Where should a law student intern?
The honest answer is: somewhere you can read the file, at a firm you can name before you pay, doing work that is actually happening. That rules out more options than you would think. Here is how the places Australian students ask about compare, and what each month would really give you.
Four questions that decide it.
Can you read the file?
A common law country working in English means you follow the argument from day one. A civil law country in another language means four weeks of translation and summaries.
Do you know the firm?
If you cannot name the firm before you pay, you are buying a matching service, not a placement. Ask for the name, look it up, read what it actually does.
Will you be in court?
Litigation practices put you in court. Corporate practices do not. Both are worth doing, but decide which one you are paying for.
What does four weeks cost you?
Fee, flights, insurance, rent, food and transport. Singapore and Hong Kong can cost more in rent alone than an entire placement elsewhere.
Where Australian students actually go.
| Place | System and language | What a month gives you | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malaysia | Common law, English in the higher courts | Live civil files and court twice a week on our placement, at a fraction of the cost of anywhere else in the region | You need a firm that will actually have you. Ours will. |
| Singapore | Common law, English | Big commercial work and international arbitration | The most competitive and the most expensive month in Asia |
| Hong Kong | Common law, English | Cross border disputes and corporate work, a split profession like England's | Rents rival Singapore's, and schemes fill months ahead |
| Mainland China | Civil law, Mandarin | Cross border commercial work if you speak the language | Foreign firms cannot advise on Chinese law, and without Mandarin you are on the edge of the work |
| Vietnam | Civil law, Vietnamese | Foreign investment and how deals get done in a fast moving market | No courtroom for a foreign intern, and firms often want longer than four weeks |
| Borneo, Sabah and Sarawak | Common law, English and Bahasa Malaysia | Native customary land law you will not see anywhere else, in small firms | Few structured programmes, so it takes an introduction |
| Australia | Common law, English | Paid paralegal and clerk roles that count as experience at home | Competitive, and you see one system rather than two |
What we run ourselves is the Kuala Lumpur placement. Everywhere else on this list, we can approach firms and introduce you, and that is all it is: a match, with no accommodation, transport or support from us.
Go somewhere you will be in court.
Most students come back from a corporate month with a nice line on the CV and very little to say. The ones who come back with something to say sat in court, watched a matter fall apart, and know what they would have done differently. That is why we run a litigation placement rather than a corporate one, and why we recommend Malaysia first: common law, English, court twice a week, and it costs less than a month in Singapore.