Examines the importance of wellness for law students and lawyers and ways legal career professionals can help to promote wellness within their organizations.
For the first time, the research team at NALP has begun providing analysis of employment statistics for recent Canadian law school graduates.
What do University of Toronto SJD and LLM students do after graduation? This study went all the way back to 1958 to trace career trajectories.
Here's how a Canadian firm introduces summer associates to timekeeping and docketing and recovers more costs from clients in the process.
Many important and proactive steps are being taken — particularly in the areas of mindfulness and wellness — by law schools, law firms, and professional organizations such as the ABA and various Law Societies in Canada to help ensure that lawyers are able to successfully navigate what is admittedly a stressful professional environment. In addition to supporting those initiatives, we should consider how we could bring more focus and attention to the stories and voices of those in the profession who have successfully navigated the path to professional satisfaction (and managed to overcome the pitfalls along the way).
Social justice solo practitioners and small firms are increasingly seen by students and alumni as aspirational and not as a fallback plan. Young lawyers embracing the gig economy find solo practice an appealing option for the increased flexibility and independence it offers. How can we help create a more defined path for these students?
The Law Practice Program (LPP) in Ontario provides licensing candidates and the legal profession with a new alternative to articling.
Managing successfully through change is particularly challenging in a legal environment. Here are some tips.
Norton Rose Fulbright’s Pamela Cyr reviews the hotel options for NALP members in Vancouver for the 2023 Annual Education Conference scheduled for April 25-28 in the Canadian city.
Pamela Cyr offers tips for NALP members traveling to Vancouver for the 2023 Annual Education Conference.
Despite the barriers foreign-trained lawyers face when entering the legal profession in Canada, the wider legal community is beginning to recognize the great value they can offer to the Canadian legal market.
On Tuesday, May 1, 2007, the University of Toronto Facutly of Law (with the support of the Law Foundation of Ontario and the Law Society of Upper Canada) hosted its first Diversity Summit.
A unique Toronto program showcases LLM students while offering CLE benefits to the participating law firm.
A perspective on what accommodations for disabilities are really about.
The University of Ottawa recruits and trains student Career Facilitators who extend the capabilities of the CSO by helping with everything from résumé review to creation of student handouts.
Each year, professional development managers take the time to create or refine their respective summer associate training programs. These managers typically have one goal in mind: to provide content that develops the skills for summer associates to succeed at their firm. However, as managers put pen to paper to develop their training schedules, issues and constraints inevitably interfere. Too often, the result is an unfocused training schedule, or worse, a schedule that requires new associates to absorb a wealth of information over a short period. While managers may have to accept these results, they should not strive for them. As discussed b...
NALP's Toronto 2L Recruitment Working Group was formed to review the Toronto Law Society of Ontario regulated recruitment process to identify areas for improvement. The Working Group's survey results and recommendations are now available.
Big changes are afoot in lawyer licensing in Canada.
Moving to Canada is a more frequent punchline since the 2016 election of President Donald Trump. This article offers a first-hand look at a NALP Board member’s transition from the U.S. to its northern neighbor.
When it comes to attrition, associates tend to focus on what they view as the disruptive, negative outcomes of a colleague’s departure, with an underlying assumption that these effects are beyond their control. Despite the well-known saying that “with change comes opportunity” (associate attrition being no exception), many young lawyers seem to lose sight of the fact that they are empowered to affect what a colleague’s departure means for them personally, as well as for the firm. There remains a business to run, and their own practices and profiles to build. These departures, however unwanted on a personal level, can open up valuable opportun...
In addition to offering an intensive simulated learning experience, the PPD seeks to train future lawyers who will be rooted in their Franco-Ontarian community.
Co-hosted by NALP, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, and the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, the second annual Toronto End of Season Series was a resounding success.
Learn how one Canadian firm uses a simple, low-tech tool to help ensure summer students/associates get feedback throughout the summer.
How can one best support students who are interested in pursuing a non-traditional career path? This author offers a Canadian perspective.
Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP’s Christina Henry offers six reasons to make the case for attending the NALP Annual Education Conference April 25-28 in Vancouver BC, Canada.
Stewart McKelvey’s Lynn Iding, a member of the NALP Board of Directors, offers tips for U.S. members attending the 2023 Annual Education Conference April 25-28 in Vancouver, BC.
There is a world of difference between the USA and Canada when it comes to their respective patent agent licensing requirements.
The Canadian recruitment process continues to be condensed as a growing number of firms now fill most, if not all, of their student positions (i.e., summer and articling) through the summer recruitment process.
Summary of 2004 Toronto End-of Season Program.
The millennial generation’s desire for feedback has become a frequent topic of discussion within the legal industry. Millennials want more feedback, and they want it more often. They want the feedback to be specific, attributed, and balanced — that is, millennials do not just want to hear the constructive; they also want to be told what they are doing well. Are millennials wrong to ask for this? Certainly not. Nevertheless, law firms are left in a tough position, trying to strike a balance between millennials’ need for feedback and the realities of the billable hours model. Real-time feedback processes, while attractive in many respects, can ...
NALP’s Board of Directors reestablished the Service Excellence Awards Program in 2014. The 2022 award went to Folger, Rubinoff's Myriah Graves.
The summer experience is the perfect opportunity for students to learn more about their workload thresholds — and to learn to optimize those thresholds.
This article describes the recruitment of students across Canada to Toronto law firms and government offices.
University of British Columbia Peter A. Allard School of Law’s Tracy Wachmann explains how small U.S. law schools could learn from the successes of Pro Bono Students Canada.
Science can explain my remarkable ability to remember the negative as well as my shy response to these experiences. It’s called the negativity bias. This applies to you and the law students you support. Humans are evolutionarily wired to pick up on cues of danger. Identifying them supports our survival. Our danger cues have evolved from the startled response to a lion’s approach, to being startled in the face of negative feedback or rejection. When we’ve done something wrong, or failed, even on a small scale, we worry whether we will survive. If our career doesn’t survive, how will we support ourselves, pay our housing and food costs, raise o...
A student who applies to a U.S. law firm after having articled will likely have garnered essential experience in many of the areas that are instrumental to a young lawyer's education and training.
A perspective on what accommodations for disabilities are really about.
a pay scheme that bridges the gap between the writing of licensing examinations and the beginning of articles
Law Firm Recruitment in Canada: Job Search Advice for Students and Associates
Insight into the Toronto student legal market
Are Canadian leave policies and benefits a dream come true or a challenge for lawyers who attempt to take extended periods of leave?
Law student programs can provide safe and supportive environments for an authentic practice experience in how a legal professional works to get work.
Indigenous people are significantly underrepresented in the legal profession. Even in 2017, they continue to face social and economic challenges in pursuing legal education. In the last 40 years, approximately 1,000 Indigenous people have graduated with a law degree in Canada. If Indigenous people were proportionately represented, there would be over 3,300 practicing lawyers today. This shortage of Indigenous lawyers suggests that there is still a long way to go before there is an equitable and diverse legal profession.
NALP research related to the Canadian legal market
Here are tips for counseling law students or lawyers from the U.S. who want to practice in Canada.
Most of us can agree that it is good to look at things from a different perspective every now and again. A change in perspective can spark a new idea, teach us another system, illuminate a new path, or just serve as a way to refresh our minds. One of my favorite perspectives is found due north. I love Canada.
The Law Society of Upper Canada has launched a three-year pilot program called Pathways designed to proactively respond to the changing legal landscape and remove barriers to licensing created by the articling placement shortage.
The Work in Japan program cleverly fuses the work of the alumni office and the career development office with the curricular aspirations of the school.
The University of Toronto has responded to the new economic reality by adding networking components to most of their student programs.
When a new Canadian law school was established, a career services office needed to be built from the ground up.
The case for competency-based reviews is stronger than ever. Associates are demanding greater transparency in the review process and clients are demanding new legal services. Having a list of core competencies that are evaluated on a regular basis provides clarity and transparency on what skills and abilities are expected of associates and allows firms to amend the competencies expected of their associates based on client demands.
Value, networking and professional growth are among the reasons to attend NALP’s AEC 2020, which takes place April 28 to May 1 in Montreal, Canada.
Fogler, Rubinoff LLP’s Myriah Graves and Clear Concept Inc.’s Ann Gomez outline the top issues that are concerning hybrid legal teams, including well-being, retention, in-person bias, and team connections.
The author shares a Canadian firm's perspective on ten key components of a successful summer program.
Conversations about privilege are often difficult because admitting that privilege exists reveals an element of favoritism or elitism about society and ourselves that makes us uncomfortable. A person with privilege has the additional privilege of not having to think about their own privilege. It is a bit like asking a fish to notice water. This article outlines some common examples of privilege and suggestions on what can be done to interrupt institutional and individual privilege.
Taking a multi-pronged approach to training women legal associates can help encourage them to stay and give them the tools and resources to advance in their careers.
Tips for NALP’s 2020 Annual Education Conference (AEC) April 28-May 1 in Montreal, including conference hotels, plenary speakers, and can’t miss things to do, eat and see around the city.
Norton Rose Fulbright’s Pamela Cyr prepares NALP members for activities and attractions in Vancouver, British Columbia, site of the 2022 Annual Education Conference from April 25-28.
From the big to the small, the University of Toronto Faculty of Law's Environmental Sustainability Working Group has been addressing every aspect of law school life.
Both law schools and Ontario articling employers should start now to organize their documentation and information briefings and programs to reflect the changes soon to be upon us.
Canadian winter meeting explores recruitment and diversity issues.
A closer look at articling and licensing in Canada -- and at how British Columbia and Ontario differ in the timing of the process.
As career counselors, we believe the most challenging group of students we work with are those still seeking post-JD job opportunities in their final year of law school. These students are often suffering from job search fatigue or burnout, which can manifest itself in various ways, including denial, anxiety, low self-esteem, and physical and emotional exhaustion. The steps outlined below can help motivate and reenergize these students by shifting their focus away from what they can’t control and toward what they can.
Members of NALP's 2020 Annual Education Conference (AEC) share recommendations for hot spots in Montreal, Canada.
Explanation about the 2018 changes to the ABA Employment Protocol for U.S. law schools that enroll Canadian students who plan to practice in Canada. The change classifies post-graduation experiential training, known as articling, as long-term employment.
NALP is kicking off the celebration of its 50th Anniversary in April 2020, leading to a year-long celebration culminating in the 2021 Annual Education Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.
This article looks at a unique admissions program in Canadian law schools, as well as some initiatives from career offices and law firms.
Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world in terms of the national origins of its residents, but is this diversity reflected in Canadian law firms? Yes and no, but perhaps more no than yes.
Change is on the horizon, and nowhere is this more evident than in progressive law firms that are showing thought leadership in their efforts to develop, manage and retain top legal talent.
UCalgary Law’s Maryanne Forrayi shares insights about how to enhance student success learned from the school’s Law Innovation Internship Program that launched in summer 2021.
Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP’s Jennifer Lau outlines travel tips to Vancouver, where the NALP Annual Education Conference takes place from April 25-28, 2023.
The Canadian Section is for NALP members with a particular interest in Canadian legal education, Canadian law school career services, and issues surrounding legal employment and admission to the bar in Canada.
Changes make it easier for American attorneys to transition to practice in Canada.
This process of "writing a résumé backward" can be helpful to students who enter law school knowing exactly what they want to do after graduation.
Preparation and follow-through are critical for law students getting ready for their experiential opportunities, whether externships, work placements, summer positions, or articling roles.
