CAREERS GUIDE 2020

CONTENTS
03
Contributors and
Sponsors
04
Careers Essentials
21
Practical Legal
Training
27
Commercial Firm
Directory
41
Commercial Law
58
Articles From the
Profession
71
Community Legal
Centres 79
Enhancing your
Student Experience
02

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C A R E E R S E S S E N T I A L S

The firm's contact information
Your contact Information
Correct firm contact addressed
Subject line noting the relevant firm and position advertised
Introduce yourself; briefly linking how some of your experience is relevant to the clerkship position
Highlight why you want to work at the firm. Don't forget to sell yourself and refer to real-life examples
Demonstrate your interest for the firm and your alignment with their morals and values
Conclude your cover letter. Refer the reader to other documents that you have attached
Sign off
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C A R E E R S E S S E N T I A L S

If you want to guarantee completion of the work
experience component within a reduced, 10 week
timeframe, you have the option to apply for the
Clinical Legal Workplace Experience unit (PLT Clinic
Unit). Places in the PLT Clinic Unit are limited so you
should enquire early if you are interested in this
option. The PLT Clinic Unit provides the opportunity
to work in the John Curtin Law Clinic under the direct
supervision of experienced WA legal practitioners.
The John Curtin Law Clinic is a pro bono legal advice
clinic established by Curtin University. You gain a
variety of experience including advising small
businesses, individuals, start-ups and not-for-profits,
in areas as diverse as dispute resolution,
discrimination and commercial law. You have direct
contact with clients and learn to run your matters
through practice management software.
THE ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
In order to satisfy the LPBWA that you are a ‘fit and
proper person’, you must disclose any criminal,
academic or general misconduct that may reflect
whether you are a fit and proper person to practise
as a lawyer. The Curtin PLT course will provide you
with more detailed information about how to apply
for admission and satisfy other aspects of the
additional requirements. If you would like more
detailed information about the Curtin PLT, or would
like to discuss your options (including applying to the
LPBWA for approval of early commencement of the
Curtin PLT), please contact the Curtin PLT team at
CurtinPLT@curtin.edu.au.
To apply, visit curtin.edu/plt
SCAN HERE TO APPLY
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P R A C T I C A L L E G A L T R A I N I N G

P R A C T I C A L L E G A L T R A I N I N G

and experiences. How you interact with your peers,
whether they are a lawyer or a secretary, or the waiter
at the café, all reflect how you are likely to interact with
a client, counsel and the other side. It is important to
always be professional and courteous in your
interactions with others as you are representing the
firm and yourself.
Clerkships are also an opportunity to push yourself and
learn how a brief to counsel or a short email to a client
is prepared and constructed. This is particularly useful
knowledge to have when you start as a graduate.
It is also important to seek feedback to help develop
yourself from being a law student to an accomplished
lawyer. Feedback is important for any lawyer, at any
level. Unfortunately, lawyers tend to be time poor, so it
is important to actively seek it where appropriate - for
example, when a more senior lawyer reviews your
work, understand what changes they made and why.
One of the most important things to remember as a
junior lawyer is that you are not expected to know
everything. You are joining the firm as a clerk, and
the law is constantly evolving. As long as you put
your best foot forward and show a willingness to
learn, you will go a long way.
My final bit of advice is that you will get out of the
experience what you put in. As a clerk and graduate
at Clayton Utz, you have the opportunity to gain
amazing legal experience in a top-tier firm. Clayton
Utz gives you the opportunity to be part of highquality
matters for a range of clients, have excellent
training, and engage with mentors and colleagues.
However, I encourage you to listen and to seek and
apply feedback about your work and performance,
to really develop as a lawyer and have the best
experience possible.
C O M M E R C I A L L A W
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P A R I S M C N E I L , C O M P E T I T I O N S D I R E C T O R , C U R T I N S T U D E N T L A W S O C I E T Y
COMPETITIONS
WHAT ARE COMPETITIONS?
Getting involved with competitions throughout your
degree is a great way to develop the advocacy and
writing skills relevant to legal practice.
Each year the CSLS facilitates student involvement a
variety of internal, national, international and intervarsity
competitions including moots, client
interviews, negotiations, and case notes. The
competitions are open to students of all levels; the
CSLS runs junior competitions for students who
haven’t yet completed 8 units of law and open
competitions for more experienced students.
TYPES OF COMPETITIONS
Moot: A Moot is a mock court where teams of two
or three prepare written submissions and present
their case orally to a panel of judges, who will ask
Socratic questions and clarify points made by the
competitors. The moot is a challenging but very
rewarding competition where competitors develop
public speaking and advocacy skills. CSLS members
have the opportunity to compete at prestigious
national and international mooting competitions
such as the Sir Harry Gibbs Constitutional Law Moot
in Melbourne and the John H Jackson World Trade
Organisation Moot in Thailand.
Client Interview: Interviewing clients is an integral
part of many legal practitioners' work. This
competition simulates a client interview by allowing
students to practice analysing information on the
go, and asking probing questions to extract all of
the relevant information from sometimes difficult
clients. The winners of the Open Grand Final
progress to the national ALSA Conference
competition where they have the opportunity to
compete against high calibre students from around
the country.
Case note: A case note is a short piece of written
work summarising a case, generally on a novel area
of law, which is marked by a judge who will provide
written feedback on your piece. This competition is
a great alternative to oral advocacy competitions
and provides competitors with the opportunity to
hone their critical analysis and written skills. There
is also a paper presentation competition at the ALSA
Conference where competitors read and present
their case note to a panel of judges.
WHY GET INVOLVED?
Each of the competitions simulates a skill utilised by
lawyers in practice. By getting involved in CSLS
competitions and developing these skills in a safe
and fun environment, you put yourself at an
advantaged position once you enter the workforce,
as you will already possess much of the knowledge
and experience required for these important tasks.
Competitions are also sponsored and judged by law
firms. If you excel in the preliminary round and
advance to a Grand Final, you will typically compete
at their office in the CBD and engage in valuable
networking opportunities, as well as receive
feedback on your performance from industry
professionals.
Participating in competitions also adds value to your
resume, especially if you are applying to the firm
that sponsored that competition!
Finally, someone once told me that if I graduated
from law school with only a law degree, they would
not hire me. Competitions are a great way to show
employers the tangible skills you possess that are
needed for practice, and that you're willing to put
yourself out there and try something new!
Negotiation: The negotiation competition involves
two teams of two competitors negotiating against
each other in attempts to secure the best outcome
for their clients. The scenarios consist of fairly
complex disputes between the parties, with both
teams often required to make concessions to
advance their position. Competitors also have the
opportunity to attend the ASLA Conference as well
as the HSF NLU Delhi International Negotiation
Competition in India.
E N H A N C I N G Y O U R S T U D E N T E X P E R I E N C E
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