Opportunities
Work with brilliant lawyers. Develop your industry expertise. Experience life in a different culture. At DLA Piper, the possibilities are limitless.
Graduate program
We offer graduate programs in all our Australian offices and have one intake each year in February.
The graduate program starts with an induction, designed to ease you in and get you acquainted with the firm. Within the first six months, you’ll also attend a two-day event at our Career Academy, where you’ll meet and network with graduates from across our Australian offices.
The program itself will see you undertaking rotations in different practice groups. This will see you work alongside people at all levels of the business, including partners. As an integral member of the team, you’ll be ready to hit the ground running and make a real contribution from the outset.
While much of your learning will be done on the job, you’ll also receive formal business skills training. This will develop your abilities in areas such as networking, business development, commercial awareness and financial management.
Secondments
During the Graduate Program, we offer you the opportunity to apply for an international secondment. This usually lasts for six months and gives you the opportunity to work in one of DLA Piper's overseas offices. As well as experiencing life in a different country, you'll develop your legal knowledge in another jurisdiction and grow your professional networks across the firm.
Clerkships
The best way to secure a place on our graduate program is to do a clerkship first. Not only will this give you a feel for commercial law in practice, it will give you an insight into what makes DLA Piper unique.
During the clerkship, you'll do more than just shadow our lawyers. You'll be given real responsibilities. Whether you're attending a court hearing, contributing to a client meeting or assisting a large corporate transaction, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to reach your potential.
At the same time, you'll start building your networks. As well as meeting with partners and other senior lawyers, you'll have regular contact with the other clerks through social activities. Information sessions about our practice areas will further enhance your knowledge and understanding.
Summer clerkships are offered in all our offices, as well as winter clerkships in select locations. While your clerkship experience will be similar between offices, the length and structure of the individual programs may vary.
If you have questions on our clerkships, please contact us.
Timetables
Please see dates below for graduate programs and seasonal clerkships per city.
Graduate program
We will be accepting applications for our Brisbane Graduate Program until 4 April 2018.
Seasonal clerkships
Application dates (for 2018 program)
Clerkship program | Applications open | Applications close |
Summer intakes | 28 February 2018 | 26 March 2018 (9am) |
Graduate program
Priority offers will be made to candidates who participated in our 2017/2018 clerkship program.
Seasonal clerkships
Application dates (for 2018 program)
Clerkship program | Applications open | Applications close | Interviews commence |
Summer intakes | 9 July 2018 | 12 August 2018 | TBA |
Graduate program
Priority offers will be made to candidates who participated in our 2017/2018 clerkship program.
Seasonal clerkships
Application dates (for 2018 program)
Clerkship program | Applications open | Applications close | Interviews commence |
Summer intakes | 16 July 2018 | 5 August 2018 (11:59pm) | TBA |
Graduate program
Priority offers will be made to candidates who participated in our 2017/2018 clerkship program.
Seasonal clerkships
Application dates (for 2018 program)
Clerkship program | Applications open | Applications close | Interviews commence |
Summer intakes | 18 June 2018 | 15 July 2018 (5pm) | TBA |



What our people say
At DLA Piper, we are committed to creating and sustaining a diverse, inclusive and accessible workplace to assist us meet our people and business objectives. Consequently, diversity and inclusion are:
- embedded in our values when working with our clients, our people, our communities and in our workplace culture, and
- designed to support the firm's vision to be the leading global business law firm.
Diversity refers to the unique characteristics, experiences, backgrounds, skills and attributes that each of us bring to the firm including legally protected characteristics such as age, gender, pregnancy, race, ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation. It is the diversity of our people that leads to the diversity of thought, perspectives and creative solutions which are essential to operating in a global, ever changing and agile business environment.
Our Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policies not only focus on the elimination of discrimination and harassment in the workplace but also recognise that different people have different needs at different times in their lives. EEO is therefore not about treating people the same or making stereotypical assumptions about people; it is about ensuring that our policies and practices treat people on an equitable basis so there is a level playing field to achieve equal opportunities.