SWS Lawyers is looking for exceptional Law Graduates to join our team in February ****, with the possibility of part-time work in the interim.
The Firm
SWS Lawyers is a specialist legal firm based in Newcastle. We do genuinely interesting mid-cap M&A;, capital raising and corporate advisory, challenging commercial litigation, intricate IP commercialisation and the complex end of environmental planning and property work.
We are unlike any other firm in Newcastle. We are not a general practice. We do not try to be all things to all people. We are not an insurance litigation firm, and we do not do personal injury, general litigation, family or criminal law. We employ specialist lawyers, we do the hard stuff, and we do it exceptionally well.
Our clients are remarkable people who do remarkable things. Many are backed by family groups, and all are led by impressively intelligent people and fantastic teams. They require best practice legal services to help them achieve their business and personal goals and we strive to provide the highest quality legal advice - first time, every time. We listen to and support our clients, and we are very proud of the fact that we act for premium regional, national and international businesses.
Our people provide advice with ingenuity and candour. We value passion and a strength of commitment, and we look for and reward positivity in all that we do. We like the less trodden path, and we are known for practical legal solutions that see our clients involve us in some of their most significant business decisions.
The success of SWS Lawyers as a boutique provider of sophisticated, high-quality legal services has seen the firm placed on several occasions as a finalist for Regional Law Firm of the Year at the Australian Law Awards. We proudly provided bro-bono legal services to the Australian Deaf Games held in January ****, Hunter Rugby and Newcastle Rugby Referees and we were crowned the HunterNet Member of the Year in **** for our work supporting manufacturing and engineering in the Hunter Valley.
What to Expect
Our legal advice and approach to representation is always targeted at improving our clients' businesses. We are seeking candidates who have done well at law school but are also genuinely interested in learning about our clients and what really creates value in their businesses. You will have an enquiring mind, and you will need to apply it to complex problems.
All our principals and partners of the firm have experience at large national or international law firms, at the NSW Bar, or as in-house counsel, and all had the benefit of solid mentoring and training from year one.



They value mentoring and make day-to-day on-the-job training a priority for all our graduates and junior lawyers. You will not be left to "just work it out". Fostering a supportive culture is what makes SWS a great workplace to learn and develop as a junior lawyer.
At SWS we also value work life balance – there is no expectation of burning the midnight oil just to be seen. When the pressure of a transaction or court deadline is looming, we are there for our clients; but all of us at SWS have lives outside of the office, so we knuckle down at work and keep sensible hours. You can expect to work hard; but you will also have time to enjoy all that Newcastle has to offer.
The Work
We are well known for our genuine expertise. Clients call on us to represent them when the chips are down, and the stakes are high. Each day and every enquiry presents new and interesting legal challenges. Our graduate roles do not involve repetitive process work using precedents and talking to a boss who directs you to the method or system that applies to a commonly occurring set of facts. The work you will become involved in is more likely to be 'one-off problem solving' that you may not see again for years, and it will demand careful and well-reasoned consideration of the law and its application.
Our Corporate Team is called on to advise clients raising capital or looking to complete M&A; deals with transaction values of between $10m and $200m. We assist clients to raise money for critical seed and working capital and completed complex cross-border private equity transactions. We close 8 to 10 M&A; deals in a typical year, and we work on governance, complex structuring, financing and shareholder matters for our clients.
Our Litigation Team is continuously engaged in interesting and challenging work. We are proud to offer our clients corporate and commercial litigation expertise that means they don't need to seek out Sydney-based representation. We regularly provide advice on shareholder disputes, intellectual property protection, construction matters and on a wide range of consumer law issues for clients with sophisticated and specialist consumer products.



Our litigation partner spent nearly a decade at the NSW Bar and has significant interlocutory and advocacy experience that he is very willing to share with graduate and junior team members.
The SWS Property and Environment Team supports a growing client base that is looking for practical and timely advice to complete property deals, enhance and develop land use, solve complex environmental problems and prosecute arguments. Our lawyers are involved in complex advice and transactional work and work closely with architects, planners and developers to support our client's projects. Our planning lawyers regularly represent clients in the Land and Workplace Court, when a commercial or practical solution does not present itself.
The Day-to-Day
Unlike in big and mid-size firms in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne - as a Graduate with SWS Lawyers you won't be at the bottom of a pyramid under a Special Counsel, Senior Associate, Associates and other Lawyers – you'll be working side by side every day with experienced Principals and Partners who have a genuine commitment to investing in and mentoring you.
Our Graduates will tell you that, from their earliest days, they have had direct client contact and been involved in drafting and negotiating documents and transaction management; briefed and instructed counsel; and participated in site visits to assess complex environment, planning and property law issues. All of this is done with a strong safety net of team and principal mentoring support.
We offer our new Graduates the opportunity to:
Work on top quality legal work in corporate, mergers and acquisitions, property and planning and commercial litigation.
Gain invaluable experience working directly with Principals in a small, close-knit team, with client engagement from day one.
Live and work in the heart of Newcastle.
Your Call
We only take a limited number of Graduates each year to make sure each new Graduate gets the support and opportunities to learn quickly and well.Our current team and alumni, who represent a stellar cross-section of the next generation of lawyers, tell us the recruitment process helped clarify whether SWS was right for them and that's why it is so important to us.
We also have opportunities for paralegal work during the year and some of our applicants start as a paralegal during their final year at law school, before transitioning to the SWS Graduate Program.
To be eligible for this role, you will be a final-year law student or recent graduate and available to commence as a Law Graduate in the following February.
Applications Close - 5.00 pm on Friday, 11 September ****
Commencement Date - 8.30 am on Monday, 9 February ****
Interviews for selected candidates will be conducted promptly.
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📌 Graduate Lawyer (Newcastle)
🏢 SWS Lawyers
📍 Newcastle