Clerking at HSF

the market for at least the following 3 years. That said, no one knows what their ‘forever’ holds when they graduate – the first few years can be trial and error. Working at a large law firm employer gives you scope to change path if you need it as well as grow within your speciality once you find it.

CLERKING AT HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS

RECENT CLERKS

Why did you apply to, and accept an offer from HSF? • The interview process was quite conversational and more friendly than expected; • Both HR representatives and senior lawyers made a noticeable effort to get to know the applicants. Examples included the breakfast networking event where there was a oneto-one ratio of student applicants to lawyers (ranging from graduates to partners) and the

“HSF Interview Workshops” event, which was helpful because the presenters gave clear examples of what to do and what to avoid; • HSF has an excellent reputation for all aspects of commercial law, both within Australia and internationally; • The opportunity for international secondments; • The exceptional graduate training that comes with being at a firm like HSF; • A strong culture of corporate social responsibility, impactful pro-bono work and diversity and inclusion policies; and • From hearing about HSF through relationships built throughout the degree, whether through firm presentations, networking events or otherwise. Commerciality is a topic that students are frequently asked about in applications and interviews. What unique experiences did you have, and how did you speak to them to demonstrate your interest in commercial law? •I was fortunate because I had a wide variety of work experiences to talk about. Although I had not worked in commercial law before, I had previously been exposed to the commercial environment working in finance and accounting.

This was helpful. Firstly, they aided in illustrating why I am passionate about pursuing a career in commercial law. Secondly, they gave me an idea of what practice groups interested me.

Lastly, they gave me applicable examples of how I have developed my professional and personal skills. •However, I do not believe that it is fatal if you do not have any or much commercial experience. You can use any relevant work or life experiences in your interview to demonstrate an interest in commercial law. For example,

I discussed how overseas work motivated me to work in an industry with a wealth of opportunities. Moreover, interesting and unique non-commercial experiences are just as relevant to demonstrate an interest in commercial law.

My advice when thinking of how to answer the

‘why commercial law’ question is to be honest and draw upon applicable as well as diverse/ unique experiences (whether they be through work, volunteering, hobbies, life etc). •I had fortunately already worked in a commercial law firm for a few months, as well as in a finance company, so I was able to talk to both of these experiences in applications and interviews when asked about commerciality. However, I know many people who had different experiences and were able to speak about commerciality by staying aware of current affairs and business news. My tip would be to read a publication such as the Australian Financial Review every so often during the application and interview process. Pick a news story that you find interesting because it will be easier for you to speak about something you’re interested in. But, don’t get too stressed about these questions – they’re not asking you to solve huge commercial disputes or run a transaction just yet!

•Volunteering for a management consulting charity (WAUC) allowed me to draw on some real life case experience. For example - looking at financial data from a client in light of current economic conditions to suggest an alternate strategy. •It’s all about tying your ability to understand business (commerciality) to demonstrate that whilst the law can be black and white, tailoring advice to a client means you have to understand the commercial interests/exposures of that client as well. •I didn’t really have any commerciality experience, which worried me a bit going into the clerkship process. I had only worked in small businesses before – but everything counts. Being on the ground of a small business counts as commercial experience and is definitely worth talking about. More often than not, applicants are in their early 20s and can’t be expected to have a vast array of commercial experience so just work with what you’ve got.

When asking around for interview tips, it’s common to hear advice such as research the firm and prepare questions for the interviewers. How did you go about this (and preparation more generally)? There is no right way to prepare for an interview and everyone is different. Prepare in a way that makes you feel relaxed and confident for your interview. A good first step is to review your resume, cover letter and application to ensure you’re familiar with them. This is important as you will be questioned on them, and you need to be able to comfortably discuss them. Secondly, brainstorm the things you want to research and the questions you would like to prepare. One way is to divide the research into three aspects: firm research, general questions and standard behavioural questions. As for firm research, our interviewees looked at HSF’s website to find out their history, values, and practice groups. They researched HSF’s corporate social responsibility and pro-bono work nationally and in Perth. They also researched the people interviewing me, their practice group, and interesting/recent developments in their practice group. This last stage was important as it allowed the interviewees to better frame their responses and to ask engaging questions at the conclusion of their interview. It is worth preparing for questions such as: • Why do you want to work at HSF? • Why do you want to work in commercial law? • Why should we give you a vacation clerkship? • What is an interesting legal or commercial development or matter?’ It’s also worth preparing for behavioural questions. They will be in every interview you do. They can be difficult to answer in an interview environment under time pressure. If you Google search “behavioural questions”, there are countless resources that you can use to prepare. One interviewee dot-pointed experiences for each, focusing on how these experiences shaped them and why they made them a good cultural fit. By doing this, they hoped that as soon as they heard a “buzzword”, they knew what experience to talk about immediately. Key “buzzwords” might include: • Time pressure, Leadership, Teamwork, Challenge,

Organisation and time management skills,

Initiative, Made an important decision, Dedication,

Adaptability, Failure and criticism, Communication and client facing skills, Problem solving

How did you go about preferencing your clerkship practice group? Are there any disadvantages to picking a group you’re interested in, but have no prior experience? The strong consensus among the interviewees is to preference practice groups based on areas of genuine personal interest. •Firstly, it’s much easier to motivate yourself to work hard, ask questions and get to know the practice areas and the lawyers better if you have a genuine interest in the field. •Secondly, the whole point of clerkships is to find out which areas you’re interested in. You might think you’re set on being a commercial litigation guru when at uni but might discover you really like front-end work. •Thirdly, HSF (like any other employer) obviously expects you to do good work and be competent.

But they rate attitude and interest above all else.

No one expects you to come in as an expert on employment law or the nuances of energy and resources law. If you’re prepared to give things a genuine go, ask lots of questions and absorb the feedback given, you’ll be in good stead.