Paralegal

Paralegal Program – Melbourne Office

Jones Day is one of the world’s largest law firms, with 2,500 lawyers across 40 offices across the globe. In Australia we have offices in Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Sydney and our Australian teams work on high-profile, cross-border matters across a broad range of commercial practice areas.

Paralegal Program

Jones Day’s Melbourne office is seeking outstanding law students to join our Paralegal Program.

This is not your typical law firm paralegal role. It is an opportunity to gain meaningful, hands-on experience and training working on real matters as part of one of the world’s leading global law firms. The program is a pathway to a future career at Jones Day, just like a traditional clerkship.However, as an ongoing placement, working as a paralegal with us gives students a genuine insight into legal practice over an extended period, while allowing them to build strong relationships across the Firm and develop practical skills through day-to-day involvement in matters.

As part of a Firm with more than 40 offices around the world, paralegals will also gain exposure to the collaborative and cross-border nature of our work and experience first-hand what it means to work as “One Firm Worldwide”.

The Role

Paralegals will be employed on a casual basis and will ideally be asked to commit to a regular 2 days per week, although we may consider requests for 1 day per week in some circumstances. We will provide flexibility around university commitments, exams and changing study schedules. We also understand that students may wish to undertake clerkships with other firms before making big career decisions and will provide flexibility to allow for this.

Paralegals will work across the Melbourne office and will assist lawyers from all practice groups on a broad range of matters and projects. The ongoing nature of the program allows paralegals to develop deeper involvement in matters over time and gain a more realistic understanding of legal practice, teamwork and client relationships.

Paralegals will also have access to many of the training and development opportunities available to our graduates and junior lawyers, including internal training sessions, CLEs, practice group meetings and broader office events.

Our objective is to offer graduate roles to students who paralegal with us, subject of course to performance and fit. Students who receive graduate offers through the program will receive priority offers in accordance with the LIV Guidelines, without needing to separately apply for a graduate role.

Who We Are Looking For

The Paralegal Program is best suited to penultimate year law students (looking to start a graduate role in 2028), although exceptional candidates at other stages may also be considered.

Strong academic results are important, but they are only one part of our assessment process.

We are looking for students who are intelligent, commercially minded, collaborative and excited about the opportunity to work in a genuinely global law firm. We value qualities such as judgment, initiative, reliability, curiosity, drive and the ability to work well with others.

Applications

Applications are open now until Sunday 14 June 2026.

To apply, please submit your CV, academic transcript and a short cover letter outlining your interest in Jones Day and the program. Applications should be submitted via our application link.