Explore what it is like to be a vacation clerk at Freehills through Sharon's story below. You can find out about the vacation clerkships interview process, training and rotations, social activities, and receive some advice on how to make the most of your experience during your clerkship.

Sharon's story — A fabulous 10 weeks

Where it all began.

When I started applying for summer clerkships, I knew what I wanted to get out of the experience: so that I could save for an exchange opportunity; an insight into what it’s like to spend five days a week in a law firm; and, hopefully, a graduate offer. I was convinced that the clerkship experience at all the top firms was going to be substantially the same. However—and this sounds cheesy—from the first round interviews, I found that the firms were not really interchangeable at all.

 

Interview with a partner

The interview process at Freehills was in my experience one of the most relaxed. Rather than a panel of partners and HR representatives, we were interviewed by just one partner, which made for a less intimidating and more personal interview experience. Maybe I was just lucky, but both my interviews were genuinely not grillings—the partners who interviewed me just seemed to want to know a bit more about me outside of what they’d read in my CV. They were also happy to chat about themselves, what they had done, the people they worked with and why they had chosen to stay at the firm. This gave me a great insight into the variety of people Freehills employs. I ended up choosing Freehills based less on reputation, position in the legal market etc (all of which were first-rate), but on my gut instinct from the interviews.

Getting to know the firm

Clerks getting to know each other.

Luckily for me, the clerkship orientation program was basically designed for someone who knows nothing about how law firms work—we all spent three intensive days learning about everything from document management systems to fire escapes to how to research Regulations to how to draft research memoranda. The orientation also gave the clerks the chance to get to know each other and to bond over the amusing compulsory OHS video. However, seminars introducing us to various aspects of the firm were not limited to the first week—they were integrated throughout the 10-week program, providing not only insights into things like Freehills’ graduate program, but also the chance to fill up on pastries.

During the clerkship, we rotated through two practice groups—mine were Employee Relations and Intellectual Property Litigation. We were assigned buddies (usually a graduate or solicitor) and supervising partners, both of whom were responsible for giving us tasks, guidance and making us feel like part of the group. In the end, this was actually done by pretty much everyone we worked with—people went out of their way to make sure we were given interesting work, and to make us feel comfortable enough to ask stupid questions. Most of the tasks I was given were legal research-related (such as preparing memorandums on points of law or summarising cases), but I was also given the chance to attend court and sit in on client meetings.

Vacation clerks enjoy a variety of experiences.

The chance to get to socialise with the other clerks was a highlight too—not only the organised activities such as Christmas parties and the inter-firm basketball, but also spontaneous lunches and after-work drinks.

Although working five days a week is probably never going to be quite as fun as doing nothing for three months, my clerkship proved to be a fabulous 10 weeks nevertheless. I thoroughly recommend doing a clerkship at Freehills if you are interested in getting an insight into what it might be like to practice as a solicitor in a large commercial law firm, while working with and learning from some of the best lawyers in Australia.

Kick-start your career with us

If you are interested in finding out about how to apply for a vacation clerkship, click here.