The clerkship: you’ve jumped through the hoops of applications, psychometric tests, and interviews to land one. Congratulations! But as you know, the ultimate prize is the graduate offer that often follows. A seasonal clerkship is more than just an internship; it’s a multi-week job interview where a firm assesses not only your work but also whether you’re someone they want to work with for years to come.

So, how do you navigate this high-stakes environment and turn your hard-won clerkship into a permanent position? This guide breaks down what firms are looking for and the practical steps you can take to put your best foot forward.

What You Are Being Assessed On

During your clerkship, firms assess you on two primary fronts: your work and your cultural fit. While they sound distinct, they are deeply intertwined.

Work

Don’t panic – no one expects you to be a legal oracle. The assessment of your “work” is far more nuanced than simply whether you know the law. They are looking for the raw materials of an excellent junior lawyer. This includes:

• Quality of Work: Do you have attention to detail? Is your work logically structured, well-written, and free from typos? Have you followed instructions carefully?
• Following Instructions & Clarity: When you’re given a task, do you take the time to understand the ‘what,’ the ‘why,’ and the ‘how’? A key part of this is knowing what questions to ask before you dive in.
• Approach and Logic: How do you tackle a problem? Can you present your findings or your answer in a clear, logical manner? When presenting the deliverable, have you communicated the assumptions you have made to arrive at your conclusion and why? Have you clearly stated the questions you considered, and what you did not consider and why?
• Teamwork and Communication: Do you clearly communicate your capacity to your supervising solicitor and buddy? Do you provide updates on your progress without needing to be chased? Do you hit deadlines or at least communicate when you’re not on track? This demonstrates reliability and the ability to work effectively within a team.

Culture

Cultural fit is a less objective measure and more subjective. It is the vibe of the thing and judged on feedback from everyone you interact with, from the partner in charge of the group to the shares services staff and your buddy. I think people often overestimate the bar for cultural fit. At the end of the day, the firm is primarily after those who produce good work. If you produce good work and those you interact with don’t mind having you around – it’s probably enough.

Instead of thinking you have to get on with everyone and be like everyone else – I want you to be yourself. It is much harder to perform at your best when you are pretending to be someone else to fit into your perception of the culture. During the clerkship, the firm is trying to sell itself to you as much as you are trying to sell yourself to them. Your clerkship is short and your perception of the culture may not be the reality. Instead of wasting energy on trying to adapt to your perception of the firm’s culture, be yourself. At the end of the day, you want to work somewhere that gels with your personality. Worst case scenario is ending up at a shop where you feel out of place.

The Practical Guide on How to Stand Out

These are the day-to-day actions that separate the clerks who get a grad offer, and those who do not.

Get Involved and Be Curious

Your clerkship is a unique opportunity to see how a commercial law firm truly operates. Embrace it. Get involved in everything you can, whether it’s a team meeting, a training session, or a social event. If someone asks you to go for a coffee, the answer should almost always be “yes.” The only valid exception is a genuinely urgent and immovable deadline. If the firm has social events on while you’re clerking, they are likely organised with the intention that clerks attend so make an effort to do so.

Don’t be afraid to be proactive either. If you have a real interest in a particular practice area, ask a junior lawyer or a senior associate from that team for a coffee to hear about their work. It doesn’t have to be a partner. Showing genuine, targeted interest demonstrates that you are thoughtfully considering your career.

Master Your Workflow

• Communicate Your Capacity: Your supervisors are busy. They won’t know you’re drowning in work (or have nothing to do) unless you tell them. Keep your buddy and senior lawyers informed. A simple, “I’ve just finished the research memo for Sarah. I have capacity to take on something new if there’s anything available,” in the Teams chat works wonders.
• Ask the Right Questions: When you receive a task, don’t rush back to your desk. Take a moment to clarify the instructions. You want to know:
  • What is the specific question I need to answer or the task I need to complete? If you can’t distill this into a single sentence, you probably don’t understand the task enough. Ask clarification questions of the instructor.
  • How should the deliverable be presented? A simple question may require an email whereas a complex legal issue may require a Word document memo.
  • When do they need it by? This will help you prioritise the task as others come in.
  • Where should I start? Especially with research tasks, it is often helpful to ask for a steer for the types of resources the instructor wants you to consider.
• Keep People Updated: A busy lawyer’s biggest fear is a task falling into a black hole. Avoid this by sending brief, proactive updates. If you are juggling conflicting tasks from different people, don’t just guess which one is more important. Reach out to the task’s instructors and explain the situation, and ask for their help in prioritising. Your seniors will then often coordinate amongst themselves to determine priority and make sure they are not overloading you.
• Embrace the System: Pay attention to how your team manages documents. Do they have a specific file naming convention? Do they save things in a particular location? Replicate these processes. What is the style of emails within your team? Try to replicate this. These are the small details that shows you are observant and adaptive.

Develop Professional Habits

• The Notepad is Your Best Friend: Bring a notepad and pen with you everywhere. To meetings, trainings, when receiving instructions, even to coffee (if it makes sense). It makes you look prepared and diligent. More importantly, when receiving instructions, write them down. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can forget a key detail. At the bottom of the page, jot down any questions that arise. Often they’ll be answered as the person continues talking, but if not, you have them ready to ask at the end.
• Proofread Everything: Your work is a reflection of you. Before you hit send, read over your email or document one last time. Check for spelling, grammar, and typos. Sending work that is clean and polished shows respect for the recipient’s time.
• Be Punctual and Well-Presented: Arrive on time (or a few minutes early). Dress professionally in line with your firm’s dress code.

Interacting with Others

• Be Open and Enthusiastic: Firms know you have limited practical experience. They don’t expect you to know everything. What they value above all is a positive, can-do attitude and a genuine enthusiasm for learning. Be open about what you don’t know and be willing to give any task a go.
• Be Interested in Others: A primary way to show enthusiasm is simply to take an interest in your colleagues. It can be as simple as “how was your weekend?”. People love to talk about themselves.
• Ask for Feedback: Don’t pester your supervisors, but do ask for feedback at appropriate times. After completing a significant piece of work or at the mid-point and end of your rotation are perfect opportunities. It show’s you are wanting to learn and develop.
• Support Your Fellow Clerks: It’s easy to view your fellow clerks as the competition. This is a mistake. The legal profession is highly collaborative. Firms want to hire team players, not lone wolves. Be the clerk who helps others, shares knowledge, and fosters a supportive environment. Get lunch with your fellow clerks. Check in with them. The people you clerk with will be your professional network for years to come – don’t burn those bridges before they’re even built.

Normal Feelings

Finally, it’s important to acknowledge how you might feel during the clerkship. It’s an intense period, and it’s completely normal to feel a bit overwhelmed.

• Feeling outside your comfort zone: Whether it’s trying to make small talk with senior partners or tackling a complex area of law you’ve never studied, you will constantly be pushed outside your comfort zone. Embrace it. This is where growth happens.
• Not feeling 100% yourself: You might feel like you have a case of “impostor syndrome,” constantly worried you’re not good enough. You might feel drained from being “on” all day. Acknowledge these feelings as a normal part of the process. Try to be comfortable with the fact that you make have a different persona at work. This is normal, most people do.

The firm expects you to be a work in progress. They are betting on your potential. By being diligent, enthusiastic, communicative, and a supportive team member, you are showing them that their bet on you is a wise one and putting yourself in the strongest possible position to receive that coveted graduate offer. Good luck!