What practice groups did you rotate through?

Real Estate and Development (RED)
Commercial Disputes (CLD)

What drew you to Allens?

During the application process, Allens stood out to me for several reasons. There were four key reasons why I was drawn to the firm:

First, throughout the entire clerkship process, every person I interacted with from Allens was genuine, open and passionate about their practice. I realised that Allens was a firm that I would feel comfortable bringing my true self to work and be valued for it. I also felt that Allens was genuinely interested in my development and training. Further, from my own research and hearing people speak at the cocktail evenings, I knew that my values aligned with the firm’s.

Second, as one of Australia’s leading commercial law firms, I knew that doing a clerkship at Allens would provide me opportunities to undertake complex and rewarding work across an array of areas. I was particularly drawn to Allens given its excellence in practice areas that are of interest to me, namely environment and planning, infrastructure, and energy and natural resources. The opportunity to work in market leading practices in these areas made a clerkship at Allens highly attractive.

Third, I was attracted to the structure of Allens’ graduate program, which consists of two 12 month rotations. Whilst other firms offer shorter graduate programs with more rotations, in my view one year is a perfect amount of time to fully immerse yourself into a practice area and a team, especially given most teams deal with matters that span several years. As a result, I felt that this structure would give greater confidence in choosing which area to settle in once I complete the graduate program.

Finally, I was excited by the opportunity to take on valuable pro-bono work in the community on causes that are significant to me.

What kind of tasks did you take on?

During my clerkship I was involved in a number of highly interesting tasks. During my first week in Real Estate and Development I was invited by a partner to sit in on a call with a client who had a biodiversity issue, a particular interest of mine. From this I conducted detailed research on the client’s issue and prepared a draft advice that was later sent out to the client who followed up with further questions and issues that I worked on. I was also involved in some due diligences for large commercial transactions, which enabled me to work with colleagues across teams and offices.

In Commercial Disputes I was tasked with preparing multiple research notes on a broad array of areas including equity and trusts, commercial contracts, superannuation, class actions, and construction. I also had the opportunity to work closely with a team of lawyers on a matter throughout the entire rotation. Regarding this matter, I was tasked with drafting a large substantive part of an advice which was sent to the client, reviewing evidence, and attending weekly project update calls with Allens colleagues from other offices, the client’s representatives and expert consultants.

Finally, I had the opportunity to get involved in both pro-bono and committee work. This involved attending clinics at both the Homeless Persons Legal Service and the Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS). A particular highlight was calling refugees whilst at the RACS clinic and advising those refugees that they had been granted permanent residency visas. I also worked on matters for each of these organisations, where I drafted court documents and conducted research.

Was the clerkship what you expected? Please explain.

The clerkship was everything that I expected and more. There were three key things that went beyond my expectations.

Although I came to expect this after my experiences during the clerkship application process, I really appreciated how open and willing senior lawyers were in getting me involved in different types of work and matters. I also valued the level of constructive feedback I received and how often I was able to seek feedback on my work. Together these allowed me to gain experience across an array of areas that I may have otherwise not had the chance to work in, and instilled me with the confidence to keep developing and taking on new challenges.

Further, I felt genuinely supported by the firm throughout the entire clerkship. Key to this was the firms respect for the legal services award hours, and the commitment by everyone I worked with to ensure my working hours were sustainable. This granted me the capacity to make the most of, and enjoy, every day of the clerkship.

Finally, I really valued the camaraderie among the clerkship cohort. The clerkship involves a lot of social events and opportunities to get to know other clerks, including weekly sport, clerk cruise, and informal lunches together. As a result, I fostered some valuable friendships across the cohort.

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