Lincoln Alexander Law students land judicial clerkships

Seven students from Lincoln Alexander School of Law have landed coveted positions as judicial clerks for the 2025-26 year, the highest number of clerkships for Lincoln Alexander Law since the law school opened in 2020.

Patricia Arulchelvam, Haydn Bechthold, Sabrina Khela, Lucas Marqus, Kvitlana Tsap, Zoë Walwyn, and Coco Wang will be spending their time next year gaining hands on experience learning the law and working closely with judges  in their day to day professional lives.

“I am really looking forward to working one on one with the judge I am clerking for,” said Zoë Walwyn. “It is an invaluable opportunity to learn more about how judges make their decisions and observe various styles of advocacy.”

Classmate Kvitlana Tsap echoes that sentiment.“I am thrilled to embark on this unique opportunity to engage with complex legal issues and gain insight into judicial processes while clerking with the Court of Appeal for Ontario,” she said.

Though students from Lincoln Alexander Law have secured judicial clerkships over the past few years, this is the first year that students have been selected to clerk in both the Federal Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

“We couldn’t be prouder of how well our students did this year,” said Ed Béchard-Torres, assistant professor at Lincoln Alexander Law and a faculty member of the Clerkship Committee. “These are incredibly competitive positions, and they’ve been secured by a wonderful and diverse group of emerging jurists. Each one of them has demonstrated academic excellence, well-developed research and writing skills, as well as a strong sense of collegiality and public service.”

“We are also very happy for them. These positions provide rich and rewarding work, and serve as a fitting capstone for a student’s journey in law school, since you really do get to see a lot of law in action.”

Clerking gives students a unique opportunity to gain exposure to judicial reasoning, insight into litigation, and the processes and challenges involved in judicial decision-making. Clerks will work under the direction and supervision of one or more judges (depending on the court) and will assist with tasks such as legal research, preparing memoranda of law, editing draft judgments, and attending court proceedings.

“I am looking forward to learning about judicial reasoning from judges themselves and the criteria with which they evaluate advocacy,” said Lucas Marqus. “I am interested in pursuing a career in legal academia and trans rights litigation, so this clerkship will be an invaluable experience.”

The full list of this year’s clerks can be found below:

Patricia Arulchelvam, Class of 2024: Federal Court of Canada 

Haydn Bechthold, Class of 2025: Ontario Superior Court of Justice

Sabrina Khela, Class of 2025: Ontario Superior Court of Justice

Lucas Marqus, Class of 2025: Ontario Superior Court of Justice

Kvitlana Tsap, Class of 2024: Court of Appeal for Ontario

Zoë Walwyn, Class of 2024: Federal Court of Canada

Coco Wang, Class of 2025: Federal Court of Canada