Summer clerkships (5 Viewers)

[Tabris]

Ok, all of the firms are open (have been for 2 weeks) for summer clerkship applications... anyone got some tips or have done it before??

There seems to be alot to fill out and i think i just dont have that much to say regarding some of the questions.....

 

[melsc]

Do any of the firms take 3rd years or do they all specify 4th years and above?

 

[Frigid]

it's mainly fourth years mel, although brilliant third years are not unheard of. but, from an employer's perspective, you would need to justify why you are better than a fourth year in employability.

 

[melsc]

Damn, after my last semester that might not be a good idea...

Good luck to all those applying though...

I presume mooting, mentoring and a legal related (shit kicker job) help?

 

[hfis]

Damn, after my last semester that might not be a good idea...

Good luck to all those applying though...

I presume mooting, mentoring and a legal related (shit kicker job) help?

Yes, yes and yes. And come graduate job time, a clerkship would help immeasurably. Many of the graduate intakes recruit directly from the clerkship programs, so I highly recommend that everyone who wants to sell their soul to big-city pracitce apply ASAP.

Tabris, re not having much to say: it is a test of your ability to bullshit and make yourself their whore. They do not care about your individuality, they care about your capacity to do what they want. You must convince them that you have wet dreams about commercial transactions by loosely paraphrasing the bulk of their website and extolling the virtues of 'the client'.

This advice may or may not hinder your job prospects and/or sanity.

 

[subdued123]

If you're interested in summer clerkships, make sure you read these articles (if you haven't already)

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24072517-17044,00.html
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24072831-17044,00.html
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24072840-17044,00.html
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24072832-17044,00.html
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24072520-17044,00.html

 

[Frigid]

soooooo.....


how did everyone's clerkship apples g[r]o[w]?

 

[neo o]

Applying is the easy part. Waiting until the first of September is the hard part

Oh, you changed go to grow, very good. Have you considered growing your career with Black Dawson?

 

[subdued123]

Have you considered growing your career with Black Dawson?

I hope you didn't write that on your cover letter!

 

[RogueAcademic]

Have you considered growing your career with Black Dawson?

Your response: "This is a black thing, isn't it.."

 

[Omnidragon]

Oh, you changed go to grow, very good. Have you considered growing your career with Black Dawson?

Why would you...

 

[neo o]

Why would you...

'twas a joke because their pitch at careers fair is 'grow your career with BDW' and while I didn't write that on my cover letter, or anything like it, I do think baby boomer recruiters would enjoy seeing corporate power words and cliches on a resume. Things like, 'pro-active approach to task management and problem solving'. I was just brutally honest, 'I know absolutely nothing, please teach me something, I will work for you like a little bitch and go to and not complain about your stupid weekend bbqs and corporate breakfasts.'

 

[Frigid]

sooo.... who else got slaughtered by Freehills?

 

[Bobness]

'twas a joke because their pitch at careers fair is 'grow your career with BDW' and while I didn't write that on my cover letter, or anything like it, I do think baby boomer recruiters would enjoy seeing corporate power words and cliches on a resume.

iawtc

I attended the Developing Young Lawyers program at BDW in the city last night, and when i mentioned how i found the squirrels in their company 'logo' endearing the female partner (or it might have been senior associate) who i was speaking with just jumped up all excited. We proceeded by speaking at lengths about how Blake Dawson took it from a cartoonist and that it showed the lighter side of the firm. I think i also somehow slipped in 'work / life' balance (as it showed the didn't take things too seriously) in the conversation.

Yeah. So use idiosyncratic slogans if you want to sell your soul to corporate firms

Nah i kid. It was really enlightening discovering the simple pleasures of client interviewing esp. in pro-bono work on the night

Frigid: you're in good hands. Cutharin3

 

[neo o]

By all accounts the senior partner at BDW Canberra is the complete opposite. In a final round interview when there were only 12 candidates left, she harangued a friend of mine over his distinction average. Comments like 'you did well in electives, but they mark those really easily' and 'with marks like those why did you even bother applying'. At a recruitment dinner when another friend approached her and said that he looked forward to applying to BDW because it seemed that the lawyers 'genuinely enjoyed their jobs at the firm and that there was no real sense of hierarchy' she went off at him about how she was the senior partner and that there most definitely was a hierarchy, in a rather unpleasant fashion.

 

[Frigid]

Frigid: you're in good hands. Cutharin3

you mean 'in good company'? i'm not sure what you're referring to....

 

[= Jennifer =]

iawtc

I attended the Developing Young Lawyers program at BDW in the city last night,

how did you apply for this because i was looking everywhere for this earlier in my degree and i could not find anything about it

 

[= Jennifer =]

has anyone heard back from any of the firms??

 

[Frigid]

herehttp://www.blakedawson.com/Templates/Generic/x_generic_content_page.aspx?id=52389 Jen...

i know of at least one big firm who will not be contacting people until the end of the week (ie Thursday 14th or Friday 15th). hang tight, she'll be right.

 

[Bobness]

how did you apply for this because i was looking everywhere for this earlier in my degree and i could not find anything about it

Unfortunately, i don't think this program is open to UWS students. This was stated on their site.

I applied here http://www.blakedawson.com/Templates/Generic/x_generic_content_page.aspx?id=52389.

edit: what frigid said