Aus Legal Careers Advance

" The Jobless Lawyer's Handbook - How to Get Hired as a Lawyer " by  Brian H. Potts :  https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7143752086655021056/ Photo by Studio Media on Unsplash While law school provides you with a legal education, the unfortunate reality is that law school doesn't teach you how to land a job in the law. Brian H. Potts' book " The Jobless Lawyer's Handbook - How to Get Hired as a Lawyer "  is a frank and practical step-by-step guide on how to land a job as a lawyer.  Brian Potts is a partner at international law firm Perkins Coie. While Brian's book is probably targeted at an American audience, here are just some of my key takeaways which are just as relevant for Australian law students: " Here’s the bottom line: for many of you, getting a legal job is going to be hard. Very hard. So, don’t half-ass your attempt ." This is particularly true for the most sought-after roles in the law, such as BigLaw cle...

As a pre-penultimate year student, you are generally not eligible for most internship, vacationer and clerkship programs.  However, as explained in What makes a competitive applicant for clerkship, vacationer, internship or graduate positions? , this fact does not mean that you need to wait (or should be waiting) until your penultimate year to obtain work experience (whether it is legal or non-legal experience). This post focuses on examples of "legal experience" and tangential experience which pre-penultimate year law students could be considering.  However: remember that "legal experience" is not the only form of work experience valued by law firms and other legal employers.  For example, customer service experience is valuable to employers as such experience tends to demonstrate the proven ability to work with clients and customers.  The importance of "other" experience is perhaps evidenced by the fact that there will be always some seasonal clerks who,...

As seasonal clerkship applications start to close in NSW, many students are frantically proofreading and checking their cover letters before submission. The cover letter is the first thing that the law firm recruitment representative reads before they turn to your resume.  Accordingly, it is perhaps the most important document in your application and is what gets you or costs you an interview at that firm.  For example, addressing the wrong law firm in your cover letter will certainly cost you an interview because it suggests a lack of attention to detail and care (as well as a lack of interest in that particular firm). Photo by Unseen Studio on Unsplash As someone who was able to score a few clerkship and graduate interviews back in the day, here is my checklist of the things that you could consider before submitting your cover letter for clerkship and graduate applications. ALCA Seasonal Clerkship Cover Letter Checklist Checklist item ✓ ...

As seasonal clerkship applications start to close in NSW, many students are frantically proofreading and checking their resumes before submission. A resume enables the recruiter to form their first impression of you.  An error or mistake on your resume (which could be replicated across multiple firms if you use the same resume across the board) can suggest to law firms that you lack attention to detail.  Therefore, your resume can either get you or cost you an interview.  Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash As someone who was able to score a few clerkship and graduate interviews back in the day, here is my checklist of the things that you could consider before submitting your resume for clerkship and graduate applications. ALCA Seasonal Clerkship Resume Checklist Checklist item ✓     Structure of your resume – the key sections: Personal details – your name as the heading and provided contact details (suc...

Whether you are an Australian university student in your: first-year thinking about how to secure future internship/clerkship or graduate roles; penultimate year applying for summer clerkship, vacationer or internship programs; or  final year applying for graduate programs or entry-level roles, it is important to understand how you can stand out amongst other university students when there is stiff competition for these roles. There is, of course, no magic formula for the "perfect" candidate.  However, from what I have observed as a law student and as a lawyer (who has seen seasonal clerks and graduates come through), strong candidates tend to have at least some of the following: Strong academic results :  Technical excellence is valued by many, if not all, top-tier and mid-tier law firms.  Unfortunately, the reality is that an obvious marker of "technical excellence" is the average result (e.g. WAM/GPA) achieved by a student in their law degree.  Whilst many f...