Student Program

Summer Student Program

For the past few years, our firm has hired summer students and has chosen articling students from our summer students.  Our summer students enjoy the same kind of experience as our articling students - interesting work, exposure to many aspects of labour and employment law, and hands-on learning.

Role of the Student

Students are involved not only in researching the law, which often includes novel and topical points, but also participate in many of the practical and necessary aspects of practice such as meeting with clients, interviewing witnesses and assuming responsibility for the preparatory work required prior to an actual hearing or trial. Students at our firm are regularly involved in cases from beginning to end and are strongly encouraged to attend at hearings of matters in which they have shared some of the responsibility. In this manner, students gain a real and beneficial understanding of the practical and legal aspects of practising law in the labour field and share the sense of achievement which comes with seeing a matter through to a successful conclusion.

Articling Student Rotation

Articling students participate in a rotation program as described below.

Objectives

1. To ensure that articling students are exposed to all aspects of the practice of labour law (e.g., OLRB proceedings, arbitrations, negotiations and individual employment law matters such as wrongful dismissal and human rights).

2. To ensure that students receive proper training and guidance.

3. To ensure that the workload and quality of work done by the students is monitored.

4. To ensure that the people who make the decisions with respect to the hiring of articling students as associates have an opportunity to evaluate the work of the articling students.

5. To provide for communication between students and lawyers regarding the quality of the students' work and with respect to their overall articling experience.

Framework

In light of the growth of our firm and the diversity of the practice, we have concluded that a rotation system is the most effective way to ensure that the foregoing objectives are met. Each articling student's year is divided into rotations of three to four months' duration (depending on the length of the articling period and number of students). During each rotation the student is assigned to a group of partners.

Our summer students do not participate in the rotation system because the summer is not long enough to have meaningful rotations; however, our summer students are exposed to a variety of partners and areas of labour and employment law.

Description of Responsibilities

A. Partners

• Try to ensure that the student is exposed to a broad range of that partner's practice.
• Ensure that the student is exposed to the preparation and presentation of arbitrations, cases in front of the Ontario Labour Relations Board, opinions and other essential areas of labour and employment law.
• Assess the student's work throughout the rotation.

B. Co-ordinators

• Monitor the student's workload to ensure that the student does not have an excessive workload or that the student is not under-utilized. This may entail refusing to assign certain work to the student, despite another lawyer's request, and directing that request to a student in another rotation. It may also involve actively seeking out work for the student.
• Ensure that the student is, in fact, being exposed to many aspects of the practice of labour law. This may entail speaking to the Senior Partner to ensure that the student is involved with certain types of files or it may entail assigning work from the Co-ordinators' workload (or other lawyers within our firm) to the student to "round out" the student's experience.
• Periodically discuss the student's performance (both positive and negative). At such meetings it is expected that the student and the Co-ordinators review the types of work which the student has been doing and weaknesses or strengths in the work.
• Meet with the student midway through the articling year and review with the student the types of work which the student has been involved in during the year to date. The purpose of this review is to identify types of work that the student needs to be exposed to in order to round out their articling experience.
• At the commencement of a rotation, Co-ordinators are responsible for reviewing the types of work to which the student has previously been exposed, so that any gaps are adequately dealt with during that rotation.

C. Other Lawyers in Our Firm

Other lawyers in our firm assign work to students through the Co-ordinators who are responsible for that student. The other lawyers in our firm are also prepared to assist students with problems which the student might encounter.

Remuneration

In recognition of the high standards upon which we insist, our firm's policy is to provide salaries and benefits that are competitive with those provided by the major Toronto law firms. Articling students are covered by an excellent extended health care plan, as well as a group life insurance plan.

Retention

Our firm is committed to the concept of growth from within and in each of the last eight years, we have hired one or more of our three to four students as associate lawyers. We are also proud of the fact that most of the students who have not joined our firm have been able to pursue a career in the field of labour law.

London Office

In August 1993 the firm opened an office in London to service its clients in southwestern Ontario. Although normally articling students are based in Toronto, they may be asked to assist the London Office as required.

Who are We Looking for?

We are interested in engaging articling students who have a superior academic background and are interested in developing an expertise in the labour law field. While labour-related courses at law school are an asset, we are impressed by those who have demonstrated their ability in handling demanding courses. An interest in and aptitude for advocacy is necessary.

As students are involved in dealing directly with clients and often work closely with various members of our firm, importance is attached to an individual's interpersonal skills and ability to be comfortable in both formal and informal settings.

Student Resources

Each student has their own office and is computer linked with our Windows-based local area network. Students can access our in-house data-base as well as on-line services such as QuickLaw and Lexis from their desks. Students are given computer training as part of their orientation and regular seminars throughout the year concerning important labour topics