Ashton Menuz isn't the type to give up easily - and that's a quality that recently led the third-year law student to her biggest career accomplishment to date.
Approximately one year after learning that her first application was unsuccessful, Menuz was selected earlier this month as one of just 27 law students from across Canada to clerk at the country's highest court.
Originally from Calgary, Menuz will begin her prestigious one-year clerkship with the Hon. Mr. Justice Russell Brown - a former University of Alberta law faculty member - in August/September 2018, following a 10-month articling placement at the Alberta Court of Appeal and approximately five months at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP.
Not surprisingly, the road to securing a Supreme Court clerkship isn't easy. As part of the application process, Menuz was required to submit official transcripts of all her post-secondary marks, a cover letter, resumé, four reference letters and a writing sample. Menuz also met with a number of faculty members, including Dean Paul Paton, to review her cover letter and receive advice on the types of questions she could expect during the interview phase.
"The support that I received from the faculty was invaluable," she said. "It meant a lot to have my professors encourage me to apply and give their time to help me prepare."
As part of her interview preparation, Menuz took the advice of faculty members to study recent court decisions and form her thoughts on whether or not she agreed with them.
Preparation complete, Menuz flew to Ottawa on March 6, one day before the interview.
"I don't think I slept the night before," she said.
Menuz participated in two interviews - one with Justice Moldaver, and one with the committee that hires on behalf of the other eight justices. The committee included Justice Karakatsanis and Justice Gascon.
After completing the interview, Menuz was given a tour of the Supreme Court building, including the library and courtroom.
"I felt really good about [the interview] and that I had done my best," she said. "At that point, it was out of my hands."
Menuz was told that she would hear if she had secured the clerkship by Thursday or Friday of the same week.
By 3:30 p.m. Thursday - 5:30 p.m. in Ottawa - she had given up on receiving any news that day.
Two hours later, her phone rang.
Justice Brown was on the other end, offering her a clerkship.
"It's pretty special that Justice Brown has the University of Alberta connection. He understands the institution that I am coming from and has personal connections with a lot of faculty members I would consider to be my mentors," she said, adding that she had the opportunity to meet Justice Brown when he visited the university in February to give the Henry Marshall Tory Lecture.
When Menuz starts her clerkship next year, her duties will include drafting bench memos to summarize cases that will go before the court and having discussions with Justice Brown about pressing issues within those cases.
Once the clerkship is over, Menuz plans to return to Calgary and practise energy and corporate law, which she said she enjoys because it combines different areas of private law, including torts and contracts.
Menuz's future - wherever it may take her - appears very bright.
For almost as long as there's been a Canada, there's been a University of Alberta. Over the next year, in honour of Canada's 150th anniversary, we're proudly celebrating the people, achievements and ideas that contributed to the making of a confederation.
