Career Prospects at Clifford Chance

The transition from clerk to graduate was clearly laid out for us, including how many selections would be made. The same has been made clear for associates, including the number of associates being selected each year in each practice area.

There are opportunities for promotion and career progression, when talking to colleagues who have entered the firm laterally at the associate/senior associate level, a lot of the time this is one of the reasons they have come across. I have seen former grads move up the ranks into senior roles and people globally who have had started as grads and had interesting careers (often working around the world at the firm) making it to partners.

The grad program is 2-years which I am still doing so I can't comment too much on moving up the other roles but by what I see I believe the opportunities are there.

It seems that if you are a high performing individual, it’s a pretty natural progression to move up to Senior Associate as you acquire (years of) experience. Upwards from SA, it’s more vague, but that makes sense as you’ll be joining leadership and bringing clients to the firm. Clients and leadership understandably trump basic measurable metrics such as years of experience.

There is a clearly defined career progression pathway. Team players who contribute to the firm in a positive way are clearly rewarded appropriately.

The promotion possibilities is standard with the market. The timeline is very set in stone especially at the more junior end.

Graduate program of 2 years with 4 rotations of 6 months and then become an associate. Become a senior associate after 5 years.

This is more difficult due to the small size of Clifford Chance in Sydney - could be improved.

Like most law firms, promotions require hard work and may take several years.

Career advancement and promotion is decent at a junior-mid level and there is no restriction to the type of work that you are given. Promotion to partnership from Counsel level appears to be difficult.

From a junior's perspective, the first few years are lock-step, and I couldn't speak to the relative ease/difficulty of advancement after that.

It is very much based on merit.