Struggling to Find Legal Work Post-Call – Looking for Guidance

[MCorpLaw]

 

I’m an internationally trained lawyer with 5+ years of experience in my home country. I passed the Ontario bar exams early last year and completed my articles, but the principal I articled with has since closed their practice and left Canada.

 

Since then, I’ve been actively job hunting — sending out countless applications, cold calling, emailing, volunteering, and having my resume professionally edited — but I haven’t had any luck securing a position.

 

I’m starting to feel quite discouraged and I am reaching out to ask if anyone has any advice or suggestions before I make the difficult decision of seeing my relocation as a failed investment and moving back home. Are there alternative paths I should explore? Is there anything that worked for you that I haven’t mentioned? 
 

I would really appreciate some guidance. 
 

Thank you! 

[Diplock]

You've posted two similar topics here, but maybe this is one clue. You've posted here in the "corporate" section and you have "CorpLaw" in your name. Shall I interpret you are applying to large firms practicing "BigLaw" exclusively?

I don't know what you were doing in your home country, but articling with a sole practitioner here certainly isn't the kind of background I'd expect to see anyone suddenly hired to practice corporate law at a major firm. Does your background in other ways suggest this is at all a realistic goal for you?

Some indication of what specifically you did in legal practice prior to this, and what you're trying to do now, would help a lot in terms of giving you meaningful advice.

[MCorpLaw]

1 hour ago, Diplock said:

You've posted two similar topics here, but maybe this is one clue. You've posted here in the "corporate" section and you have "CorpLaw" in your name. Shall I interpret you are applying to large firms practicing "BigLaw" exclusively?

I don't know what you were doing in your home country, but articling with a sole practitioner here certainly isn't the kind of background I'd expect to see anyone suddenly hired to practice corporate law at a major firm. Does your background in other ways suggest this is at all a realistic goal for you?

Some indication of what specifically you did in legal practice prior to this, and what you're trying to do now, would help a lot in terms of giving you meaningful advice.

Hi! Thank you for your response! 
 

Yes, I posted 2 similar posts under 2 boards. I tried to delete the first one once I realized I had posted in an incorrect board/group but it wasn’t giving me option to. I will investigate that further. 
 

I am not applying for jobs in large firms at all. I am aware of how difficult it is to land a legal job as an internationally trained lawyer. I’m applying everywhere, mainly the smaller firms. 
 

In my country the market is pretty small and becauee of that we did all types of law, mainly transactional law with a large portion of my clients and cases being in property and mining. My experience is broad.