SCC Clerking as a Junior Lawyer

[ReasonableDoubt]

One thing I regret from my time in law school is that I didn't give myself a chance to apply to clerkships. I thought I wasn't competitive enough. Anyways, now I'm almost at the end of my articling and I'm considering whether it's still possible to clerk at the SCC. I know that ONCA only accepts applications from law students, so the SCC is the only other option. For context, I'm articling in, and intend to practise in, civil litigation. 

My two biggest concerns are: (1) is it too late to clerk now? If I apply in early 2025, that means, if I'm successful, I won't begin until 2026. By that time I'll be a second year call. At that point in my career, is there more value to clerking at the SCC than actually litigating? (2) Would a law firm be happy to see one of its second-year associates taking a year off work to go clerk, or would the disruption to ongoing work be too much for them to accommodate? I imagine losing a second year associate for a year would affect others' workloads and might be long enough for the firm to want to hire a replacement to fill the vacuum. Does this even matter? As a SCC clerk, should I even worry about getting work in a competitive civil litigation shop afterwards?

Any thoughts would be appropriated.

[CleanHands]

I'm sorry, I'm just kind of astounded that someone could have thought that they were uncompetitive for clerkships generally while in law school and then think they were competitive for the SCC after graduating. If you are actually competitive for the SCC (and your only other post was asking about grades for medals, so maybe you are), what kind of grades did you think you needed for clerkships before?

To actually answer your questions, you really don't need to worry about an SCC clerkship being detrimental to your career compared to alternatives...

[ReasonableDoubt]

Thank you for your input. I intentionally avoided discussing the reasons why I believe I'm competitive now to avoid revealing too much identifying information. But if you're really curious, I could send you a DM. 

[LMP]

I think your biggest obstacle would be not having a previous clerkship, which is seemingly becoming quite an important consideration. Not sure if this is an issue for people applying from practice though. 

[scooter]

2 hours ago, ReasonableDoubt said:

(1) is it too late to clerk now? If I apply in early 2025, that means, if I'm successful, I won't begin until 2026. By that time I'll be a second year call.

Around half of SCC clerks are 2 years out of law school when they start – they either did a clerkship and then a year at a firm, or vice versa. The other half are typically one year out of law school and are coming straight from an appellate clerkship. 

It's rare to clerk at the SCC without a prior clerkship, but it seems like there are a few people each year who do that. You can lurk around on LinkedIn if you want to get an idea of what types of experience those people have.

Edited April 28 by scooter

[ReasonableDoubt]

Thank you all for your input, this all helpful information.