Seasonal Clerkship 2026/2027 – Melbourne

Your Clerkship Experience

As a seasonal clerk, you’ll get a real taste of life as a lawyer at a top-tier law firm. You’ll work on market-leading deals and complex disputes, build practical skills, and start shaping your legal edge from day one. You’ll get to know our people, how we work, what we value, and the clients we support. You won’t be doing it alone, you’ll be supported at every step.

Most of our graduates come through our summer and winter clerkship programs, making this one of the most important first steps in launching your legal career.

What you’ll learn

Throughout your clerkship, you’ll:

•    Build core skills like drafting legal documents and forming strong professional relationships.

•    Learn how our practice teams operate, and where you fit in.

•    Get hands-on with our market-leading technology and tools.

•    Experience our culture through team events, social activities and firm-wide initiatives.

•    Be supported by people from across the business who genuinely want to see you succeed.

•    Be allocated a mentoring partner, development coach and buddy to guide you through your clerkship and share insights from their own careers.

•    Connect with firm leaders and industry experts through interactive learning sessions designed to grow your confidence and capability.

About you

We value diverse perspectives and experiences, they’re what make our one firm culture strong. A successful Mallesons clerk is someone who:

•    Communicates clearly and confidently.

•    Is curious about corporate or commercial law.

•    Brings a growth mindset and a willingness to learn.

•    Manages multiple commitments and prioritises well.

•    Takes initiative and cares about producing high quality work.

You don’t need to know everything. We do our best work by learning from each other.

Diversity and inclusion

Mallesons is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive. We strongly encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and people from diverse backgrounds. We welcome and value difference, including gender, sexual identity, culture, faith, disability and life stage, and recognise the strength this brings to our firm. Our recruitment process includes an online written application, interviews and networking events. We also offer a range of inclusive hiring practices. If you’d like to talk through options or adjustments, please contact Hayley Ballard (hayley.ballard@mallesons.com).

Am I eligible to apply?

We welcome applications from students in their penultimate or final year of an Australian or New Zealand law degree who hold Australian or New Zealand citizenship or Australian permanent residency.

Due to the potential long-term opportunity available, we don’t accept applications for clerkship from candidates on temporary visas (including the Graduate 485 visa and other student visas).

If you don’t meet the above requirements, you’re not currently eligible for our clerkship program. We encourage you to apply in future years if your eligibility changes.

Academic transcripts

We know some universities release results close to the application deadline. If this applies to you, we recommend waiting to submit your application until your results are available, where possible, and before applications close. You can start your application at any time and save it to return to later.

If your university won’t release results until after applications close, submit your application using the most up-to-date academic record you have at the time. If you’re invited to a first interview, please bring a hard copy of your latest official transcript for us to sight. There’s no need to email your transcript after applications close.

Applications close on 9 August 2026.

Visit the Early Careers page on the Mallesons website to learn more.