You might have thought that a GFC, a pay freeze, threats of eliminating casual-clothes Friday, and the creation of a new position to preserve partnership equity points would compel top-tier law firm Freehills to wind back its lavish bewitching of seasonal clerks. Not so.
ANU law student Mark Smyth, a Freehills summer clerk over Christmas last year, had the following comments to make about his clerkship experience:
On the first morning of my summer clerkship at Freehills, Sydney, I rolled out of bed … half wondering why I wasn’t spending summer on a beach
somewhere…The first few days were devoted to learning about the firm… There were lots of group bonding sessions, including the highly embarrassing and demanding annual cross-CBD scavenger hunt which felt more like an episode of the Amazing Race…But the life of a summer clerk is about much more than research file notes, reviewing documents and client conferences. Summer is the peak period in the social calendar of law firms, with lavish practice group and firm-wide Christmas parties for [sic] to enjoy. Freehills also puts on a free staff lunch twice a week and hosts weekly Friday night drinks. [T]here are plenty of inter-firm clerk events, including weekly drinks … a cruise and a day at the races… A well-paid summer stint in a large commercial firm is an efficient and commitment-free way to experience life in the hustle and bustle of a top commercial firm.
the Freehills summer clerk party-starter
Free lunch twice weekly?! Free booze every Friday?! A cruise?! A day at the races?! And, for good measure, the seasonal clerks are ‘well-paid’?!
Are the Freehills staff subject to a pay-freeze, or otherwise bridesmaided into the Executive Counsel role, subsidising these debauching summer clerk parties? Is such extravagance appropriate in these tough times? Send the Firm Spy your news and views!
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Hah – while things are still pretty good here, a lot has changed since last December. You might want to source some more updated information!