What kinds of things are you doing during your family law articles?

[Garfield]

Curious as to what other family law articling students are doing during their articles. I don’t get to do much other than drafting going to intakes and other low risk stuff etc. (Not complaining, just describing.) I am allowed to communicate directly with clients to say, draft an affidavit, but only the “smaller” clients, not the “bigger” ones. I don’t get to speak in court but I get to attend court, which is fun 

what are others doing? 

[Phaedrus]

When I articled, I interviewed a few clients and drafted affidavits, prepared application packages, prepared research memos, requested financial disclosure from various institutions, and made a lot of Excel tables to calculate assets, debts, and historical maintenance. Some of the work felt assistant-y or paralegally, but I have to do all that work myself in my current position so it was a valuable experience. 

I didn't have the opportunity to speak in court for our family files, but did for routine criminal matters. 

[Twenty]

Research memos: I find family law jurisprudence interesting, so I don't mind getting new research projects. Some of the topics I researched on include: parental alienation, executive compensation packages, jurisdiction challenges, rules of court, challenging separation agreements, spousal and child support research, exemptions. 

Overseeing a client file: The firm assigned me one client whose divorce I will be "in charge" of from beggining to end. I have phone calls with the client, communicate with them, draft their documents, etc. My work gets overseen by a lawyer. 

Court appearances: Three months into articling, I've appeared before a judge for two consent orders and one order for subservice. 

Other things: excel spreadsheets for property division, drafting (an affidavit, demand letter, and desk divorce documents like divorce judgement), meeting with a client to go over a letter, wrote a blog post on a development of the law, summarizing a client's file by going through all the past disclosures/communications, updating internal documents, scanning and organizing financial disclosure, etc.

Learning lots and more or less enjoying articling so far. 

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by Twenty

[Toad]

• Drafted Binding JDR, mediation, and arbitration briefs. 
• Drafted concise letters (short briefs for Special Chambers)
• Drafted affidavits
• Drafted research memos and opinion letters
• Prepared divorce packages (Divorce Judgment, Affidavit of Applicant, Request for Divorce)
• Drafted Statement of Claims for Divorce and Division of Family Property, Lis Pendens, and Notices to Disclose
• Reviewed disclosure, prepared Disclosure Statements, harassed clients to provide their disclosure.
• Correspondence with opposing counsel, clients, third party organizations.
• Generated ChildView child support and spousal support calculations
• Prepared retroactive and ongoing child support tables
• Drafted prenuptial/postnuptial/separation/settlement agreements
• Prepared settlement offers
• Bunch of communication with clients
• Prepared questions for a questioning
• Shadowed arbitrations, Court of Appeal arguments, mediations, Binding JDRs, Special Chambers, Regular Chambers, Family Docket, four-way meetings, questionings, Early Intervention Case Conferences
• Attended at Family Docket, read in a Consent Order in Regular Chambers
• Swore Affidavits and Notarized documents
• Assisted with billing and administrative tasks
• I would have argued before the Court in Regular Chambers twice, but both settled. 

Obviously my articling principal reviews everything, but I have had major involvement on many big files. I had one of my arguments on a fairly unique issue accepted by the Justice and same is now cited on CanLii, which I found pretty cool. 

 

Edited November 20, 2022 by Toad