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.
Open position
Special Counsel, Sydney or Canberra
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. Special Counsel is the firm’s standing senior role, open in Sydney or Canberra.
- Typically eight years and up
- Sydney or Canberra
- No volume target
- Remuneration discussed in confidence
- Every conversation is confidential
Special Counsel, Sydney or Canberra Typically eight years and up. Remuneration discussed in confidence.
At a glance
The position, in short
Position
Special Counsel, Sydney or Canberra
Experience
Senior practitioner, typically eight years and up
Firm
Boettcher Law. Sydney, Canberra, Frankfurt
Location
Sydney (Suite 1.01, Level 1, 201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney NSW 2000) or Canberra (2/37 Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603). Your choice
Work
Corporate and commercial, cross-border transactions, litigation and arbitration, property, estates
Clients
Owner-managed businesses and mid-market companies, many of them international
Practising certificate
NSW or the ACT
Billable target
No volume budget
Remuneration
Discussed in confidence, and set against the experience and the practice you bring
Next on the path
A destination in its own right. Associate Partner and Partner are open to it, never required of it
Applications
Rolling. We read everything that arrives, and every conversation is confidential
The work
What Special Counsel means here
Not a title on the way to something else. A senior lawyer with depth in an area, holding that area for the firm.
The person the firm comes to
You hold an area. When a question in it arrives on anyone’s file, in Sydney, Canberra or Frankfurt, it comes to you.
A destination, not a holding pen
Special Counsel is the standing senior role. Nobody expects you to treat it as a waiting room for partnership, and it is not run as one.
Room to build the area
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.
Selection criteria
What we are looking for
Depth comes first. A following is welcome and is not a condition.
Essential
- Senior practitioner, typically eight years and up
- Depth in an area of commercial, corporate, property or disputes work
- A practising certificate in NSW or the ACT
- Able to be the person others in the firm rely on in that area
Welcome
- A practice or a following you can bring
- Cross-border work, or clients who are international
- Experience supervising and marking other lawyers’ work
If you meet most of the list and not all of it, apply and say which part you do not meet. We would rather read that sentence than not hear from you.
Why here
What you get here
Written against the 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.
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.
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.
A path that is written down
Law Clerk, Solicitor, Associate, Special Counsel, Associate Partner, Partner. A real ladder with real rungs. Nobody here is left guessing what the next step is or what it takes to get there.
Three offices, one firm
Sydney, Canberra and Frankfurt. They are not silos: files cross between them constantly and so do people.
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.
Where you would be
Sydney or Canberra, and you choose
The role is open in either office. The Sydney office is in the city, at Suite 1.01, Level 1, 201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney NSW 2000. The Canberra office is at 2/37 Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603, a few minutes from Manuka.
Files cross between Sydney, Canberra and Frankfurt constantly, so the office you sit in decides where you work from, not which matters you see.
Sydney: the city office, on Elizabeth Street
Canberra: the Forrest office
A boutique commercial firm
Boettcher Law acts for owner-managed businesses and mid-market companies, many of them international, across corporate and commercial work, cross-border transactions, litigation and arbitration, property and estates.
A partner responsible for every file
Every matter has a partner who answers for it. That is what supervision means here, at every rung.
How to apply
One email, and it stays confidential
01
Email admin@boettcherlaw.com.au
Mark it for the attention of Sarah Kelly, Practice Manager. Attach a curriculum vitae and a short covering letter saying which office you would work from and what you would bring.
02
Every conversation is confidential
If you are still in a role, say so in the first line. Nothing about your enquiry leaves the people who need to read it.
03
A conversation, not an assessment centre
You meet the people you would work with. No psychometrics, no group exercise, no case study.
04
An answer either way
Every application gets a reply. If it is no, we will tell you why.
If you would rather ask something before you apply, email Sarah Kelly directly at skelly@boettcherlaw.com.au. A question is not a strike against you.
Questions we are asked
Frequently asked
Is the role in Sydney or in Canberra?
Either, and you choose. The position is open in both offices, and the work crosses between them whichever one you sit in.
Why is there no salary on this page?
Because at this level it turns on the experience and the practice you bring, and a published figure would be wrong for most of the people reading it. Remuneration is discussed in confidence, early, so nobody spends time on a conversation that cannot work.
Is there a billable hours target?
No volume budget. We do not run a two-thousand-hour budget and we do not measure people primarily by hours recorded.
Do I need to bring a following?
No. Depth in an area is what the role asks for. A practice or a following you can bring is welcome, and it is part of the remuneration conversation, but it is not a condition.
Will my enquiry stay confidential?
Yes. Every conversation is confidential. If you are still in a role, say so in the first line of your email.
Talk to us
Sarah Kelly is the person to speak to
Applications go to admin@boettcherlaw.com.au, marked for Sarah Kelly. If you want to ask something before you apply, or you would rather this stayed quiet while you are still in a role, email her directly and say so in the first line.
Sarah Kelly
Practice Manager, Boettcher Law
Practice Manager, Boettcher Law
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