Breaking into corporate law and/or Bay Street

[lululemon555]

Hey yall, I am currently an incoming 3L student at a Toronto school and I struck out in the 2L recruit (it was kinda disastrous). I currently work at a non profit organization (public interest) but my passion and dream has always been corporate law and where I foresee myself working in for at least a few years. I don’t really have any corporate law experience from any past experiences and I really was looking forward to breaking into it this summer. I hope to participate in the articling recruit but the problem is that almost 75-80% of the firms are not full service or don’t have a corporate law practice. So I will apply to the ones that are but that doesn’t allow me to cast a wide net. 
I have also always wanted to work at a full service national Bay Street firm because I really do believe I could gain invaluable experience there (I know I can gain great experience anywhere I go really - there’s always so much to learn and amazing mentors everywhere) but a goal of mine is to really break into Bay Street.  
 

Does anyone have any advice on how I should proceed? Has anyone been in the same boat? Aside from networking with the articling recruit firms that I hope to apply to, should I also look to network at the firms that were my top choices during the 2L recruit and the firms that I really liked/vibed with just in general? Should I get into contact with associates or partners who work in the practice group I’m interested in? 
or is it kind of pointless to do that and just article wherever I get in and look to lateral later on (as a first year associate) to a bigger Bay Street firm? 
any advice is appreciated! 
 

thank you 

[TimbitPancake]

Hi!

You said that the 2L recuit was "kinda disastrous".

Could you elaborate on that? Was it the application/interview process/reception where things didn't go well? Perhaps this is where you could do some reflection to build on. I'd be happy to provide some pointers.

[canuckfanatic]

My path in Vancouver after failing to secure an OCI job:

1. Articled at a suburban firm in corporate + real estate in a neighbouring city
2. Lateraled to a corporate boutique in downtown Vancouver where I worked opposite the Big Law firms
3. Lateraled to a national firm
4. Quickly realized Big Law sucks and went in-house

I'm sure you could replicate this path in Toronto

Edited June 9 by canuckfanatic

[RC51]

7 hours ago, canuckfanatic said:

My path in Vancouver after failing to secure an OCI job:

1. Articled at a suburban firm in corporate + real estate in a neighbouring city
2. Lateraled to a corporate boutique in downtown Vancouver where I worked opposite the Big Law firms
3. Lateraled to a national firm
4. Quickly realized Big Law sucks and went in-house

I'm sure you could replicate this path in Toronto

Out of the 4 experience,

- where did you learn the most

- Did you develop a specialty

- What made BL suck

[canuckfanatic]

41 minutes ago, RC51 said:

Out of the 4 experience,

- where did you learn the most

- Did you develop a specialty

- What made BL suck

- Suburbs - got immediate client interactions and was carrying my own files almost immediately after being called to the bar.

- Specialized in banking/commercial lending, then un-specialized when I went in-house.

- Non-existent work life balance. The money wasn't worth compromising physical and mental health. Now I exercise ~5 days per week, don't work evenings/weekends, can travel for 2+ weeks without checking my email.

[lululemon555]

23 hours ago, TimbitPancake said:

Hi!

You said that the 2L recuit was "kinda disastrous".

Could you elaborate on that? Was it the application/interview process/reception where things didn't go well? Perhaps this is where you could do some reflection to build on. I'd be happy to provide some pointers.

Maybe calling it disastrous is a bit of a stretch but essentially I didn’t even get too many interviews to begin with. But it’s not like I had high hopes anyway, I just thought with the extensive networking and decent relationships that I built with the recruiters and some of the partners and associates that it would get me somewhere in the process but it didn’t really. 
 

May I dm you to get into specifics? 

TIA! 

21 hours ago, canuckfanatic said:

My path in Vancouver after failing to secure an OCI job:

1. Articled at a suburban firm in corporate + real estate in a neighbouring city
2. Lateraled to a corporate boutique in downtown Vancouver where I worked opposite the Big Law firms
3. Lateraled to a national firm
4. Quickly realized Big Law sucks and went in-house

I'm sure you could replicate this path in Toronto

Thank you for this! This is really helpful. In terms of lateraling, did you network a lot or talk to partners who worked in the practice group you were interested in? What do you think helped you in facilitating this jump for yourself? Would love to know more about what you did to secure something in big law because that’s my aim here (but yes I know big law sucks and I don’t foresee myself working in BL forever but would still love the experience). 
 

 

[TimbitPancake]

11 minutes ago, lululemon555 said:

Maybe calling it disastrous is a bit of a stretch but essentially I didn’t even get too many interviews to begin with. But it’s not like I had high hopes anyway, I just thought with the extensive networking and decent relationships that I built with the recruiters and some of the partners and associates that it would get me somewhere in the process but it didn’t really. 
 

May I dm you to get into specifics? 

TIA! 

Thank you for this! This is really helpful. In terms of lateraling, did you network a lot or talk to partners who worked in the practice group you were interested in? What do you think helped you in facilitating this jump for yourself? Would love to know more about what you did to secure something in big law because that’s my aim here (but yes I know big law sucks and I don’t foresee myself working in BL forever but would still love the experience). 
 

 

Yes, please feel free to DM me!

[canuckfanatic]

2 hours ago, lululemon555 said:

Thank you for this! This is really helpful. In terms of lateraling, did you network a lot or talk to partners who worked in the practice group you were interested in? What do you think helped you in facilitating this jump for yourself? Would love to know more about what you did to secure something in big law because that’s my aim here (but yes I know big law sucks and I don’t foresee myself working in BL forever but would still love the experience).

I leveraged pre-existing connections I had with associates at the firms who internally referred me. If a law school classmate of mine was at the firm, I reached out to them - even if I barely spoke to them in school. I had a pretty good reputation in school, so they were willing to vouch for me. Internally referring me also allowed them to earn the internal referral bonus.

When I got hired at the national firm, part of it was because I had worked opposite from them on a large, complex secured lending transaction while I was at the boutique. Not only was I internally referred by a former classmate, but the partners also recognized my name from that deal.

Overarching all of this is also the state of the associate market. Big Law firms start losing more associates once they reach around the 3-5 year mark, which creates openings for lateral hires. I've had friends jump straight from the suburbs to Big Law without having to pit stop at a boutique. The area of law also matters, because certain areas (corporate/commercial, securities) get hit harder by macro-economic circumstances. Banking/commercial lending, my area of practice, is comparatively niche and had no shortage of work.