FAQs
What do we look for in our staff?
We seek to recruit people with talent, energy and a commitment to excellence. Client and team focus are important attributes for all staff. Our people come from diverse backgrounds and we value both professional and “life” experience.
Working in a partnership essentially means providing service to multiple stakeholders and clients. This makes our work environment demanding, but also challenging and interesting.
We ask that casual paralegals are available to work at least two consecutive days so that you can be given access to interesting work and experience some continuity in your work.
What are the benefits of working at Mallesons?
Mallesons Stephen Jaques is a constantly evolving firm with a dynamic and diverse culture. Our work environment promotes open communication and excellence, and while our staff are expected to deliver a high level of knowledge, advice and service to both external and internal clients, they can expect that same level in return.
Our offices are modern and well resourced, and our technology and support infrastructure is highly advanced. Our structures and technologies allow us to work as a national firm and share knowledge and expertise across centres. Our technology platform allows us to communicate effectively and easily, to share documents and work, and to offer support and experience on a firm-wide basis.
The firm offers a range of other benefits including an established Health & Well-Being program, gym memberships, social and sporting clubs and casual day Fridays.
How would you describe The Vibe at Mallesons?
Our fourth survey achieved a firmwide response rate of 89%, having steadily risen each year from 76% in 2004. This outstanding reponse gives us great confidence that the Vibe results represent the views of our people across all centres and practice teams. The Vibe continues to be a valuable source of data about how our people feel about the firm, our areas of strength and how we can further improve Mallesons as a place of work.
The results of the survey indicated that our major strengths are training opportunities, our commitment to quality and excellence, collaboration and knowledge sharing, strategic leadership, job satisfaction, and pride in the firm.
The survey has allowed us to understand how our staff feel about the firm and has helped us to guide our planning to improve the performance of our business and become an even better place to work.
How are remuneration levels determined?
In remunerating our staff, our philosophy is to pay market competitive rates (linked to performance), commensurate with our position in the market as one of the major law firms in Australia. Our casual/part-time paralegal staff are paid on an hourly basis.
As well as financial remuneration, the firm offers a range of benefits as well as a reward and recognition program for outstanding efforts.
What sort of feedback can I expect to receive on my performance?
We encourage our staff to seek feedback on their performance, and we believe that effective feedback is crucial to achieve the best from our people.
Whilst your supervising partner or manager will give you feedback on your work on an ongoing basis, the firm also conducts an annual performance review where the performance of all employees is measured against the firm’s attributes framework. In addition to this, development goals for the coming year are set.
What support networks exist in the firm?
While the firm encourages a culture of open communication between managers and staff, team members and throughout the firm in general, and support is therefore at your fingertips, one of the initiatives implemented as a result of our recent climate survey is the Mallesons Mentoring Program. This program is a support system designed for all staff which creates an opportunity for ongoing informal performance feedback, advice and career guidance.
What opportunities are there for career development?
We offer significant career development opportunities to our staff by providing them with challenging work within an environment that recognises and rewards excellence. Our Learning & Development team has designed a range of training programs which focus on both skills relevant to particular roles in the firm and also softer skills such as time management and communication skills, and we support continuing education.
We also encourage paralegals who are in their penultimate year of law studies and interested in progressing through to become practising lawyers with the firm to apply for our summer clerk program.
Does Mallesons recruit all year round or only at specific times?
Our Melbourne & Sydney centre recruits paralegals on a needs basis. To view our current vacancies, please visit our current opportunities pageand apply online.
If you have any other recruitment-related questions, please feel free to contact the Resourcing Consultant/ Centre Manager in the relevant office.