Corporate & Commercial
Contracts, structures and governance for businesses that need the paperwork to hold when something goes wrong.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Buying or selling a business, from the term sheet and due diligence through to completion and the restraints that follow.
Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Commercial disputes in the NSW, ACT and Federal courts, resolved early where that is possible and run properly where it is not.
Technology and Software
Your product scales digitally. Your contracts have to scale with it.
Articles
Where the law changed, what it now requires, and what a business has to do about it.
Guides
One question worked through end to end, with the provisions and the decisions it rests on.
Case notes
What a judgment decided, and what follows from it for anyone in the same position.
Germany
A German desk for businesses moving between Australia and the German-speaking market.
Singapore
Singapore law where it governs the contract, and the arbitral seat that carries much of the region’s work.
Careers
The work large firms do, run by the people who own the matter rather than passed down a chain.
We are a commercial firm across Sydney, Canberra and Frankfurt, and we are growing. We hire selectively, because the work is cross-border and the niche is narrow, and that is what shapes the job: the work arrives whole, the client is a person you have met, and nobody is three layers away from the decision. This page sets out the three ways in, what the path looks like once you are here, and what we ask of you.
Open positions
What is open right now
Everything currently open, with the terms on the face of the advertisement rather than three emails in. Two different kinds of thing sit here: positions with the firm, and the placement route for German trainee lawyers, which runs on its own timetable.
Canberra office, full time, on site
Legal Administration Assistant, Canberra
Keep the Canberra office running, be the first person a client speaks to, and support the firm’s court work, including preparing matters for hearing. Reporting to the Practice Manager, with a written path to the Office Manager role. Work ethic and reliability come ahead of qualifications for this one.
- $80,000 to $90,000 plus superannuation
- Written path to Office Manager
- Funded coursework at CIT
- Start as soon as you are available
- Rolling interviews, no closing date
Sydney or Canberra, open all year
Wahlstation for German Referendare
The elective stage of German legal training, taken with us in Sydney or Canberra. Three months, a four day week, supervised by a Principal directly, and no Australian law expected on arrival. This is not a position with the firm and it is not paid by us: it runs on its own timetable and carries its own visa question, which is why it has a page of its own.
- Three months
- Sydney or Canberra
- Four day week
- Working Holiday visa, subclass 417
- Rolling, no closing date
A position on this list is genuinely open on the day you are reading it. We take a filled role down rather than leaving it up to collect applications. The Wahlstation is the exception and is open all year, because it is a placement route rather than a vacancy.
At a glance
The firm, in short
Founded
2007, by Uwe Boettcher
Offices
Sydney, Canberra, Frankfurt
Work
Corporate and commercial, cross-border transactions, litigation and arbitration, property, estates
Clients
Owner-managed businesses and mid-market companies, many of them international
Ways in
Law Clerk and Graduate, Solicitor, Special Counsel or Partner
Career path
Law Clerk, Solicitor, Associate, Special Counsel, Associate Partner, Partner
Supervision
A partner responsible for every file
Direction
Growing across all three offices. We hire selectively rather than in cohorts, and we would rather wait for the right fit
Billable target
No volume budget
Applications
Rolling. We read everything that arrives
Open right now
Legal Administration Assistant, Canberra, and the Wahlstation. See the list above
The work
What the work is actually like
The honest version, because you will find out in month one anyway.
Whole matters, early
You will not spend two years on one corner of a transaction. Files here are run by one or two people, so a second-year solicitor drafts the agreement, speaks to the client about it, and sees what happens when it is signed.
Work that crosses borders
A large part of the practice is companies operating in a legal system that is not their own, in both directions. It is the kind of work usually reserved for a large firm’s international group, and here it lands on your desk.
Clients you actually meet
Mostly owner-managed businesses and mid-market companies. They ring you. They ask what you would do. You will know what happened to the advice you gave, which is how judgment is built.
A partner on every matter
Not a line on a pitch document. It is the structure: a partner is responsible for every file, and on your file that person reads your draft and tells you what they changed and why.
Three ways in
Find the one that is you
We hire at three points. Each has a different bar and a different first six months, so they are set out separately rather than left for you to guess.
Penultimate-year students
Law Clerk and Graduate
Start while you are still studying, part-time and around your timetable, and convert to a graduate role on admission. Real research, first drafts and file work from the beginning, closely supervised, because there is nobody here to hide behind and that turns out to be the fastest way to learn.
- Penultimate year of an LLB or JD
- Strong academic record
- Genuine interest in commercial work
- Willing to be in the office and in the room
Two to five years admitted
Solicitor
The tier where the difference from a large firm is sharpest. You carry your own files, you talk to your own clients, and you have a say in how a matter is run and what it costs. There is no volume target dressed up as a development plan.
- Admitted, two to five years post-admission
- Commercial, corporate, property or disputes
- Ready to hold client relationships directly
- A practising certificate in NSW or the ACT
Senior lawyers with a practice
Special Counsel or Partner
If you have a following and you are tired of asking permission, this is the conversation to have. Special Counsel is the standing senior role. For the right person with a portable practice, a direct partnership is genuinely on the table rather than a five-year runway. Talk to us in confidence.
- Senior practitioner, typically eight years and up
- A practice or a following you can bring
- Direct partnership possible for the right fit
- Every conversation is confidential
Why here
What you get here that you do not get at a larger firm
Written against the four things lawyers actually say drive them out of large firms, rather than against a list of office perks.
No volume target
We do not run a two-thousand-hour budget and we do not measure people primarily by hours recorded. The work is scoped and priced properly at the start, which is what makes that possible.
Client contact from the beginning
You will be in the room, on the call and on the email chain in your first month. That is not a reward for seniority here, it is simply how we run a file.
A say in the work you take
Input into which matters you run, how they are scoped and what they cost. Those conversations happen across a desk rather than through a committee.
A path that is written down
Law Clerk, Solicitor, Associate, Special Counsel, Associate Partner, Partner. A real ladder with real rungs, set out below. Nobody here is left guessing what the next step is or what it takes to get there.
The practical side
How we work
Three offices, one firm
Sydney, Canberra and Frankfurt. They are not silos: files cross between them constantly and so do people.
Supervision that is actually supervision
Your drafts come back marked, with reasons. That is the single biggest difference between a lawyer who is three years admitted and one who is three years employed.
Room to build something
If you want to develop an area, say so. We will back a practice around a person, and we have. That is far harder where a national practice group already owns the space.
Flexibility agreed with a person
Arrangements are worked out with you rather than applied from a policy. Close enough to the decision to say yes, and close enough to the team that a yes has to work for them as well.
The path
Where it goes
Most firms will not tell a candidate what the ladder is until they are standing on it. Here it is.
Pre-admission
Law Clerk
Part-time while you study, real file work, close supervision. Converts to Graduate on admission.
0 to 5 years
Solicitor
Your own files and your own clients. Where you learn to run a matter rather than a task.
5 years and up
Associate
Carrying matters unsupervised, and starting to supervise. The first rung where the firm relies on your judgment rather than checking it.
Senior
Special Counsel
Depth in an area, and the person the rest of the firm comes to on it. A destination in its own right, not a holding pen.
Senior
Associate Partner
A share in how the firm is run and in what it earns, with a practice you are building rather than one you inherited. The rung that makes the last one real.
Ownership
Partner
A share in how the firm is run and in what it earns. For a senior lateral with a portable practice this can be the entry point rather than the destination.
The ladder is not a queue and it is not time served. Movement is on the work, on whether clients ask for you by name, and on whether you can carry a matter without somebody standing behind you.
How to apply
One email, and we read it
01
Send a CV and a short note
Not a covering letter with our name pasted into a template. Three paragraphs on what you have worked on, what you want to do more of, and why here. An academic transcript if you are a student or a graduate.
02
We answer
Every application, whether the answer is yes or no. We know that is a low bar, and we know how rarely it is cleared.
03
A conversation, not an assessment centre
Usually two: one with the partner you would work with, one with the wider team. No psychometrics, no case study, no group exercise with a whiteboard.
04
An answer with a reason
If it is no, we will tell you why. That is worth more to you than a form email and it costs us ten minutes.
Nothing open that fits? Write anyway. We hire selectively and continuously, and the roles that matter most here are usually built around a person rather than advertised.
Questions we are actually asked
Frequently asked
Do you run a formal clerkship season?
No, and that is a choice rather than a limitation. We do not run a seasonal cohort process, which cuts both ways: you cannot apply through a portal in March with everyone else, and you are not competing against four hundred applications when you do apply.
What are the hours?
Commercial law has busy weeks and this firm is no exception. What we do not have is a volume target that makes a quiet week a problem, or a culture of staying late to be seen doing it.
How quickly can I move up?
Faster than at a large firm, because there is no cohort to move with and no queue to wait in. Movement is on the work rather than on the calendar, and the ladder above sets out what each rung actually means.
Can I work between the offices?
Yes, and people do. Files cross between Sydney, Canberra and Frankfurt constantly, and a secondment is possible and has happened.
Is direct partnership really available?
For a senior lawyer with a portable practice, yes, and it is a real conversation rather than a recruiting line. It depends on the practice, the fit and the numbers, and we will talk about all three openly and in confidence.
What if I am coming back after a break?
Tell us about it in the note. A career break is a fact, not a mark against you, and we can shape a role around a person far more easily than a national firm can.
I am not sure I am senior enough. Should I write?
Yes. The worst outcome is a no with a reason, which is more than most firms will give you, and we would rather see you early than not at all.
Talk to us
Talk to us before you decide
Send your CV and a short note, or ask a question first if you would rather. If you are senior and this needs to stay quiet, say so in the first line and it will.
Sarah Kelly
Practice Manager, Boettcher Law
Practice Manager, Boettcher Law
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