, place-to-work and environmental initiatives. Pro bono is considered a stand-alone legal practice and we regard pro bono legal work as an integral part of our professional responsibility. Both the CR program and pro bono practice are led by a fulltime partner. We are passionate about using our skills and resources to support projects and initiatives where we believe we can make a real difference. Our lawyers help us to achieve this by providing their time, expertise and experience in any number of different ways, ranging from the provision of pro bono legal advice to charitable fundraising. How does Ashurst encourage a work-life balance? Ashurst recognises the importance of balancing work with your life outside of the office and our firm offers a number of initiatives to support you with this. You may be interested in joining one of our many social sporting teams, access our corporate gym memberships or take the opportunity to participate in a fun run event on behalf of the firm to ensure that you are getting the time you need outside of the office as well as having the chance to build your networks and friendships within the firm. We also recognise the way we work and how we work has changed dramatically over the years and to address these changes and recognise the role that flexibility plays in work life balance, we have launched an initiative ‘Smarter Working’, which redefines our approach to flexibility. The firm has implemented a number of initiatives and programs to support the firm’s focus on gender: • The ‘Committed to Change’ Initiative which sees the partners of firm commit to taking an active role in promoting diversity and inclusion and taking part in programs such as reverse mentoring which are designed to build awareness and perspective of a range of diversity areas. • The Australian Women’s network which organises a range of events and discussions related to gender diversity issues. The Women’s Network aims to create a network of professionals to encourage, inspire and support women. Each year a program of events is organised to celebrate and raise awareness of International Women’s Day as well as other key topics throughout the year. • Our Global Managing Partner, Paul Jenkins is personally committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture as he is a member of the Male Champions of Change initiative and is a WGEA Pay Equity Ambassador. Ashurst’s Spectrum network were nominated as ‘Employee Network of the year’ at the 2019 Australian LGBTI Awards. Spectrum’s remit is to: • Advise management and the Ashurst committee on issues which may affect the LGBTI population; • Provide a safe forum for discussion and debate of relevant issues; facilitate business development with LGBTI clients; • Provide a link with external LGBTI organisations such as Pride in Diversity, Wear it Purple and other support or networking groups; • Work with Graduate Recruitment on targeted recruitment initiatives; and foster a sense of LGBTI inclusiveness through informal social events and organised events with other internal or external networks. • Spectrum provides our Australian staff with a forum to discuss ideas, policies and events to help further develop the network. Formal events, talks and participation are open to all.
