New Zealand Law Interns Report Positive Experiences

Contrary to recent negative media coverage about aspects of legal practice in New Zealand, most New Zealand law interns report that they have had a positive internship experience. Most law internships are not organised by law schools but are offered by law firms, government departments and other potential employers, and are sourced by law students directly. The Deans of New Zealand law schools are reassured by the positive results of a survey on law student internships carried out in 2019. The survey was carried out in March/April 2019 across all New Zealand law schools and was intended to capture the experience of law students who had engaged in legal internships during their tertiary studies.

Almost all (96%) found their internship valuable and most reported a sense of belonging during the internship. Instances of bullying or harassment appear to be very few and most of the interns reported having had a good internship experience. Where concerns were noted about the internship, the main issues appear to be boredom and a degree of failure of the internship provider to plan work for the intern.

The Deans acknowledge that a small proportion of those surveyed did report negative experiences, and therefore important work with students and law firms remains to be done. As part of this ongoing review by the Deans, the internship survey will be run every two years, with results distributed to all lawyers, all law schools and to media.

Significant results from the survey include the following:

• Nearly 81% reported they did not personally experience unprofessional behaviour during the internship.
• The most common forms of unprofessional behaviour noted by interns were:
  • inappropriate or offensive language (9.44%)
  • disrespectful or dismissive behaviour (9.87%).
  • drunkenness (7.73%)
  • racism (5.58%)
  • sexism (4.29%)
  • bullying (3.86%)
  • sexual harassment (1.29%)
• Over 50% reported they would talk to friends/flatmates, or family /whanau if they had experienced unprofessional behaviours during the internship. The internship supervisor was ranked next (17.34%), closely followed by fellow interns (16.49%).
• Nearly 95% felt safe attending internship activities. Nearly two-thirds of those who had observed or experienced unprofessional behaviours felt safe to report them.
• Most students interned in their third (35.5%) or fourth (39.5%) year of study.
• Students spent 32 hours on average on their internships with a minimum of 2 and maximum of 80 hours.
• Internships were 17 weeks long on average, with a minimum of 2, and a maximum of 50 weeks.
• A third of students interned in a large law firm (20+ partners). Next most common was a small law firm (1-9 partners) (nearly 29%) followed by a Government department or local government. Least common was a Courts internship (nearly 1%). Other locations included medium sized firms, corporate organisations and community law centres.
• A majority (85.5%) of internships were paid and 14% were unpaid.
• Nearly half were engaged in the work but 20% found it difficult and nearly 20% were bored. Nearly two-thirds learned new things, and over 70% found the work stimulating. Half were inspired by their mentors and supervisors.
• A majority of interns said that real world experience and understanding, new skills, and networking and job opportunities were what they had gained from the internship. A typical example is:
  • I gained an understanding of how law is practically applied, and how lawyers think about law in the interests of their clients. The internships confirmed my interest in law, and also taught me to be confident in my abilities.
• Some responses revealed how the challenges of the shock of work were met:
  • Baptism by fire. Every time. But i never let it show.
• Comments on possible improvements to internships included:
  • better or more formal organisation needed
  • appropriate remuneration for the work done
  • interns to be treated like human beings and not like slaves
  • more diverse culture.
  • more substantive work
  • less socialising and more real legal work
  • more feedback of a more formal nature
  • less stress
  • less time with nothing to do
  • to be treated with respect
• The most common way of finding out about the internship was by advertisement or through the university.
• Over half thought the internship was difficult to obtain.
• Final comments offered by interns included:
  • More meaningful work wanted;
  • More cultural diversity and understanding;
  • More focus by universities on skills;
  • Internships should be more widely available and have a higher profile;
  • Internships are very valuable;
  • Concerns about drunkenness;
  • Concerns about the behaviour of other interns rather than employees of the internship workplace.

Background

A total of 582 law students responded to the survey and 321 of these had taken part in an internship. Over two-thirds (70%) of the students taking part were female and 30% were male. This mirrors attendance at law school generally. Two-thirds of the students responding identified as NZ European, nearly 10% as Māori and nearly 5% as Pasifika. Ten percent of respondents identified as Asian.

The survey sought to obtain results both from those who had had only one internship and those who completed more than one. The results suggest that the experiences of both groups were broadly similar.

The data was compiled from results collated on 1 June 2019.

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