MAX TURNER - MY VACATION CLERKSHIP I was a vacation clerk at Herbert Smith Freehills over the summer of 2015-16. I completed rotations in Dispute Resolution and Finance, Real Estate and Projects and I am now a paralegal in the Dispute Resolution practice area. I will be returning as a graduate in 2018.
WHY HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS?
MAX TURNER VACATION CLERK
The formal training and information sessions, along with the consistent supervision, encouragement and mentoring from senior practitioners and partners combine to give you unparalleled professional development. MAX TURNER VACATION CLERK
Macquarie University Law Society HERBERTSMITHFREEHILLS.COM
Herbert Smith Freehills always stood out as the firm with which I wanted to start my legal career. This was largely due to the quality of people I met from the firm throughout the application process, and its reputation as Australia’s leading law firm. I believed that if I wanted to become the best lawyer possible, I would need to work across market-leading practice groups, deals and disputes, and surround myself with brilliant and supportive practitioners. Herbert Smith Freehills offered all of the above and more – international secondment and pro bono opportunities, first class training, social events, free-lunch Wednesday, a seriously nice office and a swipe card on a retractable wheel that clips to your belt (hands down the greatest thing ever).
MY CLERKSHIP EXPERIENCE For fear of sounding cliché, I had just about no idea what I’d expect I would be doing during the clerkship. Assuming that you will be just as unaware as I was, I’ll try and detail my experiences as thoroughly as possible. First off, let’s just clear one thing up: it’s pronounced “clarkship”. All Herbert Smith Freehills clerks have the opportunity to work in and experience two different practice areas – these experiences are known as “rotations”. I rotated through the Commercial Litigation team within the Dispute Resoulution practice area and the Projects & Infrastructure team within the Finance, Real Estate and Projects practice area. Each rotation demanded different skills and knowledge, but both were challenging and enjoyable. My first rotation in Commercial Litigation involved litigious work. This meant the bulk of our worked revolved around preparing for and performing dispute resolution. My day-to-day tasks largely involved research contentious areas of law for matters including an ASIC investigation, a dispute concerning the breakdown of a multi-million dollar
supply agreement, as well as preparing court documents, briefs to barristers and evidence, such as a schedule of transcript evidence for an ICAC hearing. Alternatively, my second rotation in Projects and Infrastructure involved transactional work. This involved working with clients that are endeavouring to buy, sell, build, and/or operate something, and creating and managing the documents that facilitate these goals. Most tasks involved proofreading and editing large infrastructure contracts, such as editing a contract relating to our client’s (the NSW Government) Social and Affordable Housing Fund, but towards the end of my rotation I was entrusted with drafting a licence agreement relating to the redevelopment of a very large hospital. Was the clerkship difficult? Not really! It’s hard to have a tough time in the face of such comprehensive support. The formal training and information sessions, along with the consistent supervision, encouragement and mentoring from senior practitioners and partners combine to give you unparalleled professional development. On-the-job learning is also the main way in which you grow as a lawyer, which is why you are intentionally exposed to the broadest range of matters, tasks and colleagues possible. Above all else, no question was ever too stupid, nor was any request for a catch up over coffee too untimely.
MORE THAN JUST WORK The clerkship is actually really fun. You will arrive at the firm in the peak of its social calendar, so expect a tsunami of firm-wide, practice group and clerk Christmas parties. On top of that, your work week will be riddled with plenty of events, such as inter-firm sport (be prepared to show the other firms the “HSFect”), the inter-firm cruise and trivia night, the scavenger hunt and the infamous partners vs clerks debate. I had also exhausted a fair chunk of my pay on costumes. By the end of the clerkship I had become Santa, a Bloody Mary cocktail, John Farnham, a stay-at-home parent, and a bank robber. Needless to say, you have a brilliant summer both in and outside the office. You’ll be boogying, sporting and having a great time just as much as you will be drafting, researching and learning. Clerkship Guide 2016 | 55 © Herbert Smith Freehills 2016 NOF156479_profile_MT_v2 120416