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Clerkship Interviews 2022


Pupper111

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Figured I'd get this thread started as it was helpful last year. I'm going to be clerking at an appellate court from 2022-2023 and am applying to clerk at the SCC from 2023-2024. Feel free to post interview/offer updates or questions about applications for any clerkship below. 

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lawlawtt
  • Law Student

What kinda grades are competitive for an appellate clerkship?

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BlockedQuebecois
  • Lawyer
20 minutes ago, lawlawtt said:

What kinda grades are competitive for an appellate clerkship?

It's going to depend on school to a certain extent, but generally you're going to want to be in the top ten percent of your class or so to get interviews. Most successful candidates will be towards the top of that range.

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What kinda grades are competitive for an appellate clerkship?

I'd say top 10% of your class will usually get you an interview. I'd say top 15% with some good "clerkship-relevant experiences" (e.g. editor of a law journal, research assistant for a prof, experience summering at a law firm) might also be enough. I found this interview with Justice Stratas of the FCA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWgqYDvuMPk) helpful last year where he said something along the lines of "I've always hired from the top one third of the class, no lower than that" (skip to 39:45 in the video for the Q&A on grades). That's just one judge and others may of course be different. 

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lawlawtt
  • Law Student
3 minutes ago, BlockedQuebecois said:

It's going to depend on school to a certain extent, but generally you're going to want to be in the top ten percent of your class or so to get interviews. Most successful candidates will be towards the top of that range.

What kind of average would that look like? 

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2 minutes ago, lawlawtt said:

What kind of average would that look like? 

Would depend on your school's grading system. Most schools have some sort of dean's list/honour roll/distinction standing they award at the end of each year to students in the top 10-15%, they might post the GPA cutoffs for those online. 

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BlockedQuebecois
  • Lawyer

No, much lower, at least for the superior courts. You’ll still need to be above average, but top third of the class makes you competitive from most schools. 

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Pantalaimon
  • Lawyer
6 minutes ago, BlockedQuebecois said:

No, much lower, at least for the superior courts. You’ll still need to be above average, but top third of the class makes you competitive from most schools. 

I'd guess about the same for the Tax Court.

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1 minute ago, BlockedQuebecois said:

No, much lower, at least for the superior courts. You’ll still need to be above average, but top third of the class makes you competitive from most schools. 

Agreed. I know people at both these courts who had approx top third averages. I’d just add that for tax court, a high grade in your tax class(es) (eg an A at letter grade schools) might make up for lower grades in other classes. I know a current tax court clerk who was around middle of their class but landed the clerkship with excellent tax grades. 

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undertheletter
  • Law Student

quick noob question(s) - are clerkships something you do for articling? are they available as summer positions also? if so, in what year?

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5 minutes ago, undertheletter said:

quick noob question(s) - are clerkships something you do for articling? are they available as summer positions also? if so, in what year?

The only summer clerkship I know of is the Ontario Superior Court 1L summer clerkship. Otherwise, the earliest you can clerk is articling. Some students article at a firm and then clerk during their first year and return to the firm after (anecdotally, this seems to be gaining popularity).  

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sunshinecoast
  • Articling Student

The CSO at my school gave an info session on BC Court Clerkships last week. They said not to self select out of the process due to low grades. I am not sure how to feel about this. All of the students I know who were offered positions with either the BCCA/BCSC had amazing grades. I am really interested in applying but also don't want to go into the process with a false sense of hope because I am not in the top of my class. 

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CleanHands
  • Lawyer
11 minutes ago, sunshinecoast said:

The CSO at my school gave an info session on BC Court Clerkships last week. They said not to self select out of the process due to low grades. I am not sure how to feel about this. All of the students I know who were offered positions with either the BCCA/BCSC had amazing grades. I am really interested in applying but also don't want to go into the process with a false sense of hope because I am not in the top of my class. 

You can get a BCSC clerkship with just slightly above-average grades (edit: at least from Allard).

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TheDevilIKnow
  • Articling Student

Side question, as I've developed a late-ish interest in (non-appellate) clerkships but might not be the usual type of candidate: if I have top-third grade and pretty good/varied summer experience under my belt (1L and 2L), might this overcome a CV that isn't very research-focused?

I know clerkships are research-heavy; just wondering if other strong aspects of an application might overcome a lack of demonstrated interest in formal research work.

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Darth Vader
  • Lawyer
1 hour ago, TheDevilIKnow said:

Side question, as I've developed a late-ish interest in (non-appellate) clerkships but might not be the usual type of candidate: if I have top-third grade and pretty good/varied summer experience under my belt (1L and 2L), might this overcome a CV that isn't very research-focused?

I know clerkships are research-heavy; just wondering if other strong aspects of an application might overcome a lack of demonstrated interest in formal research work.

Do you have a strong criminal or family law background? 

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1 hour ago, TheDevilIKnow said:

Side question, as I've developed a late-ish interest in (non-appellate) clerkships but might not be the usual type of candidate: if I have top-third grade and pretty good/varied summer experience under my belt (1L and 2L), might this overcome a CV that isn't very research-focused?

I know clerkships are research-heavy; just wondering if other strong aspects of an application might overcome a lack of demonstrated interest in formal research work.

Why not try to get some research experience now? If you have a good relationship with any of your former profs, or if you're interested in the work they do, it's never to late to reach out and see if they have any projects they need an RA for. 

The benefit of having research experience isn't just because the experience is translatable. It's also because it gives your professors an opportunity to closely monitor your work, and to write a stronger reference letter in support of your application. 

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14 hours ago, TheDevilIKnow said:

Side question, as I've developed a late-ish interest in (non-appellate) clerkships but might not be the usual type of candidate: if I have top-third grade and pretty good/varied summer experience under my belt (1L and 2L), might this overcome a CV that isn't very research-focused?

I know clerkships are research-heavy; just wondering if other strong aspects of an application might overcome a lack of demonstrated interest in formal research work.

I'd say definitely apply if you're interested. The research-focused resume is helpful but not mandatory. This is especially so because you're interested in a trial clerkship where it seems judges are less interested in research abilities than are appellate judges. Anecdotally, I interviewed with a trial court that required me to assess one of the court's judgements and around 50% of the questions were focused on "the law" (i.e. what arguments could have been made - here, having a research background was helpful) whereas the other 50% of questions were focused on "the evidence" (i.e. how could we frame the evidence differently to come to different factual conclusions - here no real "research-type work" was required, answering these questions was a matter of logic). In other words, while research is important at trial courts, it's less important than at appellate courts because a trial court clerk will spend a significant amount of time dealing with evidentiary and fact-finding issues whereas, given the nature of appellate courts, appellate clerks will spend more of their time researching the answers to legal questions. 

So, overall, research on your resume would be helpful but, especially for trial courts, it's not absolutely necessary. I'd add that I agree with QMT20's comment about gaining RA experience (especially as if you RA for a prof, they might be willing to write you a reference letter which most clerkships will ask for). Mooting in law school is also good research experience that courts like to see so if you've done that (or can do that), it may be another option. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
foreverastudent8822
  • Law Student

My professor recently encouraged me to apply to an SCC and appellate court clerkship. Although I believe I would enjoy it, I'm worried that I don't meet the requirements. On the one hand, I have numerous published papers, a MA, and have maintained a government research analyst role all throughout law school. On the other hand, I only have a 7.5 GPA. 

Should I bother applying, considering my GPA? 

Edited by disgruntledlawstudent
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BlockedQuebecois
  • Lawyer

I always thinks it’s worth throwing your hat into the ring if you’re interested. Better to have the court rule you out than you do it yourself. 

A 7.5 (assuming it’s out of 9) is quite low for the SCC, especially without an appellate clerkship already. But it’ll likely get you consideration for the major appellate courts. 

Edited by BlockedQuebecois
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Fiona Apple
  • Lawyer
18 hours ago, disgruntledlawstudent said:

My professor recently encouraged me to apply to an SCC and appellate court clerkship. Although I believe I would enjoy it, I'm worried that I don't meet the requirements. On the one hand, I have numerous published papers, a MA, and have maintained a government research analyst role all throughout law school. On the other hand, I only have a 7.5 GPA. 

Should I bother applying, considering my GPA? 

The only thing you lose if you apply is time. 7.5 seems on the lower side (although I honestly have no idea how the 9 point GPA system works), but I know people who ended up at appellate courts and even the SCC with GPAs on the lower side. It's honestly a bit of a crapshoot. I wouldn't self-select out. 

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friedpotato
  • Law Student

Side question: I have a reference from a professor I'm working with, but I was thinking of asking a partner I worked closely with 1L summer as a second reference rather than a professor (my school was online last year I didn't get to really know my professors outside of Zoom - I don't feel like they'd be able to talk about me to a more personal level). 

I've heard from my career office that having a practitioner is a no-no. Do you have any experiences/know someone who asked a practitioner to be a reference that were successful in getting an interview? 

Thanks

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BlockedQuebecois
  • Lawyer
10 minutes ago, friedpotato said:

I've heard from my career office that having a practitioner is a no-no.

Your CDO is dumb. I secured interviews at every court I applied to using a practitioner as one of my references. 

You should choose your best possible reference, taking into account both the credentials of your reference and their ability to speak to your abilities as a potential clerk. 

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