DAVID HAMER – CLAYTON UTZ Why did you decide to complete a winter clerkship in your third year as opposed to your penultimate year? Would you recommend a winter clerkship to third year students? The Third Year Winter Clerkship doesn’t replace the traditional Summer Clerkship undertaken in your penultimate year; instead it was intended to give third year students some professional experience and a feel for a big law firm prior to applying for Summer Clerkships. I would definitely recommend it! It was a really interesting two weeks and provided invaluable experience. How did you find the interview process? Were you asked anything unexpected? The interesting/scary thing about interviews is that you rarely know what to expect when you walk into the room and in the process of the interview you somehow end up on some pretty unexpected topics. For instance in this interview, in addition to the discussions on my resume and the legal profession, we managed to cover both Manchester United and American politics. What was the most challenging aspect of your clerkship experience? The most challenging aspect would have been when my Partner began to give me some of my own work to complete. He asked me to conduct legal research into a specific area of law relevant to a case that my team were in the middle of and then write up a memo for our 30 Clerkship Guide 2013 Counsel. Having never worked in a legal job before this, it was a strange thought that my research and work could actually end up contributing to the case despite the fact I had been there less than two weeks. What was your favourite thing/s about the clerkship? There was an incredible social element to it. Because there were only eight clerks in the program we quickly formed a good group and even after splitting into our individual teams we still caught up for lunch/coffee. I was also teamed up with a really friendly lawyer who made sure to try and give me interesting work and took me to court on the days she had to go in. Additionally, there were a few graduates stationed near me who were always happy to help if I was stuck with anything, or just talk to me about their experiences coming straight out of university. Clayton Utz also made sure we met people from the different areas of the firm to get the broadest experience of the firm that we could. It was also really pleasing to see that my work there did contribute to the case, as at the end of my stay my Partner showed me revised submissions that included some things that I had found during my research for him. Did your clerkship help you make any decision/s about possible directions your career might take? I believe it did, and I definitely discovered the friendly and social side to big firms that stereotypes have you think doesn’t exist. Overall it was a really positive experience!