Victorian Clerkship

JANA NGUYEN

Juris Doctor UWA Class of 2022

The clerkship season (if you decide to go through it) is by far the most stressful and draining part of your law degree. There’s a lot going on and you’ll get information hurled at you left, right and centre. If you’re someone that’s thinking of venturing into the clerkship process over east, you might have questions where the answers are not as accessible. However, not to worry! I’ll do my best to share some tips and insights about my experience applying in Melbourne. I had quite a few reasons for applying for a clerkship over east 1. I was interested in working interstate at some stage after my law degree 2. I was interested in the type of work and the legal market over there (ie I’m not much of a mining law fanatic) 3. Mere curiosity. While I was keen to shoot my shot at working interstate, I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket, so I applied for a mix of clerkships in both Perth and Melbourne.

Melbourne Clerkship Process The clerkship process in Melbourne is pretty much the same as in Perth. The key difference is that Melbourne adopts the Law Institute of Victoria’s (LIV) guidelines. These guidelines are signed by almost all of the firms and set out details as to when applications open/close and what offers can be given etc. I highly recommend checking out these guidelines as you will notice the Melbourne clerkship dates are a good three weeks behind the Perth dates. This will mean that you will likely be left waiting on edge for a few extra weeks after all your friends find out and celebrate their offers in Perth. However, there is usually a wider window for submitting clerkship applications in Melbourne compared to Perth so there’s more time to perfect that cover letter. Make sure you know your reasons for applying One of the biggest things to factor into applying for clerkships over east is the pool of law students (and really good law students) is significantly larger. With Melbourne being a larger city, with an internationally recognised and ranked law school, the competition is much greater. The work experience and extracurricular opportunities that many candidates over east have are also superior to what’s available in Perth (e.g., working or interning at law reform commissions/policy centres/barrister chambers/more opportunity to get involved in charities and non-for-profits… the list goes on). Given many firms (particularly the big six commercial law firms) have offices in Perth, the question you need to ask yourself when you’re applying and ‘answer’ in your application is ‘Why should they offer someone based in Perth a Melbourne clerkship?’ For me, one of my main reasons was exposure to a larger legal services market away from the niches of Perth’s prominent mining and resources sector. Be prepared to discuss the ‘Why Melbourne’ question at length in interviews because you will most certainly be asked.

Sell your unique qualities/experiences I used to get so annoyed when I would ask older students or lawyers for clerkship tips and they would come back with the cliché, classic response of ‘BE YOURSELF!’. Well, having gone through the process, I am telling you it’s one of the best tips in trying to sell yourself in the pool of law students over east. A useful thing to remember is that cities like Melbourne and Sydney don’t just get applications from students within their respective cities – there are applications from other cities like Adelaide, Brisbane and Hobart where many large firms don’t have offices in. I think the key tip here is you want to make sure you stand out in your application and interview. Bring your personality, draw on those experiences or situations that are unique to living/ studying/working in Perth, using them to tailor your answer back to the question – but also bringing it back to the overall question of ‘Why Melbourne’.

Do your research about the firms This might seem like general clerkship advice you’d receive if you were applying for Perth clerkships, but it is probably one of the biggest must-do’s in applying for clerkships over east. If you’re applying for a firm over east that doesn’t have a presence in Perth (e.g., US international firms or other mid-tiers), showing that you have researched (have shown an interest) into the firm, their work and other random news/insights will likely earn you brownie points with HR/your interviewer. The fact you have gone to discover the firm in the first place, where they may not have HR representatives coming to career fairs to advertise the firm already shows initial interest and initiative. So, if you can execute the ‘Why [insert firm]’ question on top of that, it will put you in good stead. Another tip to note is to do your research about the process of each firm and to seek advice or read up on blogs (Law students over east go NUTS on Whirlpool forums – so this might be helpful. However, I will disclaim that nothing is ever verified or guaranteed to be accurate, but it’s a good starting point if you don’t know anyone else to ask for insider information). I can only speak to the firm I applied for in Melbourne, which was a US international firm which had the application, online testing, a video interview and 2 rounds of partner interviews. There was no cocktail night, and the interviews were online, so I adjusted my interview preparation accordingly. In other years, many candidates from Perth have flown over for interviews/cocktails nights and if that is the case for you, I recommend checking out Calvin Rokich’s Victorian Clerkship Applications article in the 2020/2021 Careers handbook. Be strategic about where you apply If you’re planning to apply for clerkships in multiple cities, I would highly recommend being strategic about the office you apply to and not applying to multiple offices for the same firm. Some firms will explicitly state this on their website, but I also think it doesn’t really help with showing why you want to work or move to a particular city. The decision is a lot scarier when you have to factor this, but it means you can spend as much time as possible tailoring your application to a particular firm and city.

There’s no denying the clerkship process is tough – but if you prepare well and show genuine interest, it can be immensely satisfying. Best of luck!