Questions law students actually ask.
Straight answers about getting a legal internship, going overseas, what four weeks in Kuala Lumpur involves, and what to do with it afterwards. Ask anything that is not here and we will answer it, and the ones that keep coming up get added to this page.
Answered by Maggie, our chat, from what is on this site. She does not give legal or immigration advice. Questions are kept so we know what to answer next, and nothing else about you is stored.
Getting a legal internship.
How do law students actually get internships?
Four ways, in rough order of how many people get in: a firm's own clerkship or vacation scheme, which is competitive and has deadlines months ahead; a university internship subject, where the faculty places you; an agency, which charges a fee and finds you a host, sometimes one you do not know until after you pay; or a placement arranged with a named firm, which is what Lawgistics runs in Kuala Lumpur. The fifth way, which works more often than students think, is asking a small firm directly for a week of work experience.
When should I start applying?
About three months before the month you want, and earlier for clerkship seasons, which usually open mid year for the following summer. Faculty approval, flights and any funding application all take longer than anyone expects. If you are trying for the Australian summer break, start around March.
What year of law school should I intern in?
Any. Second and third year is common, but firms take first years who ask well and final year students who want one last look before they commit to an area. You do not need to have done evidence or procedure to be useful.
Do I need good marks to get a legal internship?
For competitive clerkships at large firms, marks matter. For nearly everything else they matter far less than being easy to work with, being on time, and being interested in the file in front of you. Most people who supervise interns will tell you the same thing.
How do I write the email that gets a reply?
Three short paragraphs. Who you are and where you study, one specific reason you are writing to that firm rather than any firm, and exactly what you are asking for with dates. Attach a one page CV. Send it to a person, not to info@. Follow up once, a week later.
Are law internships paid?
Clerkships and paid paralegal roles in Australia are paid. Most overseas placements are not, and some charge a fee that covers accommodation and support. Assume unpaid unless you are told otherwise, and work out what four weeks will cost you before you say yes.
Is an unpaid internship worth it?
It depends on what you come home with. A month of filing teaches you nothing, whoever pays. A month on live files where you see how a matter is run, and write something of your own afterwards, changes how you talk in an interview for years. Ask what you will actually be doing before you decide.
Interning overseas.
Where should an Australian law student intern overseas?
Somewhere you can read the file. That means a common law country working in English, which is why Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong come up so often for Australians. Civil law countries in another language are fascinating but you will spend four weeks on translations. There is a fuller comparison at the page on where to intern.
Is an overseas internship better than one at home?
Not better, different. At home you see the system you will practise in. Overseas you see a second system, which is the only way to notice what is arbitrary about your own. Employers here notice the overseas one more, because almost nobody does it.
How much does an overseas law internship cost?
Agency programmes in Asia commonly run between about $5,000 and $10,000 AUD for four weeks. The Lawgistics placement in Kuala Lumpur is $2,900 AUD for 2026 intakes, usual fee $3,900, including a private apartment, breakfast and lunch on working days, airport transfers and Malay lessons. Flights and travel insurance are extra everywhere, and insurance is compulsory.
How do I know a programme is real?
Ask for the name of the firm before you pay anything. Look the firm up, read what it actually does, and see whether the work it does matches what you are being promised. If nobody will name the firm until after you have paid, you are buying a matching service.
Do I need a visa to intern overseas?
It depends on the country and your passport, and it is not something to guess at or to read on a forum. Make the firm tell you in writing which pass or visa you need, and check the official immigration website for that country yourself. We do not give immigration advice, and for our own placement we confirm the correct entry arrangement with each student before flights are booked.
Is it safe?
Ask specific questions rather than general ones. Where will I live, and is it mine. Who do I ring at two in the morning. What happens if I get sick. Who else is there. For our Kuala Lumpur placement, students get an apartment of their own, and someone from Lawgistics is reachable while they are in the country. Anywhere we only match you, all of that is yours to arrange, which is worth knowing before you go.
The Kuala Lumpur placement.
What is the Lawgistics placement, exactly?
Four weeks at Thomas Philip Advocates and Solicitors, a civil litigation firm in Kuala Lumpur. You work on live civil files with a mentor at the firm, go to court twice a week, see the Court Museum at the Court of Appeal and the court libraries, spend a day in Putrajaya, sit in on a legal seminar and skills workshops, and take Malay lessons twice a week. Over the four weeks you write one short comparison of a point of Malaysian and Australian law.
Why Malaysia?
It is a common law jurisdiction. The higher courts work in English and Bahasa Malaysia, and much of the law grew from the same English roots as ours, so you can read the pleadings and follow the argument from your first week. It also costs a fraction of what Singapore or Hong Kong cost for the same month.
What does it cost and what is included?
$2,900 AUD for 2026 intakes, usual fee $3,900. That covers the placement, a private apartment of your own about ten minutes from the firm, breakfast and lunch on working days, a driver to and from the firm where available, airport transfers, Malay lessons twice a week and the weekend trips. Flights and travel insurance are your own cost.
Will I see criminal law?
No. Thomas Philip is a civil litigation firm and does not do criminal work. What you see is commercial and civil disputes, which is where most litigation actually happens.
Can I get university credit or funding?
Sometimes, and each faculty decides for itself, so ask yours early and bring the programme outline. On money, ask your university's mobility office whether their mobility funding could cover a placement like this one. Some grants do and some do not. We never claim the programme is New Colombo Plan approved.
Do I need to speak Malay?
No. The work is in English and so is most of the courtroom argument you will follow. You get Malay lessons twice a week because being able to greet people properly changes how a month feels.
Can I stay longer than four weeks?
Yes. Four weeks is standard and is what the fee covers. Longer or custom placements, including part time alongside a semester in Kuala Lumpur, are arranged on request and quoted before you commit. You can also stay on privately afterwards on your own arrangements.
What if I want to intern somewhere else in Asia?
Tell us where and we will approach firms there and introduce you. That is a match and not a placement: no accommodation, transport, meals or support from us, and nothing is promised until a firm says yes. Kuala Lumpur is the one we run ourselves and the one we recommend first.
Doing it well, and afterwards.
What do supervisors actually notice about interns?
Whether you did the unglamorous task properly. Bundles, chronologies and checking citations are how people decide whether you can be trusted with something bigger. They also notice whether you asked one good question after reading the thing twice, rather than five questions instead of reading it.
What should I bring, and what do I wear?
Business attire, business casual on Fridays in Kuala Lumpur, and something you can sit in comfortably in a warm courtroom. Bring a notebook you will actually carry into court. There is a full pre departure guide once you are accepted.
How do I get something out of it that lasts?
Keep a file of your own work as you go, write down what you did not understand at the time, and write one thing up properly afterwards. A student who can hand over a short comparative piece has something to talk about in every interview for two years. A student with only a line on a CV has a line on a CV.
What do I put on my CV afterwards?
The firm, the jurisdiction, the type of work and one concrete thing you produced. Not adjectives. "Four weeks at a civil litigation firm in Kuala Lumpur, on live commercial disputes, attending court twice a week, wrote a comparison of derivative actions in Malaysia and Australia" tells an employer more than a paragraph about passion.
How do I decide which area of law suits me?
Notice which files you open first and which conversations you stay in the room for. There is a quiz on this site that asks thirteen, sorry, seven questions about how you like to work rather than what you scored, and it gives you three areas worth looking at. It is a starting point, not an answer.
Ask a person instead.
Fifteen minutes, free, and you can ask anything: dates, cost, what your faculty needs, or whether this is the right year to go.