Clerkship Writing Sample

[piranesi]

Hi everyone! I'm thinking of applying to a clerkship* and was wondering if anyone felt like giving some advice about the writing sample. I'm writing something from scratch. I'm in 2L and was advised by the CDO not to use a paper from 1L. My plan is to try and write a 'bench memo' (based on a description from one of my profs, who clerked...quite some time ago lol) about an area of law that the court deals with. I'm feeling out of my depth though, so I would appreciate any advice you have -- and I'm sure it'll be helpful for others too. My fear is that they'll be looking for something specific, and I'll miss the mark just because I don't know what they want.

Thank you in advance!

(*at the ONSCJ/Div Ct, but I appreciate any advice!)

[BlockedQuebecois]

That is weird advice from your CDO and I would recommend ignoring it. I don’t know anyone that prepared a new piece of writing for clerkship applications. Most used papers written for law schools classes.

I also think it would be difficult to do a bench memo on a case in the manner you’re describing. I suppose the best way to do it would be to choose an SCC case where the decision is under reserve and review the factums plus watch oral argument. Which I suppose you could do, but it seems to me there are a lot of pitfalls and relatively few ways to really shine by taking that approach. 

[Wolfe]

Why don't you just improve something you already wrote instead of writing something from scratch?

[piranesi]

2 hours ago, Wolfe said:

Why don't you just improve something you already wrote instead of writing something from scratch?

I think my 1L papers are either too bland/basic or too convoluted/meandering to salvage, lol. If I had an upper-year paper, I'd totally rework it -- but I feel more motivated by the thought of starting from scratch at this point. I think this is generally good advice, though!

On 12/22/2022 at 4:33 PM, BlockedQuebecois said:

That is weird advice from your CDO and I would recommend ignoring it. I don’t know anyone that prepared a new piece of writing for clerkship applications. Most used papers written for law schools classes.

I also think it would be difficult to do a bench memo on a case in the manner you’re describing. I suppose the best way to do it would be to choose an SCC case where the decision is under reserve and review the factums plus watch oral argument. Which I suppose you could do, but it seems to me there are a lot of pitfalls and relatively few ways to really shine by taking that approach. 

Thank you for this advice! I've moved away from the bench memo idea for now and might try to do a more standard article.

I'd be curious to know if your friends used papers from 1L, or from upper-year classes? For what it's worth, I was looking at the ONCA applications page (the CDO told me to check it out b/c the requirements are somewhat applicable to the ONSCJ/Div Ct) and they also don't want 1L papers. 

Edited December 24, 2022 by piranesi