2026/27 Sydney Summer Clerkship

Job description

A&O Shearman is a global industry-leading law firm, with 48 offices in 28 countries worldwide. Our fluency in Australian, English, and US law and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets, enables us to provide unmatched insight and seamless delivery to clients. We work on challenging and important deals and disputes that have the potential to shape the future.

We offer exceptional opportunities for our people; opportunities to work for the world’s leading businesses; to transform the status quo, and to deliver your best work, helping you and your career to thrive, while delivering unparalleled outcomes for our clients.

Whether you're helping clients solve complex challenges, transforming the ways we manage our business, or ensuring the smooth-running of our operations, this is an environment where you can belong and excel. We provide first-rate training and development, we are committed to an inclusive environment, and we provide support and ways of working that help you optimise your wellbeing.

What truly defines a career with us? We recruit the best and ask for the best of you. And together, we will redefine success.

Overview
Our Sydney office has opportunities for penultimate year students, currently completing an Australian or New Zealand Law degree to join us for a Summer Clerkship from 30 November 2026 to 5 February 2027 (with a 2-week break over Christmas).

Our summer clerkship program is key to our graduate scheme. We aim to fill our graduate positions for 2028 from the 2026/27 Summer Clerkship Program.

Requirements
We realise that each applicant brings their own unique skills, however we do look for certain characteristics in all our applicants. Applicants should be in their penultimate year of an Australian or New Zealand Law degree and have excellent academic results. Beyond this we want to see evidence of teamwork, communication skills, planning and organisation, problem solving, commercial awareness and commitment – to a career in law and to a career with A&O Shearman.

Our preference is that applicants are in their penultimate year of university. However, if you are applying outside or your penultimate year, please state the reasons why this is the case in your application.

We do accept applications from international students completing an Australian or New Zealand law degree, however you will need to demonstrate a commitment to starting your legal career in Australia and have the right to work in Australia at the time of the clerkship.

How to apply
To apply please use the link below. Applicants are required to upload their resume, current academic transcript and answer a series of short answer questions. Any additional documents, including a cover letter, will not form part of your application.

After submitting your application, you will receive an email with a link to complete an immersive video based Situational Judgement Test (SJT) which is untimed and should take around 30 minutes. The interactive assessment is designed to provide a realistic preview of what you may experience as a graduate at A&O Shearman as well as give us an insight into your motivations. You will be given 24 hours in which to complete the exercise. We encourage you to submit your online application at least 24 hours prior to the deadline (12 July 2026) to give you time to complete both the online application and SJT by the deadline.

Important Dates
Applications will close at 11.59pm on Sunday 12 July 2026 and will be reviewed immediately after the closing date. We will contact applicants who are successful in securing a first round interview by email before the end of July.

• Monday 27 July– Information Evening (for those who are invited to a first round interview)

• Saturday 1 August – First Round Interviews

• Tuesday 25 August to Monday 31 August – Second Round Interviews

• Monday 31 August – Cocktail Evening (for those invited to a second round interview)

• Wednesday 9 September – Offers extended

• Thursday 10 September – Offers to be accepted or declined by 1pm