Information for Law Students
LIV Traineeship and Seasonal Clerkship Guidelines
How do the guidelines affect me?
The LIV Traineeship and Seasonal Clerkship Guidelines have been established to ensure fairness throughout the recruitment process.
Victorian law firms, and other organisations that recruit graduate lawyers, can elect to be signatories to the guidelines.
The Guidelines set out the dates upon which signatory firms can make offers concerning seasonal clerkships and graduate offers for the following year. Each firm sets its own application and interview dates.
Students are encouraged to familiarise themselves with both the Seasonal Clerkship & Traineeship guidelines.
These guidelines have an in principle endorsement from the Council of Legal Education.
History
Prior to 2009, offers for seasonal clerkships were made in May. Winter clerkships would commence immediately upon the conclusion of the June exam period that same year and summer clerkships would commence the following November – February. As a result, clerkships would take place first in winter and then the following summer.
At the conclusion of the summer clerkship period, signatory firms were able to make graduate offers for graduate traineeships commencing the following year – almost 12 months post offers being made.
Why the change?
In order to provide more certainty to both firms and students, the recruitment dates started their transition into the second half of the year in mid-2009 and will complete their transition in 2011.
Seasonal Clerkship Guidelines
In 2011, offers of seasonal clerkships cannot be made prior to 9am, Eastern Standard Time, on Monday, 10 October 2011.
The guidelines encourage tertiary students in their penultimate year, that is those who intend to complete their final semester in 2012, to apply for clerkships in mid-2011 for seasonal clerkships generally taking place in summer 2011/2012 and/or winter 2012.
Any offer made under the guidelines relates to clerkships within a one-year period from the date of offer. It can be extended for a further one-year period with an agreement between the student and the firm if a student requests a deferral of the clerkship.
Students who find themselves unable to complete clerkships at the times set by the firms are strongly encouraged to discuss their availability with each firm during the interview process. This is of particular significance for students completing a trimester, or post-graduate students who work full-time.
Traineeship Guidelines
Under the 2011 Traineeship guidelines, at the conclusion of final round of clerkships (2010 Seasonal Clerkship Guidelines) in winter 2011 firms have the option of making priority offers to those students eligible to commence their graduate traineeship in 2012.
A copy of the guidelines and current list of signatory firms can be downloaded below.
Genuine Necessity
An applicant, who due to ‘genuine necessity’ will be unable to attend an interview during the interview period, should apply to the Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) for permission to be interviewed at an earlier date. ‘Genuine necessity’
is defined as the need to be outside of Victoria during the interview period, for the purpose of postgraduate study, work experience or other purpose deemed reasonable by the LIV.
As noted in the Traineeship & Seasonal Clerkship Guidelines, applications for genuine necessity must be made in writing to the LIV and include appropriate supporting documentation to demonstrate why an applicant will be unable to attend an interview during the interview period.
It is the recommendation of the Young Lawyers Section that this application be made prior to applying to firms for graduate positions so that firms are able to coordinate an alternative interview time with you.
An application for Genuine Necessity must be in the form of a letter addressed to the Young Lawyers Section Manager Anna Alexander and include supporting documentation demonstrating why the student will be unable to attend an interview during the interview period.
If the request is granted by the LIV a student should include this information as part of their application, and if successful in being offered an interview the firm and student can then discuss a way to arrange an interview at a mutually convenient time.
Written permission is to be granted at the sole discretion of the LIV.
For questions regarding Genuine Necessity contact the YLS on 9607 9370.
Genuine Necessity applications should be addressed to:
The Young Lawyers Section
GPO Box 263
Melbourne VIC 3001
Or emailed to younglaw@liv.asn.au.