Introduction

So you've always wondered about Judges' Associates and what they actually do? Well read on and you'll find all the answers …

About me

Well to start, my name is Shannon Chapman. I graduated from UWA in 2004 after doing a combined Law and Economics degree and started my legal career as a Judge's Associate.

From December 2003 to September 2004 I was the Associate to Justice Barker at the Supreme Court and from October 2004 to July 2005 I was Associate to the President of the State Administrative Tribunal after Justice Barker was appointed President of the Tribunal in 2004.

When I finished my Associateship I did some travelling in Europe and America for three months.

On my return to Perth I began working at Blake Dawson Waldron as a Graduate while I completed the College of Law Practical Legal Training Course . I was admitted in Sydney in July 2006 and am currently working at Blakes as a lawyer in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution team.

When and how to apply

Probably the best way to know when to apply for an Associateship is to keep an eye out on the noticeboards at university. Usually Judges wanting an Associate will put up a notice at each university advertising the position. It's a good idea to keep a lookout all the year round because the positions don’t necessarily become available at a particular time each year. Some Judges will advertise around the same time as applications for articles are due, but some will not advertise until later in the year.

How you apply is usually set out in the notice. Usually you will need to send the current Judge's Associate a copy of your resume, a statement of your university results and a covering letter setting out your qualifications and the reasons why you want to be an Associate. You should pay careful attention to the notice so that you submit your application in the right format.

Another option is to send your resume and a covering letter to the Associate to the Chief Justice at each of the courts and ask that your resume be held on file and passed on to any Judges requiring an Associate.

If you are aware that any Judges have been recently appointed to one of the courts, you may like to make some inquiries at the court about whether or not they will be hiring an Associate. If they are, you can send in an application directly to the Judge himself or herself.

Why I wanted to be an Associate

The reasons I wanted to be a Judge's Associate were quite varied and involved a lot of different considerations.

My main reason was that I thought that when I began to practice as a lawyer that I would be interested in doing litigation work. Knowledge of the court system and procedures is essential for anyone who wants to be a litigation lawyer. You need to know how to draft court documents, what they look like, how to ask the court for what you want. Basically what this amounts to is knowing how the court works. I thought being an Associate would let me learn all this.

Another reason I wanted to be an Associate was that Judges have some of the best legal minds in the State. I thought that I could learn a lot by working for someone with such an extremely good knowledge of the law.

My final reason was that I really wasn't sure that I wanted to go straight from university to working at a law firm. I wanted to be able to experience something different than the traditional law firm atmosphere but at the same time work in a position that would expand my legal knowledge and competence and that would assist me when I actually started work in a law firm.

What my job involved

What an Associate's job involves depends greatly on the Judge that you work for. Justice Barker gave me every opportunity to expand my knowledge and skills base.

One of my main roles was preparing for court hearings. Of course what a Judge mainly does is hear matters in court. An Associate is responsible for organising everything a Judge will need during the hearing, whether they be documents from the court file, cases that the parties are going to be referring to or the particular pen and highlighter that the Judge likes to use in court! This can often involve communicating with the parties to make sure they file all the proper documents before the matter is heard, researching legal issues for the Judge beforehand so that he or she is aware of the main aspects of the case, or liaising with other people in the court to organise courtrooms and other equipment.

While you are in court there are also things an Associate has to do. The first thing the Associate is responsible for is calling on the matter, which means you have to stand up and announce the matter. In criminal trials where there is a jury, the Associate empanels the jury and if there are any witnesses the Associate swears them in. The Associate also has to record the proceedings, including who is appearing on either side and who the witnesses are, on a computer system called ICMS.

After the hearing is finished the Associate must record the outcome of the hearing in ICMS and then organise the file to be sent back to the appropriate place, which might be the listings section if the matter has to be listed for another hearing, the court orders section if final orders were made or somewhere else, as appropriate. If the Judge has reserved his or her decision (which means they take some time to think about and write their decision) the Associate keeps the file so that the Judge can have easy access to it while he or she is writing their decision. The Judge may also get you to assist with the judgment by doing research of various issues, assisting with writing parts of it or proofreading it. Once the judgment is ready to be delivered, the Associate has to contact the parties and organise a suitable date and time.

Then of course there are the odd tasks that come up from time to time, like responding to letters from the public, assisting with drafting presentations or papers and liaising with other Judges' Associates on behalf of the Judge.

All in all, a Judge's Associate has a very involved job with a great variety of things to do.

Why being an associate is a great experience

Being an Associate is truly a great experience. Just think that you get to work one-on-one with someone who can impart an amazing amount of knowledge to you. Someone who can teach you a lot about the law and the courts and just generally about politics, literature, art and so much more. I don't think anyone could ask for a more auspicious start to their legal career.

How I've benefited

I have really benefited from being an Associate. When I started work as a Graduate I was a lot more confident about my skills and abilities than I would have been if I had not previously been an Associate. My knowledge of courts, the State Administrative Tribunal and procedure stood me in good stead to complete the tasks I was given.

I also got the opportunity to get to know many people who work at the Supreme Court and many of the other Judges. This was a great way for me to expand my network of friends and contacts.

Conclusion

I would highly recommend every law student consider being an Associate not just those of you who want to pursue a career in litigation, you really do learn a great deal.

If any of you would like further information or have any questions, feel free to drop me an email at shannon.chapman@bdw.com or give me a call on 9366 8141.