2027 Sydney Graduate Program

About the Opportunity

Join a leading insurance law firm and work on complex, high-stakes matters from day one. As part of Kennedys' growing Australian practice, you'll develop expertise alongside top-tier lawyers while connecting to our global insurance law network and international opportunities.

The Program

Our 12-month Graduate Program is designed to launch your legal career with comprehensive experience across our core practice areas. You'll complete three rotations through Insurance, Liability, Commercial and/or Healthcare, giving you broad exposure to specialist legal work and the opportunity to discover your areas of interest.

What You'll Do

As a Law Graduate at Kennedys, you'll play a key role supporting Partners and senior lawyers on active files across a diverse range of tasks:

• Conduct legal research and prepare chronologies
• Assist with drafting court forms, pleadings and legal documents
• Prepare first draft advice under supervision
• Attend meetings and prepare detailed attendance notes
• Draft correspondence to parties and courts
• Review medical records and expert evidence
• Support trial preparation activities
• Attend mediations and settlement conferences
• Co-author articles with senior lawyers for publication

Your Development

We're committed to your professional growth through:

• Comprehensive technical training including in-house and external seminars
• Live facilitated skills training throughout the year
• A dedicated buddy for the full 12 months
• Partner and senior lawyer supervision and mentorship in each rotation
• Autonomy and direct client contact from an early stage
• Fully funded Practical Legal Training (PLT) through The College of Law
• Study leave provided, including for admission
• Transition to an Associate position with a permanent contract upon successful completion of the program

What We're Looking For

To be successful in our Graduate Program, you will:

• Demonstrate academic excellence throughout your tertiary studies
• Be naturally curious with strong research skills and excellent attention to detail
• Communicate clearly and directly in writing and conversation
• Take initiative in problem-solving and show leadership potential
• Work collaboratively, supporting colleagues and contributing to team success
• Be adaptable and resilient in a fast-paced environment
• Manage multiple priorities with strong organisational skills
• Be ambitious in your professional development and eager to take on responsibility

We value graduates who are approachable in their interactions, straightforward in their communication, supportive of their colleagues, and ambitious about their career growth. You don't need prior knowledge of insurance law - we'll teach you the technical expertise. What matters is that you're ready to learn, contribute meaningfully, and embrace the opportunity to build something distinctive in your legal career.

Hear from Our Graduates

Get the inside story from 2025 Sydney Graduates: Discover what drew them to Kennedys and what advice they have for you.

Eligibility to Apply

To be considered for our graduate program, you must be completing or have recently completed a Bachelor's degree in Law (LLB) or a Juris Doctor (JD), and hold permanent Australian working rights. This program is for students in their final year of study in 2026 who will complete their degree by February 2027, or recent graduates not yet in professional employment.

Application Closing date: Sunday 5 April 2026

Recruitment Process

1. Online application form, attaching your resume and university transcript
2. Video Interview
3. Partner Interviews will be held from 13 May to 25 May (in-person for candidates based in Sydney)
4. Offers extended on Wednesday 3 June
5. Offer Acceptance Deadline 1pm Thursday 4 June

Please let us know if you require any additional support or adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process.

About Kennedys

Kennedys is a global law firm with expertise in dispute resolution and advisory services. With over 2,900 people worldwide across 46 offices in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific and America we have some of the most respected legal minds in their field.

Our lawyers handle both contentious and non-contentious matters, and provide a range of specialist legal services, for many industry sectors but we have particular expertise in litigation and dispute resolution, especially in defending insurance and liability claims.

We're a fresh-thinking firm, and we're not afraid to bring challenging new perspectives to the table way beyond the traditional realm of legal services. We empower our clients with a diverse range of ideas, tools and technology to make their lives easier, as well as delivering exceptional results, every time.

What do we have to offer?

We welcome high-performing lawyers, business services professionals, secretaries, graduates and apprentices to join our rapidly expanding global firm. Whatever your role at Kennedys, you'll be involved in exciting and stimulating work, where your input will make a difference.

Our culture and values form a big part of who we are and we take them seriously. We make a difference by being approachable, straightforward, supportive, distinctive and ambitious. Our values are at the core of who we are and what make us a great firm to work with and for.

The Firm recognises the value of investing in our people's development and believes our culture and values contribute to the quality of our work and of our client relationships. With a culture of on-the-job and experiential learning, peer to peer learning, mentoring, resources and tools that enable you to drive your career, we can support your development in your current and future roles.  A variety of other opportunities are available including secondments to clients and our global offices.

We strive to celebrate diversity, empower our people and ensure everyone can bring their authentic selves to work.  We've created a culture based on client service, professional excellence, hard work and trust, where diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is a key priority.  We recognise that many of our people want to work for an employer that is aligned to their values, which is why we are building an inclusive culture, decarbonising our operations and supporting our people to thrive at work.  Our people are the key to driving this change and helping us to make a difference to our clients, our people and the communities in which we live and work.

Kennedys is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. We expect all employees to be aware of and comply with all relevant policies and procedures within their jurisdiction, including those relating to Information Security, Data Protection and Quality Management, refer any breach promptly to Risk & Compliance and to complete all mandatory training when requested.