Specialist Corporate and Commercial Lawyers
SWS Lawyers continues to invest in talented local law students
SWS Lawyers has continued its commitment to Newcastle and the Hunter with the appointment of another two University of Newcastle’s Law School penultimate year students for its 2017/2018 Summer Clerkship Program.
The SWS program is offered exclusively to University of Newcastle law students and forms part of a commitment by the firm to delivering premium quality corporate and commercial legal services to Newcastle and the Hunter region.
Law students at universities in London, New York or Sydney look to law firms to provide quality ongoing training and to support the law schools they have attended. UON students now have a new world class law school at the NeW Space facility and the local legal profession has a role in supporting that facility.
Dean and Head of Newcastle Law School, Professor Tania Sourdin said the close working relationship between local law firms, government and industry and Newcastle Law School makes a huge difference to the students.
“When our students leave Newcastle Law School, which is the leading clinical law school in Australia, they are job ready and this is only possible because of the great opportunities offered by our supportive community and specialist firms such as SWS Lawyers,” Tania said.
SWS Lawyers believes University of Newcastle law students should not have to travel to a global financial centre to gain experience doing premium quality legal work or receive corresponding ongoing legal training as a corporate or commercial lawyer. The firm has invested in its Summer Clerkship Program and exclusively hired University of Newcastle graduates over the past 5 years because it believes in the quality of local talent.
The Summer Clerkship Program is designed as the initial stage of ongoing training for firm lawyers. Students gain direct access to the firm’s experienced senior lawyers in a range of corporate and commercial areas of law. Participants spend time working on both litigation and front-end commercial legal work. They contribute in a meaningful way to legal matters and gain a unique insight into the complexities of balancing legal analysis with commercial outcomes.
Focus on University of Newcastle and its graduates has played a critical part of the significant growth SWS has experienced. The firm of more than 20 people has now employed five University of Newcastle law graduates over the past three years, four of whom commenced as Summer Clerks. Students who participate as Summer Clerks typically continue to work with the firm one day a week in their final year of study and, if successful, commence full-time employment with the firm upon graduation. The Managing Principal of SWS, Richard Suters said it made good business sense for the firm’s clients to work with the brightest local University of Newcastle law graduates.
“We also love the fact that our graduates can work on a deal negotiating with lawyers in Beijing, but still be home for dinner in Cooks Hill or live on a farm and access complex corporate or commercial litigation,” Richard said.
This year’s two summer clerks start their SWS journey on 4 December 2017.
A version of this article was published by Hunter Headline on 20 October 2017.
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