Hey guys I'm just wondering how competitive these clerkships are? 1 in 20? 1 out of 50 get in? Also how many of these summer clerks get an offer to work after they graduation. And in general at a top tier firm, what would be the starting salary for a comm/law graduate? Thanks, I'm pretty new to this area. Good luck to everyone with their apps.
1. Competition
Firms say they get up to 1000 applicants.
Freehills take the most: 50-60 clerks
Mallesons 30-40
Allens 40
Other big firms (BD, Clayton Utz): in the 30s
Mid tier firms (HDY, G+T): 10-15
That's around 300-400 spots for the commercial firms and however many more for the government departments. So yes, it's hugely competitive.
2. Grad offers
Most firms offer all of their clerks grad positions unless something has gone pear shaped. The whole point of the clerkship process is to get you in & gradually train you up so you're ready to go when you graduate.
3. Starting salary at top tiers
In the $50 000s but apparently G+T pay $5000-$7000 more than the top tiers to try and secure top candidates.
1. Numbers
I think most of the top tiers aim for 30-40. There's always one firm that is 'fashionable' every year and ends up with mammoth 60ish classes (because the firms have to take a bit of a gamble and make more offers than they really want since lots of people get multiple offers) - last year it was Freehills (I would be very surprised if they took that many again), the year before it was Clutz and I think before that it was Allens.
Minters takes more like 20-25, and then the big mid tiers like HDY, G+T, Bakers, Corrs etc usually want somewhere between 10-20.
800-1000 applicants sounds about right. When you get to the cocktail party stage you start to realise that it's basically the same core group of 200-300 that are doing the rounds at all the firms. So if you get to that stage your odds get much better, and so the main issue becomes getting an offer from your first choice firm.
2. Grad offers
Ditto to the above. Last year the top tiers/bid mid tiers took made grad offers to pretty much everyone, even Freehills I think made offers to all but a couple. It's more of a case of having a reason not to hire you than you giving them a reason to hire you, if you get what I mean. There's a strong presumption in favour of taking on everyone. That said, it's probably less the case in some of the smaller mid tiers. People at firms like DLA, Middletons etc were the ones that really got burnt in terms of grad offers last year.
3. Salary
I think grad salaries at the big firms are more like $65000-$70000, with G+T always significantly above. There's always variation between the firms (more than I thought there would be, actually) and don't be surprised that the big tiers sometimes pay less since they know their name, reputation, training opportunities will always attract top candidates. You'll see the difference at the summer clerk stage, but obviously no one would seriously pick one firm over another on the basis that it pays you $70 a week more as a summer clerk
I guess applications have closed by now, have any of the firms started making interview offers?
Good luck to everyone who's applying, it's pretty stressful but in retrospect I actually really enjoyed the chance to get to know the firms and all that, and the clerkship experience is really great- I highly recommend it even if you're not 100% sure you want to be a lawyer.
from Freehills