Clerking after practicing as a lawyer?

[RubberDucky]

Hi All! 

I was wondering if anyone here knows if practicing lawyers can apply to clerkships? I noticed the court of appeals and lower courts specified that only students can apply, but federal courts and SCC did not. I didn’t apply as a student because I didn’t know what I wanted at the time, and I’m hoping I haven’t completely lost the opportunity to do so. 

Has anyone, or know of anyone, who applied as a “mature applicant”? 

Thank you! 

[BlockedQuebecois]

You can apply to the SCC, although I am not sure about the FC/FCA. It’s pretty common these days for students to clerk at the SCC after applying whilst completing an appellate clerkship (which, due to the hiring cycle, means they will practice for a year before starting their SCC clerkship). 

With that said, your post history indicates your 1L grades were below a B average, which is obviously quite uncompetitive for the SCC (and the FCA/FC). 

[notsocoolcucumber]

I can speak to the FC/FCA - about half of the clerks at both courts (in the year I was there) had articled before clerking, but only a handful had worked as an associate before coming to the Court. In other words, the majority of FC/FCA clerks apply in their last two years of law school. This doesn't mean that working for a few years before you apply would hurt your application or anything. Your app would be considered along with all of the other applications. 

[RubberDucky]

11 hours ago, BlockedQuebecois said:

You can apply to the SCC, although I am not sure about the FC/FCA. It’s pretty common these days for students to clerk at the SCC after applying whilst completing an appellate clerkship (which, due to the hiring cycle, means they will practice for a year before starting their SCC clerkship). 

With that said, your post history indicates your 1L grades were below a B average, which is obviously quite uncompetitive for the SCC (and the FCA/FC). 

That’s true, my 1L grades were not the best. I still would want to at least take a shot at it so I don’t have any regrets in the future!