Struck out in Toronto Articling Recruit - How hard is it to end up at a Bay St firm in the future?

[law]

My end goal is to be a partner at a large firm practicing corporate law. However, I struck out during the 2L summer recruit and now the articling recruit. My work experience + gpa (high B+) are pretty good, I just haven't been making it through the interview process 😞. Is there any way I'd be able to land a job as an associate at a Bay st firm in a few years? What should I do now so I have a better chance of this happening? Thanks!

[ramoj]

Just out of curiosity, what in your mind constitutes good work experience? What types of roles at what types of companies? Series B-C-D startups? Large publicly traded multinationals? Consulting firms similar to big law firms? Would love some more colour on this in order to help out.

[hiccups]

I'm curious if anyone has insight on this in the context of a in house position at a wealth management company? 

[mistertubby]

14 hours ago, jomar said:

Just out of curiosity, what in your mind constitutes good work experience? What types of roles at what types of companies? Series B-C-D startups? Large publicly traded multinationals? Consulting firms similar to big law firms? Would love some more colour on this in order to help out.

working as a cashier at shoppers worked for me 

[Jaggers]

My resume had farmhand, carpenter, lumberjack, rental car jockey and ESL administrator. Well, I didn't put them all on my resume, but that was my work experience (plus one summer as an RA) when I got my job.

[law]

My 1L summer job was at a small full service firm (corp, family, wills, tax, etc.) with 2 lawyers in the GTA. This summer (2L summer) I am working in-house at a large global retail corporation. I have the opportunity to article at both places, so I'm wondering which one would be better to transition to a Bay st firm in the future or if I should hold out and try a different route? I welcome your thoughts on any other options I should pursue to get to my end goal of Big Law!

[ramoj]

2 hours ago, law said:

My 1L summer job was at a small full service firm (corp, family, wills, tax, etc.) with 2 lawyers in the GTA. This summer (2L summer) I am working in-house at a large global retail corporation. I have the opportunity to article at both places, so I'm wondering which one would be better to transition to a Bay st firm in the future or if I should hold out and try a different route? I welcome your thoughts on any other options I should pursue to get to my end goal of Big Law!

Thanks for this context - it is helpful. If I was in your shoes, I would article at the large global retail corporation. Likely, they use Canadian counsel at a firm you want to end up at referenced in your first post above. Although the full service firm with 2 lawyers in the GTA is also a good option, I'd bet you will be better positioned at the retail operation for the below:

You may get to interact with lawyers at the firms you want to practice at, given this large, global retail org may use large Canadian firms
You may get more sophisticated experiences, across many practice areas
Subject to how global the firm is, its culture, etc, you may be able to move around and get other legal experience abroad 
There are other reasons that I am also not thinking of/listing

Good luck!

[Canlawblaws]

To provide an anecdote for you. I worked in-house 2L and am currently articling. I am already getting messages from big law recruiters trying to gauge my interest for a lateral move after I get licensed. 

When I was going into articling I had the opportunity to work in smaller/mid size firms but was dissuaded from doing so from biglaw recruiters that I spoke to, who said that if I was interested in a lateral move then working in-house was going to be looked at far more favourably than trying to move upwards from a small firm to a larger one.