Clerking at Court of Appeal Alberta coming from BC/vancouver

[perryplatypus]

I have lived in BC my whole life, have my articles lined up in Vancouver at a big law firm (I'm a 3L), but I REALLY want to clerk. I love litigation, and would love the opportunity to work with judges. 

My dream is to clerk for the BCSC or BCCA. I got an interview for the BC Courts last year, but didn't make it past the first interview:/ I am applying again this year, but don't have my hopes up. I think I have a better shot at getting a spot of the Alberta Court of Appeal (seems less competitive than BC Courts).

I'm wondering, is it even worth it for me to live in Alberta for a year just to clerk? Will I still get the benefits like reputation, prestige, and resume boost for my future LLM application? 

[Mbu1]

1 hour ago, lawstudentvancouver said:

I have lived in BC my whole life, have my articles lined up in Vancouver at a big law firm (I'm a 3L), but I REALLY want to clerk. I love litigation, and would love the opportunity to work with judges. 

My dream is to clerk for the BCSC or BCCA. I got an interview for the BC Courts last year, but didn't make it past the first interview:/ I am applying again this year, but don't have my hopes up. I think I have a better shot at getting a spot of the Alberta Court of Appeal (seems less competitive than BC Courts).

I'm wondering, is it even worth it for me to live in Alberta for a year just to clerk? Will I still get the benefits like reputation, prestige, and resume boost for my future LLM application? 

What makes you think the ABCA is less competitive? If you have good enough grades at JD level to clerk in an appellate court, it usually means you were already competitive for most LLMs.

[BlockedQuebecois]

It seems fairly obvious that a court in a Bad Province™️ is less competitive than a court in a Good Province™️

More seriously, the popular wisdom when I was applying for clerkships was that the Alberta courts were less competitive with respect to grades—but more sensitive to the question of whether you were a flight risk—than either Ontario or BC.

I don’t know why that would have changed in the years since, particularly as Alberta has not particularly covered itself in glory in recent years. 

As to the prestige question, I suspect most people think clerking in Alberta is roughly equivalent to clerking in BC or Ontario or at the FCA, though if you forced me to rank them by prestige Alberta would probably be last. 

Edited November 30, 2023 by BlockedQuebecois

[HarryCrane]

4 hours ago, BlockedQuebecois said:

It seems fairly obvious that a court in a Bad Province™️ is less competitive than a court in a Good Province™️

More seriously, the popular wisdom when I was applying for clerkships was that the Alberta courts were less competitive with respect to grades—but more sensitive to the question of whether you were a flight risk—than either Ontario or BC.

I don’t know why that would have changed in the years since, particularly as Alberta has not particularly covered itself in glory in recent years. 

As to the prestige question, I suspect most people think clerking in Alberta is roughly equivalent to clerking in BC or Ontario or at the FCA, though if you forced me to rank them by prestige Alberta would probably be last. 

Having gone through the interview process I think you’re correct in that the ABCA is sensitive to people leaving post clerkship. My sense from my interview is that they want people who are going to be active and ultimately respected members of the legal community post clerkship. 
 

I do think inherently the BC process is more challenging because there’s a first interview before you get to the panel stage. Alberta there is only one interview with legal counsel and the justices. 
 

If @lawstudentvancouveris going to apply for Alberta they may want to do this soon as applications are due Friday. 
 

Edited November 30, 2023 by HarryCrane
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