applying for articling in criminal defence firms

[secunda]

hi everyone, i'm looking to apply for articling and i was curious about the extent to which prior criminal law experience is necessary to apply for criminal defence firms and positions with MAG's crown attorney office. i summered in government/public service positions thus far with a human rights placement in my 1L and with legal aid in my 2L summer currently (family), but i'm a little anxious i lack private firm experience in criminal defence. for context, i have a leadership position with a criminal legal clinic at my law school and i volunteered with a criminal youth organization in my 2L, but i'm wondering if my chances with criminal defence firms are minimal given my public sector background. i know i need to show a demonstrated interest in criminal law, so i'm hoping i can show in my cover letters how my experiences in my summer student positions are transferrable to the realm of criminal law. does anyone have insight on how to approach applying to criminal defence firms? thank you all so much! 

[criminallyminded]

Sounds like you are on the right path. 

In law school, it's pretty hard to get bang on the right experience for what you want to article in. And so, as you've pointed out, you go for demonstrated interest. You seem to have gotten very relevant experience to land a crim articling. 

I'd say that for defence, a mix of cold calling and going to the courthouse a few times to watch bail and get to know some of the regular faces and talking to them should give you a clue of who to contact. I believe there are also listserv for defence bar in various provinces that have job postings for students.

That being said, you gotta remember that most defence firms are much smaller than other types of practice areas: they are either solo or just a few lawyers, and students are very limited in what they can actually do, so defence don't often want to hire someone that is pretty much just gonna be used in remand. 

As for MAG, those positions are posted online and you apply. If you get an interview, it's a substantive one and challenging. Both summer student and articling positions are very competitive to get into MAG, but once you get in, you are in the hireback pool.

Feel free to reach out if you have questions.