On this page:
Les cours et tribunaux
Who should apply?
Eligibility
Course description and credit weight
Timeline
Funding
Mandatory reports and essay
Application form
Contact
Testimonial
罢丑别听Court and Administrative Tribunals Clerkship听offers students the opportunity to earn academic credits while working as a听research assistant for a judge听or member of an administrative tribunal听in Montreal during the academic year.
Student Clerkship Instructions 2024-2025
Student Clerkship Information Session 2024-2025
Les cours et tribunaux
Les 茅tudiant.e.s sont jumel茅.e.s avec des juges des cours et tribunaux suivants pendant toute l'ann茅e universitaire (6 cr茅dits pour un minimum de 200 heures de travail) :
- Cour d鈥檃ppel du Qu茅bec
- Cour sup茅rieure du Qu茅bec*听
- Cour du Qu茅bec, chambre civile
- Cour du Qu茅bec, chambre criminelle
- Cour du Qu茅bec, chambre de la jeunesse
- Tribunal administratif du Qu茅bec
- Cour municipale de la Ville de Montr茅al
- Cour du Qu茅bec du district de Laval, et de Lanaudi猫re
- Cour du Qu茅bec, chambre civile (Saint-J茅r么me, Laurentides)
- Cour du Qu茅bec, chambre de la jeunesse (Saint-J茅r么me, Laurentides)
- Tribunal des droits de la personne**
Students may also apply for permission to organize their own 鈥渁d hoc鈥� clerkship with a court outside Montreal. The deadline to apply for the Fall/Winter听term "ad hoc" clerkships听is the same as the one we offer via the SAO.听Once permission is granted, students are responsible for applying to the host court and arranging the clerkship themselves. Students may obtain 3 credits for 100 hours of work. In past years, students have organized their own clerkship with the Supreme Court of Israel (see the Hon. Morris J. Fish Clerkship Award) and the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts.
*Cour sup茅rieure du Qu茅bec, Montreal district includes Longueuil. Students听interested in a placement in Longueuil can indicate this on the听application form and in the听letter of intent. If nominated for a placement at the Cour sup茅rieure du Qu茅bec, the court will take this into account if a resident judge from Longueuil is available to supervise a student clerkship. The Cour sup茅rieure du Qu茅bec prefers full-year student clerkships. However, if strong candidates are only available for one term, it is possible to be considered for this placement.听Note that this is not a guarantee that the SAO will nominate or that the Court听will accept a student for one term only, as preference is for full-year.听
**Note aux 茅tudiante.e.s qui veulent postuler au Tribunal des droits de la personne. Une personne sera accept茅e pour ce stage de 6 cr茅dits, d'une dur茅e d'un an, et devra satisfaire aux exigences suivantes:
- La r茅ussite pr茅alable d'un cours sur les droits et libert茅s de la personne, ou l'engagement听脿听suivre un tels cours.
- Une sensibilit茅 et un int茅r锚t marqu茅 en mati猫re de droits et libert茅s de la personne qui se d茅montrent par leurs implications ou leur lettre de motivation.
- Soit avoir suivi un cours sur la Charte des droits et libert茅s de la personne du Qu茅bec, soit s'engager听脿听suivre un tels cours.
- La capacit茅 d'am茅nager son horaire avec une certaine flexibilit茅. Les 茅tudiants devraient pouvoir disposer d'au moins d'une journ茅e par semaine durant toute la dur茅e de son stage de mani猫re 脿 pouvoir 锚tre disponibles pour des auditions sujettes 脿 des changements ou 脿 des r猫glements hors cour.
听
Who should apply?
This will be an ideal choice for students wishing to work closely with a judge and gain a behind-the-scenes view of the Quebec judicial system. Clerkships allow students to improve their legal analysis, research and writing skills in both French and English.听
Eligibility
Open to students who have completed at least 2 years of the BCL/JD Program, and all first and second year听required courses. Students must have completed Advocacy as well. Students must have a minimum 2.70 CGPA to apply.
Course description and credit weight
3 or 6 credits
Timeline
Applications will be initially assessed by the SAO in April. The SAO will determine the nominations based on CGPA, demonstrated legal research and writing experience (for instance: legal clinic course, law journals, Research assistantship, etc), year in the program, full-year vs. single-term placement, and other relevant experience.
If nominated, the student鈥檚 application package (cover letter, CV, transcript) will be sent to the court for final assessment at the end of April/early May. The courts will determine who is selected for a clerkship 鈥� therefore, a nomination is not a guarantee of a clerkship position. Students will be notified of the court's decision as soon as possible.
Funding
Students who already receive student aid may qualify for a Enriched Educational Opportunity bursary.
Mandatory reports and essay
Students doing a clerkship are required to complete a midterm report, final report, and end-of-term essay.
The midterm and final report templates and submission deadlines will be emailed to students before the start of their student clerkship.
The end-of-term essay should be addressed to the Associate Dean (Academic). The essay听must be in the form of a 2 to 4 page essay听(Times New Roman size 12, double-spaced) and听must include the standard听SAO cover page.听Please discuss a specific legal topic or issue that you have explored during your student clerkship. Explain why this topic is particularly significant, relating it to the mandate of the court/tribunal, the specific needs of the court or tribunal听and the challenges they face,听and to your personal experience working there.
End-of-term essays are to be submitted via MyCourses.
Please note 鈫捥�Midterm reports, final reports and end-of-term essays听do not听need to be read or signed by the student clerkship supervisor. You are free to voice your feelings and concerns.
Clerkship applications for 2024-2025
Application:听
Deadline: April 2, 2024, 15h
Faculty contact
For more information, email cle.law [at] mcgill.ca.
Testimonial
鈥淚n my experience, working as a student clerk at the Court of Appeal includes research and writing on the cases assigned to you, and an ongoing dialogue about these cases with your judge and their clerk. I felt both prepared for this, in that I had already done quite a bit of research and writing, and entirely unprepared, in that it was the first time I applied those skills in a practical context. It is intimidating but ultimately very gratifying to form your own opinion on a case, sometimes in an area of law unfamiliar to you. I was forced to learn fast and was given quite a bit of encouragement and support along the way. I鈥檝e also loved working there alongside taking courses - the two complement each other, in that you鈥檙e seeing the practical implications of what you鈥檙e learning in class in real time.鈥�
鈥� Stephanie Belmer, 2022-2023 participant, BCL/JD
鈥淢on stage 脿 la Chambre de la jeunesse m鈥檃 permis de voir le c么t茅 humain du droit, un aspect qui n鈥檃 pas vraiment la chance de prendre vie lorsqu鈥檕n lit de la doctrine et de la jurisprudence sur les bancs de la Facult茅. Cette exp茅rience a 茅t茅 essentielle et formatrice dans mon parcours juridique en ce qu鈥檈lle m鈥檃 permis d鈥檃cqu茅rir une vision pratique de la profession, de la proc茅dure civile et du processus d茅cisionnel du juge.听
J鈥檃i d茅velopp茅 une compr茅hension critique et approfondie du droit de la protection de la jeunesse, du droit p茅nal pour adolescents et des enjeux sociaux qui sous-tendent ces champs de droit. J鈥檃i aussi pu interagir avec tous les acteurs du syst猫me judiciaire- les juges, les avocats de la Direction de la protection de la jeunesse, les procureurs de la Couronne, les avocats de la d茅fense, mais aussi les greffiers, les huissiers et les interpr猫tes.鈥�
鈥� Am茅lia Souffrant, 2021-2022 participant, BCL/JD