INITIAL APPLICATION
After spending some time choosing where you want to apply, it’s time to begin the application process. The basics here are to start early and proofread. Applications can be hard but try avoiding generic content. With hundreds of applications coming in, you want yours to stand out, so tailor it to the firm. Make sure your CV is clear, easy to read and gets across your best experiences or achievements early. Avoid regurgitating your resume and re-stating the firm’s values back to them in your cover letter. Instead, aim to explain why you’re interested in commercial practice, and why DLA Piper draws your interest.
As you successfully progress through the application process you will be asked a question to demonstrate your commercial awareness. As this suggests, it is not a law-based question. So put university aside for a second and look to the real world. Building commercial awareness can be tricky. My best advice would be, to be curious! Read around and get an understanding for how the commercial world operates. If you’re starting from scratch, I’d begin by just reading some headlines and anything that actually interests you. While it is important to have commercial understanding, don’t force yourself to be corporate-loving if you’re not. After a while you will start to recognise company names and commercial jargon, as well as gaining a better understanding of the leading sectors. When choosing something to write about in your commercial awareness question, you should try choosing something that you did find interesting. If you’re unsure, I’d recommend having a flick through the Australian Financial Review, choose an article and go with it. As well as giving a little recap of the relevant transaction, try explaining why you thought it was appealing.
INTERVIEW & EVENT
Congratulations on getting the interview, you’ve nearly there! A few standard ones by way of reminder; be early on the right day and at the right time, dress professionally, engage authentically with the interview panel and smile! My advice would be to be prepared, but not too prepared. No one wants to hear a mechanically rehearsed answer. Your interview panel wants to get to know you as a person, your attitude, your perspective and have an organically flowing conversation. In saying that, you should be well versed in basic questions about yourself and your experiences. While it may seem obvious, having a good understanding of your resume and cover letter will go a long way. Otherwise sit up straight and if you get nervous (and you’re like me), remember to articulate your words and speak slower than you think!
You will also be invited to a networking evening where you and all the other candidates will get an opportunity to meet the members from the firm. While people will be paying attention to your interpersonal skills, this is less of an assessment of you and more of an opportunity for you to gauge the firm’s working environment. I would think this is rarely a make-or-break situation, but you should still put your best foot forward. Take some time to ask people about their experience and perspective as well as trying to bond over normal topics of interest.
MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR CLERKSHIP
You’ve accepted your offer! It’s time to make the most of your clerkship.
For some broader things to keep in mind:
- Engage with everyone – getting to know the partners is important, but you shouldn’t leave it at that. Engage with absolutely everyone, all levels of fee earners, administrative and print room staff, IT department, catering staff and reception! If you get the job, you will be spending every day with these people, so you’ll want to like them (and for them to like you too).
- Be authentic – I know this gets hammered a lot, but you really should be yourself (within the parameters of respect to others). The clerkship is a time to see whether you fit the firm, and whether the firm fits you, so don’t be tempted to mould yourself into the person you think will get hired. You’ve made it this far already so just keep going.
- Be open-minded – you may have a family member or someone you know telling you ‘the best’ law to practice in. But at this very early stage of a clerkship, don’t pigeonhole yourself into ‘just disputes’ or ‘just transactional’ work. You should hopefully have the opportunity to do both front-end and back-end work during your clerkship so be open-minded and give everything a go. If there does happen to be something that particularly interests you, then of course feel free to express that but know that it might not be guaranteed.
And now, to the nitty-gritty:
- Notepad and pen (or laptop) always. Whether you’re ‘popping by’ someone’s desk/office or heading somewhere externally, always make sure you have something to get instructions down on, it will be rather tricky to remember everything.
- When receiving instructions, you should always ask ‘when would you like this done by?’ or ‘how long do you think I should spend on this?’ and ‘what format would you like this in?’ (generally being a memo, email or file note).
- If you find yourself in a situation where you’re ‘coming along’ or just observing (maybe to court, a meeting, or a drafting session) just check with your supervisor whether you should be taking a file note, or if you should be looking out for any certain information. It’s good practice as a junior to always do so, but during the clerkship you can just check first.
- As they say, communication is indeed key. If multiple people are giving you work within similar deadlines, just explain you’re eager to give it a go, but that you’re already doing some work for ‘xyz’. The deadline may then be extended, or you will get told the newer task is more important and takes priority. If so, communicate this back the person who gave you your earlier task. At the other end of the spectrum, communicate with your supervisor if you find that you’ve powered through all your tasks. It’s best to do this slightly ahead of completing your work so that they have time to think of appropriate work to delegate to you.
- You are not expected to know much at all, so always ask questions. Just be minded on how you do so. If you’re receiving instructions, ask emerging questions during that time. Once you’re back at your desk and you begin your task, you may likely have some more substantive questions. Instead of going back to your supervisor with each question as it comes, consider spending some time attempting the task, collating all your questions and then ask your supervisor for a quick check-in to go through them.
- Ask for feedback. If you haven’t heard back from your supervisor, you can ask for some feedback. They might give this immediately or schedule a time with you. When receiving feedback try not to take anything too personally! Everyone has preferences and this is an opportunity for you to learn different ways of doing things.
- Manners, smiling, asking people how their day or weekend was goes far. As you’re leaving for the day you can consider checking in and asking whether anyone needs any more help before you go. People talk and remember friendly things like these.
- Always say yes to the coffee! There will almost always be no reason that you need to stay at your desk and work on something as a clerk. If someone asks you for coffee, say yes, even if you’ve had two that day (don’t be scared to ask for decaf or hot chocolate though). While work is important, the clerkship is an opportunity for you to network and develop your opinion of the working environment you may soon find yourself in. If you are really worried about a deadline, then communicate this. Express your interest for a coffee and suggest another time. It will also help sending calendar invites. Everyone is very busy and sometimes time flies by, so it will be helpful to have a reminder.