The summer program at Dentons Ottawa is designed to give you the best possible direct exposure to our numerous practice areas and numerous clients. There is no formal rotation system for summer students, so you can be exposed to work from any of our practice groups. The objective of our summer program is to provide an excellent introduction and orientation to our office by having our summer students work on real files for real clients under the mentorship of our dedicated lawyers. Our summer program is intended to provide you with a taste of the kind of work we do in the Ottawa office. We give our summer students the opportunity to stay with the files they are working on, and we involve our students in as many direct client service experiences as possible.
Our office typically hires two second-year students, ideally from candidates who are interested in returning to do their articles with us.
Training and development
A primary goal of our student program is to provide our students with substantive experience dealing with clients and legal issues. At Dentons Ottawa, students are treated as legal professionals. Our students have full access to all of the Firm’s resources. Training on how to use these resources begins immediately, and ongoing support is continually available to our students. Our summer students are also assigned a mentor (typically one of our associates) responsible for making sure that the student is properly oriented and has someone to go to with any questions that may arise.
We pride ourselves in having a friendly, non-competitive student environment. Our students are encouraged to (and in fact do) work together to make sure that the needs of the office are met. Students in the Ottawa office are very much part of the team.
Social events
Because of the demands that are placed upon our team, we know it is important to get together on more relaxed occasions to have fun and get to know each other on a more personal basis. Every summer, we host a golfing tournament for the entire office. Knowing how to golf is not a prerequisite, but having a fun day on the course is a given. In addition to this event, informal after-work gatherings provide students with the opportunity to socialize with other lawyers in our office. Our students are always invited to these social gatherings.
Evaluation
Evaluations are a part of your summering experience. You can expect to receive informal evaluations from the lawyers you will be working with. You will receive feedback from lawyers on the work you do on an ongoing basis.
Before returning to school in the fall, students will receive individual feedback during a formal interview. This will provide an opportunity for you to share any comments and suggestions you might have.
Our hireback policy
Our office enjoys a strong tradition of hiring back the summer students as articling students, and we expect that this will continue. For that reason, we are most interested in summer students who also have an interest in articling with us.