Piper Alderman in Sydney has embarked on a recruitment drive for casual law clerks, giving law students the chance to work for two days a week through the next year.

The law clerk recruitment drive is a paid and temporary job offering to law students, and draws to a close on Wednesday 10 March. The firm says it will give students a leg up when they go to apply for graduate positions in firms.

But the candidate hunt will also provide the firm with consistent employees to do back-end work as work increases in the next year, it said. The law clerks will do legal work, including research and drafting.

As firms have in the past year cut major portions of their staff, including lawyers, some commentators have warned that firms will be left with a massive talent gap once the economy picks up again.