This document is a basic, short form agreement for employment, suitable for use with employment of permanent, non-award employees (both full time and part time) who are in the positions of legal professional [eg Lawyer, Senior Associate, Special Counsel] with a legal practice.

It contains many optional clauses that may be either retained or discarded depending on the circumstances of the situation. However it does not attempt to contain all possible clauses; additional clauses are available separately to deal with more unusual scenarios (eg restraint clauses, travel expenses, pre-employment check, etc). The agreement also contains shorter form confidentiality and intellectual property; longer form clauses are available separately.

There is also a longer form employment agreement available separately that is not specific to a legal professional. (See “Basic employment agreement (long form)”.)

Schedule 1 provides space for a detailed description of the duties to be performed.

This document has been co-authored for LexisNexis by Joe Catanzariti, Vice President of the Fair Work Commission, Sydney and Michael Byrnes, Special Counsel, Clayton Utz, Sydney.

This document is prepared with the assistance of Specialist Editor Justine Turnbull, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw Australia.