Joining our legal team

Working with us

Whether you are in your final year at university or whether you are looking for a change in career, the following steps provide guidance as to how you may attain professional qualification as an intellectual property lawyer.

Gaining admission as a legal practitioner

We normally hire lawyers who have already completed their articles, or who have completed the Practical Training Course at the Leo Cussen Institute or at a similar organisation.

We occasionally offer articled clerkships.  Please refer to our Graduate Opportunities page for more details.

Pathways into Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick Lawyers

Most of our lawyers hold dual law and science or engineering degrees, but we are also interested in strong applicants who do not hold this second qualification. We look for prior experience in intellectual property in our candidates; however we also hire lawyers with more general experience in the practice of commercial law.

While we hire lawyers directly into our law firm, some of our lawyers have joined us via our Attorney firm after gaining experience and qualifying as a patent attorney.

What our staff say

BSc LLB LLM FIPTA

Magda graduated with a Science major in Chemistry combined with a Law degree from University of Melbourne. She joined Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick Lawyers in 2007 and was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2008. In her time with POF she has gained experience in a range of matters relating to patent, design, trademark, copyright and trade practices issues.

Magda has been involved in patent and trademark litigation in the Federal Court and opposition matters before the Trade Marks Office and Patents Office. Magda is currently working within the Litigation team.

At POF I've had the opportunity to pursue a career that builds on both my science and law background. The work has been diverse and I've had the opportunity to work in different teams within the firm. I have enjoyed working in the the Chemistry team with clients on registering and protecting their patents. This has been really valuable in extending my experience and skill set.