Baker Mckenzie
How many partners and lawyers does your firm have? 84 Partners and 197 Lawyers How many clerks are you intending to take on this summer? 8-10 How many graduate lawyers did you take on this year? 14 How does your firm embody the notions of social and corporate responsibility? Pro Bono and Community Services initiatives are an integral part of Baker McKenzie’s mission. Our Pro Bono, Community Services and corporate social responsibility programs aim to inspire staff to make a difference and collaborate with clients who share the same commitment to social justice. We believe that the provision of pro bono legal services is a fundamental professional responsibility. •
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Pro bono legal services – Baker McKenzie is a signatory to the National Pro Bono Aspirational Target of at least 35 hours of pro bono legal work per lawyer per year. Our lawyers regularly undertake a wide range of pro bono legal work for disadvantaged clients in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane as well as not-for-profit organisations. Some of our work includes assisting victims of domestic violence seek compensation; representing asylum seekers seeking judicial review of decisions relating to their refugee status and statement-taking in support of protection visas; helping elderly and ill clients and young people exiting the child protection system with their legal affairs; assisting with submissions and advocacy papers to support law and policy reform; presenting legal workshops to vulnerable and at risk youth; and assisting survivors of domestic violence. Our pro bono work extends globally, including the Asia Pacific region. Community Services and CSR – We also offer the opportunity to participate in a variety of community service initiatives. Our community service programs include the LEAPS literacy and mentoring program in Sydney, FareShare corporate volunteering sessions in Brisbane, and Eat Up volunteering sessions in Melbourne. Baker McKenzie also supports three charity partners: Tuberous Sclerosis Australia, Refugee Advice and Casework Service, and LeaderLife. All staff members are encouraged to participate in volunteering and fundraising activities to support these causes. Staff members have the opportunity to donate to charities of their choice via the Firm’s workplace giving platform. Reconciliation Action Plan - In 2019 Baker McKenzie committed to the Firm’s first Reconciliation Action Plan, which included a commitment to support a range of initiatives including providing opportunities for CareerTrackers interns, supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through pro bono legal work and volunteering opportunities, and ensuring that the Firm acknowledges the historic challenges faced by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community whilst also sharing in celebrations of culture.
How does your firm strive to protect its junior lawyers’ work-life balance? Our award-winning diversity strategy, initiatives, and programs, in which all of our people can get involved, are focused in six key areas: • BakerWomen – gender diversity, including the implementation of our gender diversity strategy to support the progression of women as a strategic priority for the Firm; • BakerDNA – ethnic, indigenous and cultural diversity; • BakerBalance – supporting carers and parents, and workplace flexibility; • BakerWellbeing – mental health and wellbeing; • BakerLGBTI & Allies – lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex diversity; and • BakerIndigenousEngagement – commitment to engagement with our Indigenous community - achieving better social, economic and cultural outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and to making a real difference in the lives of our nation’s First Peoples. Central to our Diversity programs are BakerBalance and BakerWellbeing: working groups dedicated to ensuring that our lawyers of all levels are supported in maintaining work-life balance and prioritising mental health and wellbeing as paramount in their careers as successful legal professionals at Baker McKenzie. Naturally, whether a junior lawyer has to work longer than usual hours ultimately
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depends on how busy the practice groups are. However, it is certainly not the norm. Our bAgile program encourages a range of flexible work opportunities for all. We invite our people to let us know of any reasonable adjustments they require to perform the requirements of a role at Baker McKenzie. What opportunities does your firm uniquely offer that may be of interest to prospective clerks? Right from the start, our Clerks are involved in real work. In Sydney, our Summer Clerks complete two practice group rotations and a client secondment. Clerks who accept a Graduate role with Baker McKenzie are eligible to apply for an International Clerkship, with the opportunity to work in one of our overseas offices after completion of their Clerkship. In addition to our unique values, Baker McKenzie’s key difference is that, unlike other firms, we were ‘born global’. Our practices and culture are well established and integrated globally, which is why many clients and lawyers choose to work with us. We also have a global approach to development. Because we’ve been global from the beginning, we have well established regional and global programs and a deeply embedded culture of knowledge sharing, support and mentoring both within and across offices. Our global development roadmap, the Development Framework, clearly explains what success looks like at each career stage at Baker McKenzie. It shapes the way we recruit, select, develop, manage and promote our lawyers. For you, it means always having a clear career roadmap, empowering you to plan and drive your development – formally and on the job – at every stage. Our lawyers benefit from an Australian professional development curriculum based on the Development Framework – from black letter law to practice-specific skills and knowledge development at the local, regional and global levels. Our lawyers also attend regional/global training and events/conferences relating to their practices to help develop networks and legal skills. Further, they attend regional transition programs at each career stage which provide development in the key skills our lawyers need – like people leadership, business development and project management – and which enable them to foster relationships with international peers at the same career stage. Recently, programs have been held in Bangkok, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo. We also provide our lawyers with opportunities to attend USA summer school courses and scholarships for full-time legal study overseas. Does your firm offer any opportunities to work overseas? In addition to the opportunities outlined above, the Firm provides lawyers at varying stages of their career to work directly for clients or with our other offices in the Asia Pacific region and globally. In the last few years, we have placed lawyers in London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Stockholm, Chicago, Washington DC, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Rio de Janeiro, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Taipei, Singapore, Shanghai, Bangkok, Tokyo, Jakarta, Myanmar, and of course, we have also had lawyers from across our network come to work in our Sydney and Melbourne offices. What makes your firm’s culture unique? Baker McKenzie’s difference is in our unique values: our passion for being global, our culture of friendship, our commercial pragmatism, our support for entrepreneurship, our commitment to development, our focus on contributing to the community, and our genuine focus on maintaining a diverse and inclusive environment for all of our people. Baker McKenzie is committed to diversity, inclusion, workplace flexibility, and equal opportunity. As the first truly global law firm, Baker McKenzie’s origins are rooted in the respect for and appreciation of difference. We understand that organizations work best when people with different backgrounds and multiple points of view are brought together. Our own diversity mirrors our commitment to exploring multiple perspectives to develop the best possible solutions for our clients and to fostering a culture of respect and inclusion that celebrates diversity. Diversity and inclusion are in our DNA. Baker McKenzie is committed to providing a diverse and inclusive culture for all its employees, with equal opportunity for all to progress and have a meaningful career with our Firm. Our mission is to foster an environment where individuals of every ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, religion, age, disability, carer status, and working style may succeed professionally and fully contribute to the goals of the Firm. As part of our inclusive culture, we encourage applications from all genders, abilities and cultural backgrounds including Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.
