Readers
Reading on the Sixth Floor provides an invaluable opportunity to work with and learn from some of Australia’s leading barristers. Entry is highly competitive, as we only select those who will maintain standards of excellence.
Through our annex in Lockhart Chambers, the Sixth Floor provides a unique and supportive environment for readers and more junior barristers and promotes a warm, friendly and collegiate spirit amongst its members. The Floor annually rotates members between Selborne/Wentworth and the floor annex, and offers mentoring opportunities with members of the Sixth Floor executive after the reading year, to assist in practice development. Members of the Sixth Floor also enjoy a diverse social and sporting calendar. Most readers who successfully complete their reading year are invited to remain on the Sixth Floor as licensees. More details can be obtained from our reader and licensee policy. Applicants may also wish to review the Sixth Floor’s Parental Leave Policy.
In considering applications to read on the Sixth Floor, our selection committee looks for a combination of outstanding academic results, relevant experience and an aptitude for oral and written advocacy. In the past, applicants have come from all over Australia and with a variety of legal backgrounds. Some have worked as solicitors for major law firms, both nationally and internationally, and several have been associates to Justices of the High Court and other courts. Others have worked in smaller local firms or as government lawyers. The recent trend is for successful applicants to have post-graduate law degrees, although this is not a pre-requisite.
Readers are assigned individual readers rooms but are not required to pay rent or floor fees, only incidental disbursements. Readers are each expected to have a member of the Sixth Floor as one of their pupil masters.
The Sixth Floor usually invites four new readers each year: two from the readers’ course in May and two from the readers’ course in September, but this combination may vary as circumstances change.
Applications for reading positions on the Sixth Floor should be addressed to the Clerk at lstewart@sixthfloor.com.au. Applicants should include a comprehensive description of relevant experience, a full academic transcript, the names and contact particulars of referees and details of any Sixth Floor members they have worked or studied with. Applicants are also encouraged to detail their extracurricular activities and interests, including any community service. It is helpful if applications can be forwarded to the Clerk as one attachment.
Applications to read from May and September 2021 have now closed. Applications for May and September 2023 must be directed to the Clerk before Thursday 27 January 2022. Applications are usually assessed and interviews conducted in early February, with offers made shortly thereafter.