Assembly
I first heard about grad roles in the law library, eavesdropping (as usual). There were a bunch of guys talking about applications and offers. They were older than me and seemed intimidating (though I was 18 so everyone was older than me and intimidating).
They were swapping stories and tips and names of firms I’d never heard of. It all felt very foreign, and it felt like something that wasn’t meant for me. The first step in the assembly of this law grad was getting to the point where I was curious enough about grad roles to apply for clerkships, then getting my head around what the whole process for that even was.
I didn’t realise I wanted to work in law until I took a job working in a tiny estate planning firm, which was chaotic but lots of fun. I think trying out working in law for size and watching lawyers work is the only way to figure out if it might be for you.
What helped: law society resources, getting any kind of experience in law, talking to friends, Google.
What didn’t help: underestimating how much time I needed to dedicate to applying for clerkships.
Getting to the end
Those last few units of law school feel like they are so far away, until they aren’t. Then they feel like they will never end, until they do.
No matter which frame of mind you’re stuck in (not quite ready to accept you’re almost done with uni, or alternatively, itching to start life after study), time will tick on at an even speed. It’s a cliché but the only way to get through those last few semesters (or years) is to be present and play the cards you currently have at hand.
Powering off your uni brain
I feel like since starting my grad role I’ve had to scrap a lot of the thought patterns I got stuck in in my uni brain. All through uni, I reminded myself that I was not good at legal research. That I wasn’t good at managing my time. That I would never get the places I wanted to go. What I like about being a grad at Clayton Utz (and I think this is the case at a lot of firms) is that there’s a feeling that people genuinely want the grads to do well and are very understanding that you’re still learning. I think it’s helped me to rewire those old thought patterns. I’ll get better at legal research, I’m learning how to manage my
time, I’m on the way to where I want to be.
Unexpected pros
Random but happy things I like about being a grad….
This sounds like an ad but I’m genuinely having so much fun. I like that learning how to practice law is more like my creative writing subjects than you’d think. It’s a lot of learning how to write for particular audiences and different purposes, just like learning how to write different genres in fiction and non-fiction.
If you have a brain like mine (and maybe you do), it’s satisfying to watch words come together and I didn’t know I’d enjoy this part of the law like I do. I love being in the city because that’s where so many people I know are also working at this point in our lives. It makes it easy to catch up with people from different parts of your life. I often run into old friends in the street coming to and from work.
Being part of a grad cohort is also something I didn’t realise I’d be so grateful for. They are built-in friends, people to have lunch and coffee with, share worries and mistakes.
Care instructions
I like the routine of being at work full-time. I occasionally miss being able to go to a random 10am yoga class but I get to do lots of fun things at work anyway. I’ve made so many lovely friendships and relationships with people I’m enjoying getting to know which keeps my cup full when at work.
Warning
Recently, I’ve started wanting (involuntarily!) to start timers to track my time in my personal life which is very odd. As in, I was walking into the shops a few weekends ago and I felt the need to start a new timer to track my time because it felt like I was starting a new task. I can be a bit type A so I suppose it makes sense … be warned though.
Ciaran Greig is a Graduate at Law at Clayton Utz in Brisbane. She graduated from QUT last year with a
Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Creative Writing. Ciaran is a former QUTLS Publications Officer and editor of The Gavel.
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