Clerkship AM(A)A

[scooter]

1 minute ago, BlockedQuebecois said:

Has the ONSC gotten rid of its requirement that you clerk during articles?

Still a requirement. Only people in second year of law school are eligible to apply

[multilingualcat]

4 hours ago, BlockedQuebecois said:

There are probably others on the forum who can better answer this question (including @FCA Clerkship).

With that said, my understanding is that recruitment at the FCA and FC is driven by each individual judge, so I doubt there is a set number of "bilingual positions". I suspect that judges looking for bilingual candidates are generally looking for candidates who are fluently bilingual, and I am fairly certain that being bilingual is a major advantage (although obviously unilingual clerks do get hired). 

Has the ONSC gotten rid of its requirement that you clerk during articles?

I would think that an A- average as a third-year applicant is quite easily competitive for the FC and ONSC. It's more borderline for the ONCA, but I would think that it's at least competitive for interviews. 

Do you know what would be a competitive GPA for McGill? Would a 3.0 (B average) with fluency in french make me competitive for FC and ONSC? I am considering applying next year. 

Edited January 26 by multilingualcat

[HarryCrane]

2 hours ago, multilingualcat said:

Do you know what would be a competitive GPA for McGill? Would a 3.0 (B average) with fluency in french make me competitive for FC and ONSC? I am considering applying next year. 

Others might have better insight but my advice (as someone who will be clerking when I graduate) is to apply because the worst thing that will happen is you don’t get an interview. 

[notsocoolcucumber]

On 1/26/2024 at 12:40 PM, BlockedQuebecois said:

There are probably others on the forum who can better answer this question (including @FCA Clerkship).

With that said, my understanding is that recruitment at the FCA and FC is driven by each individual judge, so I doubt there is a set number of "bilingual positions". I suspect that judges looking for bilingual candidates are generally looking for candidates who are fluently bilingual, and I am fairly certain that being bilingual is a major advantage (although obviously unilingual clerks do get hired). 

I would think that an A- average as a third-year applicant is quite easily competitive for the FC and ONSC. It's more borderline for the ONCA, but I would think that it's at least competitive for interviews. 

(Answers from a former clerk of one of the federal courts, in case it is helpful)

RE bilingualism - there are bilingual judges on the court and non-bilingual judges on the court. Given this, bilingual candidates tend to be hired by the bilingual judges, while the non-bilingual candidates are hired by the non-bilingual judges. There are some judges that sort of fall in the middle of the spectrum and are more flexible. If you are applying as a bilingual candidate, the important thing to do is to submit french writing. Without it, it may be difficult to secure a clerkship as a bilingual pick. Candidates will fall through the cracks if they check bilingual but don't do this.

RE grades - I would say most FC and FCA clerks are in the top 10-20% of their class. There are medalists at both courts, but also folks not on deans' lists at both courts. I think it is fair to say that there is more wiggle room though at the FC, given the number of positions. An A- would be competitive at the FC and relatively competitive at FCA/ONCA. Your success will depend on your grades (and perhaps what school you attended), experience, writing samples, references, etc. The process is hyper competitive, sadly - and there really are dozens of fantastic candidates who do not get clerkships across all courts.

This being said, I think reapplying is always a good idea. Every year your application gets stronger! Covers letters are a great way to show genuine interest in the court's jurisdiction to show judges why you want to work for them. Good luck!

(Disclosure: I edited this to add some nuance in the paragraph about grades)

Edited February 8 by notsocoolcucumber

[Lawhopeful123]

Not sure if this question has already been asked, but if I struggled with criminal law in 1L and fail to take any other criminal law courses, will I be at a disadvantage in applying to clerkships? 

Thanks!

Edited March 5 by Lawhopeful123

[HarryCrane]

12 hours ago, Lawhopeful123 said:

Not sure if this question has already been asked, but if I struggled with criminal law in 1L and fail to take any other criminal law courses, will I be at a disadvantage in applying to clerkships? 

Thanks!

With the exception of federal court clerkships and taking courses in areas they deal with (IP, Immigration etc), my understanding is courts generally do not put a lot of weight into what courses you do or don't take.

[hihihihihihi]

Can you still apply for clerkship after articling? (particularly, I'm thinking about the clerkship at the tax court) I've always thought I wasn't into litigation so I did OCI and have accepted the returning articling offer already. But I did a moot recently and thought tax litigation might be fun so I wanted to see if I can still apply for clerkship at this stage.

[scooter]

33 minutes ago, hihihihihihi said:

Can you still apply for clerkship after articling? (particularly, I'm thinking about the clerkship at the tax court) I've always thought I wasn't into litigation so I did OCI and have accepted the returning articling offer already. But I did a moot recently and thought tax litigation might be fun so I wanted to see if I can still apply for clerkship at this stage.

Yes, you can do this for federal courts , but you’ve missed the deadline for 2025-26. You'd be applying next January for a 2026-27 clerkship, which would be after you do a year as an associate (or at least that’s what it sounds like from your post?)

[notsocoolcucumber]

You can absolutely clerk after articling or even after being a first year associate! I think courts are increasingly looking for previous experience in their clerks. If you do end up clerking, I would suggest asking your firm to return as your year of call. 

Edited March 5 by notsocoolcucumber

[scooter]

2 hours ago, HarryCrane said:

15 hours ago, Lawhopeful123 said:

Not sure if this question has already been asked, but if I struggled with criminal law in 1L and fail to take any other criminal law courses, will I be at a disadvantage in applying to clerkships? 

Thanks!

With the exception of federal court clerkships and taking courses in areas they deal with (IP, Immigration etc), my understanding is courts generally do not put a lot of weight into what courses you do or don't take.

I guess it depends what "struggled with criminal law" actually means in terms of your final grade, but it seems like a poor grade in criminal law would be a disadvantage for provincial trial and appellate courts, no? Those courts are all 50%+ criminal cases. Maybe it's not disqualifying, but it's hard to believe that they wouldn't care at all. 

[HarryCrane]

5 hours ago, scooter said:

I guess it depends what "struggled with criminal law" actually means in terms of your final grade, but it seems like a poor grade in criminal law would be a disadvantage for provincial trial and appellate courts, no? Those courts are all 50%+ criminal cases. Maybe it's not disqualifying, but it's hard to believe that they wouldn't care at all. 

The question was though if it’s an issue that they didn’t continue on to take more advanced crim classes and only have 1L crim. The courts generally won’t care you took Advanced Torts or Health Law instead of Advanced Criminal Law.
 

If they “struggled” in the sense they got a C, that might pose a problem but if by “struggled” they mean they got a B and their other grades are a B+/A range, then it’s not as big of an issue, if at all.

 

[BlockedQuebecois]

The BC courts now explicitly state that they will consider course selection in assessing applicants. 

For what it’s worth, putting aside the issue of its effect on your application, I think you would be doing yourself a disservice if you were to clerk at a superior court or provincial appellate court without having taken, at a minimum, criminal procedure and evidence. 

[notsocoolcucumber]

On 3/4/2024 at 11:20 PM, Lawhopeful123 said:

Not sure if this question has already been asked, but if I struggled with criminal law in 1L and fail to take any other criminal law courses, will I be at a disadvantage in applying to clerkships? 

Thanks!

It is always worth shooting your shot despite low grades in a particular subject. Courts who need criminal expertise may also need generalist expertise. I think every application is considered on the whole and will not be discarded simply because of a low grade in a class on your transcript. 

Edited March 6 by notsocoolcucumber