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The Hunger Games

12/9/2018

 
What a wonderful time of year: it’s 2018/2019 clerkship season! Students wait anxiously, refreshing their emails, in the hope of receiving a (positive) response. That optimism is soon diminished when our inboxes become bombarded with the following generic email. 

​Thank you for your application for the 2018/2019 Melbourne Seasonal Clerk Program, unfortunately YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. 

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But why did I get rejected?
 
I’ve killed myself to maintain a high 70 average. I’ve participated in 72 mooting competitions. I’ve interned within 13 different organisations. I completed the subject Global Lawyer. I’ve worked with the homeless. I went to a public school. I am from a single parent family. I have assisted refugees. I know multiple languages.
 
These are the qualities of my fellow peers. Yet, despite this we are all being told that this is not good enough.
 
Are we to blame?
Fuck No!!

It makes me wonder what an individual has to do to be shortlisted, to be given the opportunity to meet a firm in the hope of showing them an authentic version of ourselves,and what we have to offer - apart from a measly one-page cover letter. 

Whilst we are not given the opportunity to have a firm get to know us, we are definitely given the opportunity to sit for 4 hours at a time to complete a bullshit intelligence test within absurd time limits. We are given the opportunity to complete a bullshit diversity questionnaire that actually does not give a shit about your background and INSTEAD is used artificially to show to the corporate world that they have ‘corporate responsibility' and a social conscience.

Whose fault is it then?
 
The law firms
 
Whilst you may say that I am a hater due to a lack of successful applications, this is not the case. I am actually writing this to stand up and say that, currently, there is a lack of transparency regarding the process whereby law firms choose their clerks for the season. Many firms in the 21st century pride themselves on looking beyond your WAM, but let’s not be fooled. Your experiences and real-world knowledge are NOTHING if they’re not partnered with a H1 average.
 
We have been working towards this for the last two 2 years. These firms claim that there are criteria that must be met. But even when these criteria are met, it isn’t good enough. I’m writing this to ask for more transparency…Why am I being rejected? What is the process that you, the law firms, go through to shortlist candidates? Are we playing Tic Tac Toe? How come students are receiving successful offers all at once, and rejection emails don’t arrive until a week later? While those around us are attending a cocktail evening, we are sitting and waiting to hear back from that same firm. For instance, Clayton Utz hosted their cocktail night on the same night I received my rejection email. Allens required me to fill out a diversity questionnaire that clearly shows I am unique and have come from a different path to your average student, but despite their emphasis on diversity, I was still rejected. Is the whole process merely an artifice?
 
Advice for the law firms
 
I don’t know about anyone else, but I am sure that students all over Victoria would actually like to know the true nature of the selection processes that are undertaken by the firms. Are we actually being individually considered by a human, or is it a computer that selects and identifies key terms and key grades? Law firms, could you please send me an exemplar application that you have accepted?
 
Advice to the Universities 
 
During orientation week, university personnel told me that 70% of University of Melbourne graduates would find a job immediately after graduation. Thinking back to this now, it seems highly unlikely that these are the stats in reality.

People may say that there are PLENTY of other opportunities, and that clerkship rejections are not the end of the world. But where else would you like me to find a job? Especially when most of the LIV signatories don’t have opportunities beyond those who have been part of this clerkship program.
 
Additionally, the uni has convinced us to hand over three times more in fees than the average law student to get the "Melbourne name," as if it's a guaranteed route to any law firm in Melbourne. News flash: it's not. Melbourne spends so much money on advertising and marketing to reel in more students and climb up the higher education institution ranks - yet can't even do basic things like record lectures, give us appropriate study spaces without having to be at our own university before 8 am and most importantly a bloody microwave to warm up our food without waiting 35 mins for other non-law students.

My advice to the university is to tell us and stop feeding us this bullshit and actually give us the TRUTH AND REALITY OF THINGS. If I’d known about this when I first started, I wouldn’t have worked as hard. I wouldn’t have killed myself for the mere hope of a reward.

Advice to the first years?
Hello my clueless friends, here is my advice to you. ENJOY YOURSELVES. You’re probably thinking, “This person here has no idea what they are talking about.  Unlike you, I am different and I will work hard and get a clerkship in the near future.” I am really sorry to break it you, but you are lying to yourself. There is no guarantee. There is no certainty. Did anyone tell you that the legal industry is dying?  No matter what you do from now until you graduate, you will simply be JUDGED on an arbitrary basis. So, please enjoy yourselves and don’t work yourselves to death like we did.


In conclusion
Law firms care about grades, money and status. 

May the odds be ever in your favour!
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Oh sweetie
12/9/2018 04:39:13 pm

Sorry to break it to you, but there are hundreds of successful applicants who get multiple offers. It’s a saturated market - having good grades and some work experience is the norm now. Frankly it sucks, but you can be doing everything you think is right but relative to everyone else it’s still the bare minimum. We aren’t special or unique! Though much everyone I know who applied got a clerkship. Maybe you’re just not quite as competitive ranked as you had hoped?

That being said I COMPLETELY agree with you that there should be more transparency regarding exactly how they get to the outcomes they do. Is it grades? The cognitive testing? Is it 50/50? Do they pull random names from a hat?

Cuckleberry Finn
12/9/2018 05:05:56 pm

True story: I know a partner at a large law firm, who, when presented with a stack of clerkship applications, through half of them in a recycling bin, and stated "I don't like unlucky people."

The process is arbitrary and painful. Just do the best you can.

If the glove don't fit
12/9/2018 05:09:58 pm

Do you actually want to work in a commercial firm? The only thing applying to these firms has taught me is that I don't, nor have I ever, and just applied because I have nothing else lined up. If I did want it, I would have busted my balls to get a great average, got the experience required and gone out and made sure that these commercial firms took notice of me. If you think these firms are full of shit, then who cares if they turn you down?

I don't think they are encouraged as they should be but there are a lot of other career options which appeal to me a lot more than anything I've heard about anything to do with a career in commercial law. Different strokes, of course, and there's no easy entry into any of those either from what I have seen.

I do agree with you about the university lauding their outcomes, although I understand it is a business. 120k is a big deal and is by no means a guaranteed meal ticket. I don't care that MLS is 'the best law school in Australia', and on what metric that is the case has never been explained to me. Do students at other law schools not learn from a lecturer and a textbook?

captain von trapp
12/9/2018 08:48:35 pm

"Additionally, the uni has convinced us to hand over three times more in fees than the average law student"

You chose to cop the brunt of a full-fee/bursary place. You could have worked harder in your undergraduate course to get a commonwealth place, or done more research about alternative law schools and found out that monash is just as good as melbourne.

–––––––

"Melbourne spends so much money ... yet can't even do basic things like ... most importantly a bloody microwave to warm up our food without waiting 35 mins for other non-law students"

You'll of course know that the level 5 kitchen is only for MLS students as of about two weeks ago (swipe card accessible only!)

–––––––

It sucks that you have had no luck in your applications so far. I hope that some firms do offer you interview spots! It sounds like greater transparency is needed and would be greatly appreciated considering how much weight students put on the clerkship application process.

Good luck <3

False choice
13/9/2018 09:15:55 am

But Monash isn’t ranked as highly as Melbourne.

Your argument is like those who dismiss those who complain about high fees at Ivy League schools by saying; ‘oh just go somewhere else’

Going to Melbourne or Sydney uni is the best bet for students wanting a prestigious degree. The uni then makes the decision to gouge students for the privilege. The gouging is unnecessary, and exploitative.

Blurgh
13/9/2018 02:16:42 pm

Actually if you look at employability, Monash and Melbourne are the same.

Some firms prefer Monash, some prefer Melbourne, some - shock horror- even prefer other universities. I've been to event where firms have said they don't hire people with JDs because it doesn't give students long enough to develop their legal skills and isn't practical enough.

Each university has it's strengths and weaknesses.

Also, you should note that MLS is so highly ranked internationally because of research, not because of the quality of its JD or students.

But yeah, we can all agree the cost is ridiculous.

Anonymous Senior Administration Official
12/9/2018 08:51:40 pm

Anonymity? Is Mike Pence at it again?!

Clayton's Ute
12/9/2018 09:38:14 pm

A few questions here:

First, why would the experiences and grades listed in the opening paragraph guarantee you a clerkship at any particular firm? These are obviously commendable but a lot of people work that hard.

Second, if you are right about firms loving H1s more than they claim (I think this is wrong), why is this unfair? Grading is anonymous and standardised.

Third, how would the kind of transparency you want work? Firms sometimes get 1000s of applications, it would be so impractical to provide the info you want. Also, providing you with a 'perfect' application would breach privacy.

Fourth, why does your personal experience entitle you to accuse the university of blatantly lying to everyone? Have you conducted some of your own research to back this up?

sherbet's myth
13/9/2018 09:38:42 am

'First, why would the experiences and grades listed in the opening paragraph guarantee you a clerkship at any particular firm? These are obviously commendable but a lot of people work that hard.'

Agreed! Most of all, each of these experiences alone are only mildly commendable at best. If one person had them all and still had no luck then a few eyebrows might be raised.

'I have assisted refugees.' - quoted from the article

In my opinion, including this hints that the person may have 'assisted refugees' to add something to their resume. Truly philanthropic people rarely need to tell the world about how much great work they do.

As someone who has worked in HR and professional recruiting, being disingenuous shows instantly in cover letters and in short-form responses.

i love to pet cute dogs
13/9/2018 09:59:09 am

I agree - the author talks about grades as if its something arbitrary and completely out of the reach. I think this downplays the efforts of students who have genuinely worked their asses off to get the grades and experiences they have now, and completely deserve the recognition they get (such as getting interview offers).

That being said, my *personal anecdotal experience* is that grades past a certain point (70?) don't really matter, unless you have an unusually high grade. No firm will hire someone with 80 WAM but no real world experience.

While it would be nice to have transparency, logistically I don't see how this would work. As you've said, firms get hundreds of applications. No firm would put out 'we want a minimum grade level of 80, 2 years experience, at least 3 competitions' etc. Every cv is different - someone with a low grade average may still get through if the partner is very interested in their thesis topic or PILI experience, for example. I think that when you get rejected, grades are the easiest thing to compare to other people (rather than all the varied combinations of experiences one might have), which leads to the common tendency to blame grades for your rejection.

Thats not to say there is a very high level of luck involved. But it is not completely arbitrary, nor is it impossible.

John
13/9/2018 03:08:56 pm

Well that's just wrong. My friend has never worked a job in his life, let alone volunteered somewhere, and he got three offers with his 80+ GPA. It's important to understand the archaic nature of large law firms. Regardless of what they claim, they often equate grades with effort. For a student who works three jobs trying to pay rent and winter bills with absolutely no family or government support, no matter how hard they work, they are not going to be able to compete with the rich kids who have nothing to worry about besides studying. FOr many of us, SWOTVAC is an opportunity to earn enough money to last us through the exam period, not a time to 'learn the course'. Working hard does not equal good grades. There are hundreds of other factors such as upbringing, income, family violence, dependents, and health issues that all contribute to grades.

alternative perspective
12/9/2018 10:33:13 pm

"Your experiences and real-world knowledge are NOTHING if they’re not partnered with a H1 average."

I can say that I have received 4 interview offers with only a low 70s average!
I don't really have much legal experience (although plenty of life experience) and I certainly don't have any contacts at any of the firms.

The poster is right about the opaqueness of the process, but to all the first years out there with their hearts truly set on a commercial career- there is hope!
I would say don't be too discouraged by people's experiences.

Yep
13/9/2018 05:17:40 pm

Could not agree more .

Jack Stana
12/9/2018 10:34:09 pm

Completely agree with the frustrations of this article and personally know some top-notch students that got knocked back from firms and organisations they put a ridiculous amount of effort into.

For me personally, the ones I've spent a few weeks on I didn't even make it past the first round while other ones I worked on for no more than half an hour have seemed to be my golden tickets. Take home message: there are too many applicants in the time given, it's incredibly arbitrary and you need to brush off the rejections as best you can.

One thing I might suggest is to go to Doyles List, look up top firms in particular practice areas that interest you, find the medium-smaller firms on the list that might not advertise clerkships and reach out to them directly. I did this for a few native title private practice firms in Sydney and Brisbane and they were much more receptive and transparent about what they were looking for. By nature of being commercial, they also offer to pay for at least part of their graduates' PLT.

Hope that helps, all is not lost!

Tom Carroll
13/9/2018 10:46:16 am

Great comment re Doyle's list. Sounds like a fantastic way to procrastinate!

Luck of the Irish
12/9/2018 10:58:50 pm

Love this!!! Brutal honesty!!!! Guys this person is clearly raising an overall issue........like seriously what is the extent law firms are selecting clerkship applicants. I sure didn’t enjoy waiting around for a response whilst seeing my friends were getting offers for an interview.


Jimi
13/9/2018 03:35:11 pm

Just an FYI re employment stats:
In a survey of 2016 MLS JD graduates 18 months after completing the JD...
- "95% of those surveyed [are] in employment"
- "70% are working as legal graduates...and many others are working in other legal or generalist graduate roles"


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