Baker McKenzie

Think Opportunity, Think Baker McKenzie!

We have an exciting opportunity for a mid-level Associate to join our dynamic Dispute Resolution & Restructuring & Insolvency practice in Melbourne! 

This role offers you the opportunity to accelerate your career while working on complex, high-profile matters alongside our leading Partners, Alex Wolff, Peter Lucarelli, Helen Joyce and Andrew Prowse. You will gain hands-on experience across significant, complex and high value commercial disputes and insolvency and restructuring matters – working directly with prominent clients and building the foundations of long-term professional relationships. You will benefit from exceptional learning and development opportunities, supported by experienced partners and senior lawyers who are invested in your growth. Most importantly, you will be an integral member of a highly dynamic, ambitious and collaborative team.

Our practice 

Baker McKenzie's Dispute Resolution & Restructuring & Insolvency group is one of the Australian office's largest practice groups. It has the depth of experience and accomplishments to advise and represent clients in all matters associated with complex and high value commercial disputes, class actions, and restructuring & insolvency.

Our commercially pragmatic approach means we focus on the issues that matter to clients rather than simply managing the litigation process to a conclusion. We always take a strategic approach to disputes, identifying and guiding clients on all available options to promote early resolution but never losing sight of the need to resolutely promote our clients' best interests.

Our team includes some of Australia's leading litigation and insolvency lawyers, each of whom is able to draw on the resources, as well as knowledge and experience, of the global firm's world-class Dispute Resolution, Litigation and Insolvency and Restructuring practice. This means that we have the privilege of being instructed by major national and international organisations in large-scale, complex litigation and dispute resolution across a range of industries and disciplines, as well as in class actions, insolvency and restructuring, regulatory work for and against regulators, and white-collar crime.

At Baker McKenzie, our flat structure means you will have direct exposure to clients, responsibility for meaningful involvement across a broad range of matters, and opportunities for progression. You will also regularly work with our extensive network of global colleagues and clients. 

About you

We are looking for talented lawyers with approximately 2 - 4 years' PQE gained at a top-tier or leading international law firm. You will have experience across a broad range of commercial disputes, with exposure to restructuring and insolvency matters viewed favourably.

As an Associate in our Dispute Resolution team, you will work closely with partners and senior lawyers. You will take ownership of key aspects of matters, manage the day-to-day conduct of files, contribute to strategic decisions, and play an active role in delivering outstanding outcomes for our clients.

To succeed in this role, you will bring:

• an excellent academic record and strong experience advising on complex commercial disputes, together with exposure to insolvency and restructuring matters where applicable;
• the ability to develop strong client relationships and provide practical and commercially focused legal advice;
• excellent drafting, research and analytical skills, with a keen attention to detail;
• strong organisational and matter management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and work effectively across multiple matters;
• a collaborative approach and the ability to work effectively with colleagues;
• a genuine desire to learn, develop professionally and contribute positively to team culture; and
• an interest in business development and building your professional profile.

This is an outstanding opportunity for an ambitious lawyer seeking exposure to market-leading work, sophisticated clients and a clear pathway for professional growth within a high-performing team.

At Baker McKenzie, we are different in the way we think, work and behave. The first local, truly global law firm in Australia, we commenced operations in Sydney in 1964, in Melbourne in 1982 and in Brisbane in 2014. With our breadth of experience in the local market and global connectivity, we are the law firm of choice for Australian and multinational companies. We have 6,500 lawyers globally who work seamlessly together – across practice groups, sectors and markets – to provide our clients with the connected perspectives, integrated solutions and seamless guidance they need to succeed in an increasingly interconnected global market.

Baker McKenzie Australia can offer you access to complex, market-leading matters working with some of the world's best legal minds – people who know the law and who understand business. We have an unrivalled ability to provide training and secondment opportunities across our global network. Locally, we have an inclusive culture of learning, coaching and opportunity where you will work as part of teams on matters that often cross borders. We value people who think ahead and get noticed.

At Baker McKenzie, our flat structure means you will have direct exposure to our clients, responsibility for meaningful involvement across a broad range of matters, and opportunities for progression. You will also regularly work with our extensive network of global colleagues and clients.

Our benefits

• Financial: competitive remuneration package, generous bonus scheme, salary continuance insurance, life insurance, salary sacrifice options, employee discounts, referral rewards, and travel insurance for you and your immediate family.
• Learning & development opportunities: client and international office secondments and regional and global development programs.
• Flexibility: hybrid and flexible working arrangements to balance your work and lifestyle.
• Leave: 26 weeks' paid parental leave for parents/carers (with no minimum service) with access to an external coaching service, ability to purchase additional annual leave, flexible public holidays and volunteer leave.
• Health & wellbeing programs: Employee Assistance Program including confidential counselling and wellbeing and financial coaching for you and your immediate family, flu vaccinations and discounted health insurance.

Inclusion, Diversity & Equity

Baker McKenzie is committed to providing a diverse, inclusive and equitable culture for all of its employees, with equal opportunity for all to progress and have a meaningful career with our Firm. As part of our inclusive culture, we welcome applications from people of all genders (including if you identify as transgender or gender diverse), sexual orientations, abilities, cultural backgrounds, as well as First Nations peoples and people with caring responsibilities, neurodivergent lived experiences and disabilities. We want all applicants to be given the best possible opportunity to succeed in our recruitment processes, so invite you to let us know of any reasonable adjustments you require to equitably participate in our recruitment processes or in performing the requirements of a role at Baker McKenzie.

We appreciate that everyone's needs are different. Please contact us so that we can work with you to best support you in our recruitment processes. We are happy to share accommodations we've made in the past and are keen to work with you personally, to set you up for success.

Apply today!

If you are interested in the above role, we would love to hear from you! Please click "Apply". 

If you would like to find out more or have a confidential chat, please contact me by email on natalie.mascarenhas@bakermckenzie.com or by phone on +61 401 685 956.