
We offer a number of summer clerk and graduate opportunities each year across our 5 offices reaching from Auckland to Queenstown. Our summer clerk programme runs from November to February, and our graduates join the firm in March.

Staff: 52 partners, 145+ lawyers
Contact: Candice Petersen, Senior P&C Advisor
We value your career. That’s why we create opportunities to get to know you. We’ll welcome your fresh ideas, include you as part of our client team from day one, and enjoy celebrating your success along the way.
About the firm
At Duncan Cotterill, we take opportunities when they arise. It’s this enterprising attitude that’s led us to set up and grow offices in five distinct markets. It’s helped us to build an energetic, diverse and collegial partnership. And it’s what’s attracted enterprising people and organisations to work with us … time after time.
Areas of expertise
- Competition and antitrust
- Construction and Projects
- Corporate and Commercial
- Data Protection and Privacy
- Employment, Health and Safety
- Immigration
- Insolvency and Restructuring
- Insurance · Intellectual Property
- Litigation and Dispute Resolution
- Not-for-profits and Social Enterprises
- Private Client, Family and Relationship
- Property
- Technology and Cyber
- Trusts
- Tax
Opportunities for students
We offer several summer clerk and graduate opportunities each year across our 5 offices reaching from Auckland to Queenstown. Our summer clerk programme runs from November to February, and our graduates join the firm in March.
We invest a lot of time in making sure our graduates and summer clerks have a rewarding experience and are given the tools they need to become excellent lawyers. Therefore, we are very proud of our achievement and being listed as winners of the Law category for the Grad New Zealand Top 100 Graduate Employers list for 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Working at the firm
Duncan Cotterill is a full-service law firm with approximately 300 employees and 52 partners nationwide. It is our enterprising attitude that has led us to set up and grow offices in five distinct markets. It’s also helped us build an energetic, diverse and collegial partnership. It is what has attracted innovative people and organisations to work with us.
We live and breathe our values at Duncan Cotterill; He Tangata, Enterprising, Excellence and Authenticity. We value your career. We’ll welcome your fresh ideas, include you as part of our client team from day one, and celebrate your success along the way.

Meet Emily King
Graduate
“Duncan Cotterill is deeply invested in my professional growth, consistently providing opportunities for development.”
What inspired you to pursue a career in law?
The legal profession offers an incredible breadth of opportunities, allowing you to engage with diverse people and on a wide range of topics. Whether it’s business, sustainability, family law, healthcare, intellectual or property, indigenous, law provides a unique chance to align your work with your passions and interests.
What truly drew me to law is its combination of intellectual challenge and the ability to make a tangible impact. I wanted a career that would both challenge and reward me, and the legal profession offers exactly that.
How did you choose your area of specialisation?
Choosing a specialty wasn’t straightforward for me. I thought about where I wanted to be in five years and what that would look like. I also reflected on my strengths, both in law and working with people, and chose an area that aligned with them. Ultimately, I asked myself if I was passionate about the work and excited to pursue it.
Can you describe a typical day at your firm?
A typical day at the firm begins with a coffee from the machine to kickstart the morning. I then review and respond to emails to stay on top of my tasks. As a graduate, my day involves drafting contracts, attending meetings with clients and colleagues, and collaborating on various projects. I take a break for lunch, often enjoying time in the sun at Britomart Square. Throughout the day, I make a few stops at the biscuit drawer for a quick snack and share plenty of laughs with the team.
What skills do you find most valuable in your current role?
Law school teaches you the fundamentals of the law, but once you enter the workforce, soft skills become just as important — things like communication, adaptability, and problem-solving. In practice, you’re dealing with real-world situations, so it’s crucial to step back and approach issues with a practical mindset.
How does your firm support professional development and career growth?
Duncan Cotterill is deeply invested in my professional growth, consistently providing opportunities for development. The firm has supported my participation in numerous courses and programmes that I believe will significantly enhance my skills. By prioritising my personal development, they recognise its direct impact on the overall success of the firm.
What are the firm’s values and how do they influence your work?
Authenticity: One of the main reasons I enjoy working here is the freedom to be myself. I’m surrounded by genuine, down-to-earth colleagues who truly care about my success, creating an environment where I can thrive both personally and professionally.
Excellence: I am continually encouraged to perform at my best. This push to achieve excellence allows me to produce work that I’m proud of, knowing it meets the highest standards and reflects my true capabilities.
Enterprising: I’ve learned to proactively identify and pursue opportunities for innovation. The firm encourages me to use my initiative, empowering me to think creatively and contribute to positive change within our work.
He Tāngata: This value is the most influential in my role and is what I appreciate most about my job. I feel genuinely cared for and valued, which fosters a strong sense of belonging and gratitude. It’s this culture of respect and support that motivates me every day.
How does the firm handle work-life balance for its employees?
Duncan Cotterill is a pioneer in fostering work-life balance and flexibility. The firm values the importance of completing work efficiently without compromising personal time. It offers ongoing support to help employees meet their professional goals while ensuring they maintain a healthy balance between work and life. This commitment allows employees to thrive both in their careers and in their personal lives.
What opportunities for advancement exist within the firm?
At Duncan Cotterill, there are excellent opportunities for advancement from the very start. In my first year, I was given the chance to attend business development and networking events. These experiences have allowed me to build meaningful relationships with industry professionals and expand my network, providing a solid foundation for my growth and future advancement.
How does the firm stay ahead of industry trends and changes?
Duncan Cotterill is proactive in staying ahead of industry trends and changes, particularly in the realm of artificial intelligence. The firm has provided opportunities to trial cutting-edge AI software specifically designed for the legal industry. In addition, we regularly participate in events and training programs that ensure we remain at the forefront of emerging developments.
What advice would you give to someone considering a career at your firm?
My advice to anyone considering a career at Duncan Cotterill is to embrace every opportunity that comes your way—it’s important to make your presence known and build connections. Don’t be afraid to dive into new challenges; there’s always support available when you need it. Remember, don’t compare yourself to others—everyone brings unique strengths and skills to the table, and all are equally valuable. Finally, apply for the graduate program at Duncan Cotterill—you won’t regret it. It’s an experience that offers both professional growth and personal satisfaction.

Meet Bridget Craig
Graduate
“The support at DC is fantastic – from day one the seniors and the partners take an active and genuine interest in the juniors and the type of work they want more exposure to.”
What inspired you to pursue a career in law?
My favourite subjects at school were English and History. I was the youngest of four siblings who shared the exact same love language: arguing about everything and anything under the sun. I also used to constantly probe my family with ‘why’s’ whenever they expressed an opinion… I have always been a bit of a “people-person” and loved helping solve problems for people, so pursuing a career in professional legal services seemed like a clear choice. (Also, the maths and science subjects used to go in one ear and out the other, so that further cleared that question up for me).
How did you choose your area of specialisation?
I tried as wide a range of papers at uni as I possibly could, but it wasn’t easy to figure out what I enjoyed. The only way I figured it out was by eliminating areas I knew I wasn’t passionate about. I went through a range of papers one by one, and on day two of my first semester of my employment law paper, it hit me like a tonne of bricks. Further advice I would give is, it’s okay to now know for sure what area you’d like to specialise in, and it’s very rare for someone to figure that out quickly as well. Just take as many opportunities as you can, take part in as many competitions as possible and expose yourself to as wide a range of areas as possible. Also, you never know where your career will take you or where you’ll end up, and maybe 7 years down the line you might find that your learning of that one random paper ends up solving a massive issue for a really important client!
Can you describe a typical day at your firm?
A typical day at DC can range massively! Depending on what team you are in and how what the overall workflow is like, it can be hard to describe with certainty. One thing that is not uncertain is that every day of the week will start with the team either all lining up to use the coffee machines or running over to Amano for a little BD / catch up. As a new grad / clerk, a typical day would likely involve doing some research on a really niche legal point and then doing a deep dive into all the case law you can find on that point. You’ll also probably get asked to sense check and proof-read some letters and legal opinions that someone else has spent two days staring at). You might also get asked to do a first review of some documents that a client has sent over, or you might be lucky enough to get a big discovery file to sink your teeth into. Then on a nice day you might go and spend your lunch in the sun out in Britomart square with all the other grads in the city!
What skills do you find most valuable in your current role?
Having a good attention to detail is a key skill that I find the most valuable. As a grad, a lot of your job is simply to make sure the seniors’ lives are easier and smoother. This will mean there will be a lot of proof reading, sense checking, and being asked to give a fresh pair of eyes on a memo. They have probably stared at it for days and are highly likely to have missed a thing or two, if you can be the person who saves a senior from filing a document with an embarrassing typo, you’ll likely be the favourite a long time.
Time management is one of the most valuable skills one can have. As a grad you will have several people giving you a task, all from different sides of the office, and none of whom are communicating with each other about prioritisation or timelines. It’s really important to ask questions at the outset and be aware of the expectations around the task and communicating your capacity and priorities back to them. Either way, being able to manage your time effectively and communicate clearly about what you have capacity for, makes yours and everyone else’s jobs easier.
How does your firm support professional development and career growth?
The support at DC is fantastic – from day one the seniors and the partners take an active and genuine interest in the juniors and the type of work they want more exposure to. The mentors at DC take a really proactive approach to trying to find work that you’re interested in and are great at providing substantive and constructive feedback to help you advance quicker. In saying that, DC is a very open and supportive environment, and if there’s an area that you see a gap in and want to carve something out, everyone will be very quick to help you figure out how to get there.
What are the firm’s values and how do they influence your work?
DC’s first firm value is authenticity – everyone at the firm works hard to establish genuine and transparent relationships with each other, and with their clients. As a grad you can see this really clearly from day one, by how invested in the juniors everyone within the firm is. The values of Excellence and Enterprising are demonstrated every day in the range and quality of experience of lawyers across all offices. The high-quality full-service nature of the work we do makes DC stand out amongst the rest and you can see it first hand through the great feedback we receive from clients. The value He tangata is clearly demonstrated in the way everyone interacts within the firm. There is a real people and culture focus at DC and you can tell that people are cared about here.
How does the firm handle work-life balance for its employees?
This was a question I was very interested in when I started – the work life balance at DC is really great and everyone would say the same thing. Especially as a grad, everyone is mostly focused on you learning as much as possible and getting exposed to as many different types of work as you can. There definitely may be a few days where you get given a meaty job that just simply takes a grad or clerk a bit longer to complete, but it’s a very rare thing to be expected to complete something which is going to require you to stay beyond 5:30.
What opportunities for advancement exist within the firm?
If you are looking to start an enterprising legal career DC is definitely the place to look. People at all levels really take the time to listen to and understand what it is that you’re interested in and where you may be looking at taking your career. Everyone here is encouraged to take opportunities and look for gaps where they see them, and you can clearly see the success of this method by looking at the number of people who start and end up at DC. When starting as a grad, there is so much room and support in growing your career.
How does the firm stay ahead of industry trends and changes?
DC has a wealth of specialist legal experts, spanning a variety of different fields who have their ear to the ground on industry changes. Our lawyers are constantly building their skillset and researching changes and areas for growth in the legal and wider commercial sector. Each of DC’s five offices host frequent panels with experts and other industry professionals to discuss key trends they are noticing with businesses and how government/legislative changes may impact them.
What advice would you give to someone considering a career at your firm?
Take the time to understand what sets DC apart from other firms. Also, the firm offers plenty of opportunities to help juniors learn and grow, so anyone joining should be ready to contribute meaningfully – no matter how big or small the task is. Finally, ask questions about everything, no student knows anything about practical legal work immediately after leaving university, and no one expects you to!