Our articling program
As an articling student, you will be assigned a principal, a partner of the Firm who will be responsible for ensuring that you are exposed to as many aspects of the practice of law as possible. You will also be assigned a mentor, a member of our Student Committee who will act as your sounding board and help ensure that your articling experience is a great one.
Your work
We believe that as someone hoping to gain a wealth of knowledge, you should be given as much responsibility as your expertise, experience and comfort level will allow. As a result, in our office you would typically have a high degree of contact with clients, lawyers from other firms and government representatives, as well as with courts, administrative bodies and tribunals.
We also check in with you every two months to discuss your thoughts on the types of work you have been doing and the types of assignments you would like to take on going forward. To the extent that you would like to explore work in new areas or obtain more work in a particular area of interest, we can help make that happen.
Our rotation program
We strive to provide you with a broad range of experience. The lawyers at our Firm are organized into practice groups based on the area of their expertise. Working closely with the lawyers in each practice group, you may assist in legal research, interviewing witnesses, meeting with clients, drafting documents, attending transaction closings and appearing in court.
To offer you a solid, overall grounding of experience, as well as flexibility to pursue your own areas of interest, our program is divided into two equal-length rotations.
- The first rotation includes Litigation, Insolvency, Employment and Construction
- The second rotation includes Corporate, Financial Services, Mining, Pensions, Real Estate, Securities and Tax
Evaluation and feedback
Our doors are always open—a policy that students, colleagues and clients appreciate and depend on for success. We encourage you to discuss any aspect of your articles informally with any lawyer in the Firm.
These discussions are supplemented with regular reviews for articling students to provide you with constructive feedback on your professional development.
Training and development
Our articling program begins with an orientation designed to introduce you to our Firm. Following that, regular lunch seminars throughout the year will provide continuing legal education on a number of substantive legal issues and practice-related matters. These include practice issues of particular interest to students and new lawyers, such as legal ethics, drafting skills, writing skills and client relations skills. Lawyers, students and, occasionally, clients, law school professors or judges lead the presentations and discussions.
You are integral to the future of our Firm, so we will work hard to help you meet your personal goals. The friendly, non-competitive environment among students, staff and lawyers is critical to your achievements and to the growth of our business.
Social events
We pride ourselves on our non-hierarchical workplace, where our lawyers, students and staff all work together with the goal of serving our clients’ needs. When it comes to social events, we like to involve the whole team, so virtually all of our social events include all Firm personnel. We commonly invite spouses and significant others along to join the fun too.
You will have the opportunity to participate in the many social events and functions that are held each year. These include Firm lunches and dinners, the Vancouver Sun Run, the annual softball game, the annual pitch and putt tournament, the annual Firm holiday party and many more.
Support staff and their partners, as well as the partners of lawyers and students, are all invited to participate in most of these social functions.
Our hireback policy
We’re looking for students who will become a long-term part of our team. That’s why we recruit articling students who have the potential to become associates. We’re proud that our office has a very strong hireback ratio.
While our needs can fluctuate from one year to the next, we anticipate future openings for between four and seven articling students annually. In recent years, we have filled all these places through hiring back students from our summer program.
Compensation and benefits
You’ll be paid a salary that is competitive with downtown Vancouver law firms. The current salary for articling students in our office is C$80,000 per annum.
As an articling student, you will also receive a number of benefits, including:
- B.C. Medical; extended medical; dental plan
- Group life and disability insurance
- Payment of Professional Legal Training Course tuition fees and student membership in the Canadian Bar Association
- Continuation of salary during attendance at the Professional Legal Training Course
- Payment of Law Society of British Columbia call and admission fees
- Paid continuing legal education courses and seminars
- Ten days of paid vacation
- Paid membership to the gym in the building