CAreer, your CHoICe If you are looking for a firm that will offer you an environment to develop your professional legal skills working with senior lawyers on high quality work, my advice to you would be to strongly consider a clerkship with Johnson Winter & Slattery. I joined Johnson Winter & Slattery as a Summer Law Clerk in December 2011. Since finishing my clerkship I have been working as a Law Clerk while completing my studies, and following graduation I will be joining the firm as an Associate. In my time with Johnson Winter & Slattery I have learnt that there are a number of key factors that set the firm apart and these factors ultimately led me to accept an offer to work with the firm: • Johnson Winter & Slattery works on a “low-leverage” model, meaning that there is an almost 1:1 ratio of senior to junior lawyers; • despite being a national firm full of senior lawyers, from my experience Johnson Winter & Slattery has a uniquely collegiate culture that takes a vested interest in junior lawyers; and • while the firm has Practice Groups, the firm works on a “no silos” approach and junior lawyers are not assigned to an area but encouraged and expected to work in a diverse range of areas to build their experience. While other firms may have similar aspects, it is the unique blend of these factors that makes Johnson Winter & Slattery the best option for developing your skills and your legal career. To give just one example, before working with Johnson Winter & Slattery I had never considered the area of construction law. However, not being subscribed to one Practice Group has allowed me to explore the area and work as a part of a two-person team consisting of myself and a partner with over 30 years experience in the area who is also ranked as one of the best construction lawyers in South Australia. While working closely with the partner involved, I have been responsible for managing an expert witness, drafting correspondence between the parties, drafting detailed contractual claims and participating in client meetings. Throughout this process I have also been given the support of the partner I have been working with to guide and mentor me in how best to approach each task. Through this and my other experiences with the firm I have developed both my legal skills and valuable professional “Working with the firm will also provide you with invaluable experience as a junior lawyer and get your legal career off on the right foot.” relationships with a number of senior lawyers. I have also worked in a number of other Practice Groups in both the transactional and litigation fields, which has made me consider specialising in areas of law I had never considered before. Also, the fact that Johnson Winter & Slattery punches well above its weight in terms of clients, attracting some of the biggest companies in Australia, means that the experiences I have been exposed to has always been on interesting, complex and challenging commercial matters. A summer clerkship with Johnson Winter & Slattery provides an accurate snapshot of what life as a Law Clerk and an Associate is like with the firm and graduate recruitment is conducted through the summer clerkship program. Working with the firm will also provide you with invaluable experience as a junior lawyer and get your legal career off on the right foot. David Mason SYDNEY PERTH MELBOURNE BRISBANE ADELAIDE Clerkship Guide 2013 63 jws.com.au