Career Prospects at Baker McKenzie

Bakers is wonderful at promoting people, particularly to senior associate after 5 years (since commencing as a grad). We had one partner last month get promoted, having starts at the firm as a clerk. I feel really confident that my career progression here will be great.

The firm has a structured program where lawyers progress in accordance with clear benchmarks. After lawyers enter the general associate stream, promotion opportunities are assessed based on merit and achieving certain criteria.

There is a clear promotional structure which is well communicated to all new starters. Promotions follow a natural course and there are opportunities to network and express interest in moving up the ranks at various career stages.

The team is always looking to provide juniors with opportunities to network with industry professionals. As juniors, we are in lock step until our second year. The firm provides an excellent lawyers Development Framework to assist with our end of rotation/end of year reviews and to ascertain what our strengths/areas of improvement are.

Associates normally become senior associates after they have been admitted for 4 years.

Being at a smaller firm with an international network is a huge advantage. You get more opportunity to work with seniors, and naturally your skills advance a lot quicker because of it. I think prospects of career progression are strong.

As a junior, these are a little different to navigate but there are lots of opportunities for formal catch ups with supervisors to get feedback and information on career progression.

I'm still very junior so I don't have much exposure on this front, however my experience from afar is encouraging.

I am given plenty of opportunity as a junior to network, meet with and interact with clients and expand my network. This leads to greater opportunities in terms of work and progressing.

I have not had the opportunity to be promoted yet.

Fairly standard promotion opportunities - largely based on years of experience over the first few years before being more performance based as you become more senior.

I am satisfied with my progression at this point. The salary is competitive. In terms of titles, there aren't a whole lot - you will be an associate until you are a senior associate, which seems to take at least 5 years from graduate commencement. But that is fine with me.

The Firm is small, which provides a lot of opportunity within each team to "move up the ranks". For me, this is a major drawcard of the Firm.

Promotion obviously follows the general track at a law firm - associate, senior associate, special counsel, partner, etc. The promotion pathway is clearly defined, and you generally know what you need to do to rank up each time, in terms of both years spent at the Firm and skills attained. Sometimes, there are opportunities to "move up the ranks" more quickly - I think generally this is dictated by the person involved, i.e. whether they want to climb the ladder more quickly.

Automatic promotion after 2 years with the Firm (from junior associate to general associate). HR are very transparent on the KPIs to progress from there onwards.

The opportunities that I was most excited for, especially at the graduate and associate level, were the travel/office opportunities. While we can't go overseas, I would enjoy the chance to work with my team in a different Australian office, E.g.., Melbourne. Progression wise, I like that most grads are on the same timeframe. Told about the KPAs etc for each level, but it would be interesting hearing from actual employees at different levels about their progression and what it took.

My experience with promotion opportunities is limited. I know that there are internal promotion paths available to all, particularly associates.