Job Satisfaction at Baker McKenzie

I get the opportunity to take carriage of matters and so my 'day-to-day' responsibilities depend on the lifecycle of the projects which I am working on. This can involve correspondence with different parties, drafting and negotiating contracts, or working through problem solving exercises.

The work at Bakers is super hands on for a junior. I am in client meetings, mediations, court, etc. I have direct access to clients and partners which is fantastic for my development and exposure.

My day-to-day responsibilities generally include legal research, preparing draft advices for clients, drafting transactional documents, and liaising with lawyers and clients to progress various matters.

Juniors are given many opportunities to progress at an early stage of their career at Baker McKenzie. In my role, I will often arrange and facilitate conferences with barristers, complete the first draft of various documents (including affidavits, witness statements, letters and emails) in a matter, and will be responsible for keeping track of a client's various workstreams and the action items required on our end.

The type of work you do as a graduate varies based on the team that you are in. Generally though, as a consequence of being able to work closely with senior members of the team, graduates are given substantial ability to be involved in a matter. This can be from doing the first review or drafting of documents to being able to input and be a part of broader strategic meetings.

My role at Baker McKenzie is a junior associate (which is the year after the grad year). My day-to-day responsibilities include working on real estate deals ranging from shopping centres and office buildings, to renewable energy projects. I also have some smaller matters that I work on and continue to progress.

I am Graduate within the team, and on any given day I can be asked to assist with preparing advices or emails to clients, drafting submissions to the IP examiner, reviewing evidence to be submitted to IP Australia. I have also assisted with research tasks, pro bono work, and contractual work (reviewing, amending, re-drafting contracts). I would say over 90% of my matters involve international clients which has been fantastic. I have loved having that exposure.

I am given interesting and meaningful work everyday and have the chance to work with and be supervised by senior lawyers. My work ranges from research tasks, drafting advices and reviewing transaction documents.

As a gradate in the Commercial Real Estate team, I am involved in various matters. While each day tends to be different, I often work on commercial leasing across different Australian jurisdictions and property transactions, both the vendor side and purchaser side. There are also lots of opportunities to assist on hotels deals both in the Australian market and internationally, and due diligence for renewable energy matters.

My role generally involves supporting a number of senior lawyers on all of their matters. This includes incorporating comments from clients or counterparties into documents and turning around documents to progress transactions. This also involves settling whatever requests/tasks from clients come in through my emails, so everyday really is different. In the corporate team, a lot of the work involves coordinating wider transactions and the involvement of specialist teams. This means that you have a general overview of the transaction and get the chance to discuss and learn about many specialty areas of law! I also undertake a lot of pro bono work and mostly work on charity law matters, which involves incorporating charities and assisting charities with their legal matters, including tax registrations and how to maximise the tax concessions available to them.

Very varied as a junior as there is generally a very non-silo'd approach to work. Working for multiple partners who are experts in their respective niche areas means you are involved in multiple matters at once - from drafting, reviewing, filing, advising, coordinating, researching, to presenting on very interesting topics and matters. There is a focus on non-billable contributions too, including learning and development and business development.

Most days, I am involved in drafting, whether that be contracts of sale of property or leases. I also draft emails to clients, complete due diligence reports, all while working directly with partners.

There are administrative tasks such as preparing barristers briefs and court forms, and there are substantive tasks such as drafting witness statements, drafting letters to the other side, briefing experts, reviewing pleadings and reports, and other tasks such as court attendances and client meetings.

My day-to-day roles are as wide ranging as the matters we work on. In my current team, I regularly have client facing opportunities and my partners entrust me with a lot of responsibility over the matters I am involved in and in interacting directly with clients.

My work day-to-day varies and includes drafting resolutions, attending client meetings, reviewing agreements and preparing summaries.

As a junior you get a mix of tasks. Some are quite complex and require a good degree of thought, and you tend to learn rapidly on these kinds of tasks. Others can be repetitive at times, but this gives the opportunity to refine your existing skills.

Conducting detailed research on legal issues, market trends, and regulatory developments relevant to public M&A. Assisting in the preparation and review of transaction documents, including due diligence reports, contracts, and regulatory filings. Conducting due diligence investigations to identify potential risks and liabilities associated with a transaction.

My day to day responsibilities include preparing for litigation (including affidavits, summaries, submissions), assisting with advisory matters in relation to competition and consumer matters, and merger approvals for transactional matters.

Assisting senior lawyers with tasks such as drafting court documents, document review, preparing research memos, and sending emails internally, sending emails to the Court, Registrar and the other side.

I coordinate matters in a junior capacity, draft documents, liaise with team members, attend client meetings, and review documents.