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.
The track record
Judgments and tribunal outcomes, transactions completed, appointments taken, and the conversations we are part of in Australia and in Germany.
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.
Referendariat in Australien
We take German Rechtsreferendare for the Wahlstation, in Sydney and in Canberra.
The Wahlstation is the one stage of the Referendariat you choose yourself, and it is the only one you have to organise on your own. This page sets out what the station here involves, what we look for, what you need to arrange before you come, and how and when to apply.
Auf einen Blick
Referendariat in Australien, in short
Station
Wahlstation. Anwaltsstation by arrangement
Length
Three months. Anything shorter by arrangement only
Offices
Sydney and Canberra
Working week
Four days. You choose Monday or Friday off
Hours
9:00 to 17:00 in the office, one hour for lunch
Supervision
A Principal, directly
Language
English in the office. German most days, with clients
Australian law
None expected on arrival
Paid
No. Your Unterhaltsbeihilfe normally continues
Visa
Working Holiday, subclass 417. Up to age 35
Marks
Praedikatsexamen preferred, not required
When to apply
Any time. We decide twelve months before the start
What to send
Anschreiben, Lebenslauf, Erste Juristische Pruefung result
Applications
Rolling. There is no closing date
The work
What you would actually do
Three months is long enough to do real work and far too short to spend on filing, so you get whole tasks rather than fragments of somebody else’s.
Whole pieces of work
A research note, a first draft of an agreement, a chronology, a brief to counsel. Work that has your thinking in it and that somebody reads.
The areas we act in
Corporate and commercial, cross-border work between Germany and Australia, commercial litigation and arbitration, property, and estates. What lands on your desk depends on what is running that quarter.
German, most days
A large part of our work is German and Austrian clients operating in Australia, so you will read and draft in German as well as English. Few placements abroad let you keep using your own legal language.
A supervisor, not a chain
A Principal supervises you directly and there is a short check-in every week: what you did, what was hard, what you want more of.
What we look for
Who this suits
We would rather be plain about this than have you find out in week two.
Working English
You will draft in it in your first week. We do not ask for a certificate and we do not test grammar, but the written thread with us is in English and so is the interview.
An interest in commercial work
Most of what we do is transactional or commercial dispute work. You do not need prior experience of it, but you should want it. If your interest is criminal or public law, this is the wrong station.
Willingness to work in a system that is not yours
Common law, no Beurkundung culture, a different court hierarchy and a profession split differently from the one you know. We expect no Australian law on arrival and nobody has ever arrived with it. We do expect you to be interested in the difference.
Someone who asks
Three months is short. The Referendare who get the most out of it are the ones who ask what a thing is for, rather than producing something correct that answers the wrong question.
Marks
A Praedikatsexamen is preferred. It is not a threshold and it is not the first thing we look at, but where we are choosing between applications for the same period it counts. Send your Erste Juristische Pruefung result whatever it says.
Helpful, not required
Time abroad already, an exchange semester or an LL.M., or any commercial experience at all, including outside the law.
What we offer
What you get back
A four-day week, and you choose the day
You work four days and decide whether Monday or Friday is your day off. Alternate it between the Friday and the following Monday and you have a four-day weekend every second week, which is what most people use to see the country. Keep the same day and you have a three-day weekend every week.
Two legal systems in one office
The firm practises Australian law here and German law from Frankfurt, in-house rather than through correspondents. You see the same matter from both sides, which is the part that is hard to get anywhere else.
A Zeugnis written from a record
We ask for your Land’s Zeugnis forms and requirements at the start rather than in your final fortnight, and you keep a short weekly log while you are here. What we owe you is a Stationszeugnis under the rules of your own Land.
An English reference as well
Beyond the Stationszeugnis, and voluntary. It is the document that is actually readable to an employer who has never seen a German Zeugnis, and it is the one you will use.
Australia, practically
Where you would be, and what you have to organise
Sydney is the commercial centre and the office is in the city, on Elizabeth Street. The work leans towards corporate and commercial matters, cross-border transactions and arbitration. It is the busier of the two offices and the one most applicants ask for first, which is also the reason it fills first.
Canberra is the seat of government, and our office there is on Canberra Avenue in Forrest. A Referendar there sits closer to the work: a Principal supervises directly, the files are the same commercial and litigation files, and you see more of each one because there are fewer hands on it. It is a different experience rather than a second choice, and it is more often the office with room.
Sydney: the city office, on Elizabeth Street
Canberra: the Forrest office
Recognition by your Land
Your OLG assigns you to us and your Land decides whether the station counts. Put the question to your Ausbildungsleitung early rather than late, and send us your Land’s forms as soon as you have them. We fill in what is asked of the Ausbildungsstelle. Do not treat a place with us as recognition; those are two different decisions and only one of them is ours.
Visa: the Working Holiday, subclass 417
It is the only route that works in practice, so plan on it. Germany is an eligible passport country and the age limit for German nationals was raised from 30 to 35 on 1 July 2026, so you can apply up to the day before your 36th birthday. You apply yourself, online, from outside Australia, and the visa allows up to six months with any one employer, which is comfortably more than a station. Check the current conditions on the Department of Home Affairs website before you book anything, because this is your application and not ours.
Timing, and the seasons
Our seasons are inverted. December to February is hot and is also when the courts and much of the country slow down over Christmas. June to August is cool and is the busiest working stretch. A station starting in February begins as the year restarts, which is a good time to arrive.
Getting here, and living here
It is more than twenty hours’ flying from Germany, so come with the jet lag budgeted rather than starting the next morning. Sydney is an expensive city and Canberra is somewhat less so, which is worth weighing when you choose. Accommodation is yours to arrange, so start on it as soon as your dates are confirmed.
How to apply
Apply whenever you like. We decide twelve months out.
01
Send it whenever you know your dates
There is no application window and no closing date. Write to us as soon as you know the period you want, even if that is two years away. We never decline an application for arriving too early.
02
We decide twelve months before the station starts
We do not allocate a place further ahead than that. A place promised two years out is a place we cannot honestly guarantee, and we would rather tell you where you stand than hold you on a maybe. If your start date is further away we hold your application and write to tell you so. You do not need to send it again.
03
Everyone who applied is then considered together
At that point we look at every application on hand for the period, not at whoever wrote first. Applying early buys you no priority and costs you nothing, which is why the honest advice is simply to apply when you know.
04
What we ask you for
The exact start and end dates of your station, the dates of your written and oral examinations, whether you plan to travel and take a substantial part of the station off, and whether you have Sydney or Canberra in mind. We ask about the examinations because a station that ends days before your papers helps neither of us.
05
A video call, then the offer
We arrange the call and we set the time. Calls run at 08:00 German time, which is late afternoon in Australia and the only hour that is civil at both ends. If we offer you a place we confirm the office and the dates in writing.
Send an Anschreiben, a Lebenslauf and your Erste Juristische Pruefung result. Nothing else is needed to start. Put the period you want in the subject line, for example „Wahlstation 1 February to 30 April 2028“, because it is the first thing we look for.
Questions we are actually asked
Referendariat in Australien: the questions we get
Do I need a Praedikatsexamen?
It is preferred rather than required. Where we are choosing between several applications for the same period it counts, but it is not a threshold and it is not the first thing we look at. Send your result whatever it says.
Is the station paid?
No. We do not pay for the Wahlstation. Your Unterhaltsbeihilfe from your Land normally continues through it, but that is between you and your Land and we cannot confirm it for you.
What visa do I need, and am I too old?
The Working Holiday visa, subclass 417, which is the only route that works in practice. For German nationals the age limit rose from 30 to 35 on 1 July 2026, so you can apply up to the day before your 36th birthday. You apply yourself, online, from outside Australia. Confirm the current conditions with the Department of Home Affairs.
Can I come for less than three months?
We ask for three. Shorter placements have been declined before, because a station short enough to be mostly orientation helps neither side. If your Land prescribes something different, tell us and we will look at it.
Can I do the Anwaltsstation with you instead?
Ask. The page is written around the Wahlstation because that is what almost everyone asks for, but the Anwaltsstation is possible by arrangement.
Do I need to know Australian law before I arrive?
No, and nobody ever has. You will get a short orientation on how Australian practice differs, how we write, and what your station will cover, two to three weeks before you start.
Sydney or Canberra, and can I choose?
Tell us which you have in mind and tell us if either would suit. The second answer is often what makes a placement possible: Sydney fills first, and if it is full for your period we will say so and offer you Canberra rather than leave you guessing.
When will I hear back?
If your start is inside twelve months, quickly. If it is further out, we write to tell you we are holding your application, and then come back to you at the twelve-month point to arrange interviews.
Will my Land recognise the station?
That is your Land’s decision and not ours, so put it to your Ausbildungsleitung early. Send us whatever forms they require and we will complete our part of them.
Do you take Praktikanten or students?
Separately from this page, and on different terms. Write and ask rather than applying through the process above.
Ansprechpartner
Write to a person, not a form
Send your application, or any question you would rather ask before you apply, to Hannelore. Put the period you want in the subject line. We read every application ourselves and we answer, whether the news is good or not.
Hannelore Federspiel
Law Clerk, Boettcher Law
Law Clerk, Boettcher Law
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