In-House Legal Summer 21/22 Clerkship - Seeking Expressions Of Interest
While it is very encouraging to see an increased demand for in-house lawyers including the more junior roles, there is still a gap when it comes to law students and graduates who might be interested in an in-house career. Firstly, many law students are still not fully aware of what an in-house lawyer does and how satisfying an in-house career can be, and therefore may not plan an in-house career path from the get-go. Secondly, few in-house legal teams offer structured programs for law students, let alone a law graduate program (unless the organisation is fairly large). One often cited reason for this is that in-house legal teams may lack the time and resources to provide the necessary training and mentorship required.
However, as the legal profession changes and as in-house roles grow, it might be time to consider opening up more opportunities to the next generation of lawyers in the form of internships, placements and graduate programs. As they say, if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.
The clerkship can provide many benefits to both the legal team and to the individual, and arguably to the in-house profession in general.
The benefits of this clerkship for your legal team:
- Opportunity for your team to develop mentorship, people management and delegation skills;
- Law students can conduct legal research, and perform editing and other legal tasks;
- Law students can help with those tasks that you may not have time to do - like preparing presentations, training materials and tipsheets; converting complex documents or policies into helpful visual aids; preparing your team intranet or ‘wiki’ pages; process mapping; innovation projects; and other business or team development projects;
- The clerkship may create a potential pipeline of talented and engaged future in-house counsel for your team; and
- The clerkship will help raise the profile of the in-house legal profession, and your legal team as a potential future employer.
If you’re interested in hosting a law student clerk for the upcoming ACC Australia In-House Legal Summer 2021/2022 Clerkship Program, then complete this expression of interest and confirm your participation by 1 July 2021.