Macpherson Kelley
National Law Graduate Program (Mar 2026)
Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne
Opportunity details
- Graduate Job or Program
- AUD 85000 / Year
- 9-12 vacancies
- Apply by 30 Sep 2025
- Start date 1 Mar 2026
OPPORTUNITY
We focus on building strong business-minded lawyers, who can work closely with clients and understand their challenges and opportunities and add value to their businesses. To do this we believe it is essential to give our graduates hands-on experience as early as possible in their careers. This might mean you will be on the floor of a client's factory, in a car yard or transport depot, in a client's commercial office in the CBD or front and centre at a mediation.
We have an exciting opportunity for talented and ambitious law graduates to join our National Graduate Program in 2026:
- This is a full-time 12-month program. We have opportunities in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Dandenong.
- You will rotate across several different practice areas that will expose you to a variety of different commercial law firm experiences
- To support your on-the-job learning, you will complete supervised legal training all while receiving close mentoring and coaching from your peers and supervising Principals.
APPLICATION PROCESS
- Application
- Video Interviews
- Assessment Centres
- Final Interviews
- Offers
Applicants must be Australian Citizens, Permanent Residents or hold a valid work visa.
Macpherson Kelley is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We want all employees to have a sense of belonging at MK and to feel confident to bring their authentic selves to work. MK encourages and welcomes applicants from diverse backgrounds including Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people with lived experience of disability and people who identify as LGBTQI+
ABOUT YOU
We are most interested in you as a person and how your experiences to date will set you up for success. We would like to hear about your interests outside the law and the individual strengths you can bring to Macpherson Kelley. We want people to join us who exemplify our values from a range of diverse backgrounds.
You are likely someone who demonstrates resilience, and you never like to see an opportunity pass you by, especially if it involves working in a team. You are a pragmatic and commercial thinker who enjoys solving problems with outstanding interpersonal and communication skills.
OUR EXTRAS
We are proud to offer genuine flexibility through our Flex+ program.
- The Macpherson Kelley Foundation and workplace giving program provides a meaningful and effective way to engage with our communities.
- Macpherson Kelley Business School - our business school program provides you with practical quality learning and development to help reach your potential.
- Dress for your day - choose what you want to wear based on what is happening that day.
- Up to 20 weeks of paid parental leave for the primary carer including superannuation contributions on both paid and unpaid leave.
- Public Holiday Swap - allow our staff to take time to celebrate holidays that are meaningful to them.
- Visit our careers page to discover more benefits!
ABOUT US
Macpherson Kelley is a mid-tier national commercial law firm with offices in Sydney, Brisbane, Dandenong and Melbourne CBD. We're structured to meet the needs of and deliver value to our clients who need direct and succinct guidance.
We're straight talkers who take care of our client's legal concerns, giving them the freedom to focus on what they do best. We're pragmatic in the advice we give and bold in our recommendations.
With 300+ staff and offices spread across the East Coast; our national footprint is growing along with our international reach from Pacific Legal Network (PLN) a division of Macpherson Kelley together with our Multilaw membership
Hiring criteria
- No experience required
- Australian Citizen +more
- Law, Legal Studies & Justice
- Bachelor or higher
Reviews
Your role and responsibilities as a graduate vary so much rotation to rotation. Currently, I spend a lot of time reviewing contracts and preparing for litigation generally.
I receive some research tasks and drafting tasks but would like a heavier workload and more responsibility
I have been doing a lot of unbillable work which has been great for my development in other key areas; i.e,, drafting articles for the MK website, cold call emails to prospective clients but I wish I had the opportunity to have more billable work. Perhaps this is because the team doesn't have enough at the moment.
About the employer
Macpherson Kelley
4.3
100 - 500 employees
Law
Macpherson Kelley is a hands-on commercial law firm, known for our business mindset, client service, innovation and investment in great relationships.
Pros and cons of working at Macpherson Kelley
Pros
The people. Everyone is friendly, welcoming and seems to genuinely want to help out one another. Makes working here enjoyable.
Exposure to multiple practice areas as a graduate & the flexibility to work from home is amasing.
There is a friendly and welcoming culture. Senior people take a genuine interest in graduate development.
Benefits include a culture that values diversity and inclusivity. As a junior having the ability to work directly with senior lawyers offers huge learning benefits. Additionally, the size of the firm enables juniors to gain a real sense of responsibility on matters at an early stage.
The social life at MK is great, I feel very supported by both my team and the firm as a whole.
Cons
The pay is slightly lower than some of my other graduate friends, however, I do nowhere near as much overtime as them
Workflow fluctuates a lot - sometimes there are periods where it can be very quiet.
There's a bit of separation between the Melbourne and Dandenong offices, it would be nice if there was more overlap.
Different teams have different cultures.
Long commute.