What Next?

[IPfreely]

After 2+ months of writing cover letters and so much networking, I've ended Call Day with not a single interview from any of the 14 Vancouver firms I applied to. My grades are good, I have great references, I'm not completely incompetent (or so I thought), but I still wasn't good enough for any firm. I'm not holding out any hope for the Toronto recruit, given that it's seemingly more competitive. My main goal in Articling was to find a place to receive excellent training in a breadth of areas. I know that some people find Articles later on in 3L, but usually at small or super niche firms. Have I completely missed the chance to Article at a good firm, and/or lost the chance to secure Articles at all?

I know I'm in a dramatic and self-pitying, but I truly don't understand what I did so wrong, or where to go from here.

[GoBigOrGoHome]

Network network network.

Pick practice areas that you are interested in and talk to people about them. At this point, find people who do this kind of work in small firms because big firms might be a bit of a long shot. 

Networking should have happened with all of these firms before applying - but if you didn’t don’t beat yourself up over it. 

I also want to let you know that it might not be something bad you are doing. There is one student at UBC that if they struck out in the articling recruit, my gut tells me that they are being discriminated against. Nicest person ever but people make assumptions about people’s values based on their past work. UBC might be able to guess who I am referring to. 

If that is you, you really need to prioritize networking. Your grades aren’t the issue and people need to meet you to see how kind you are and get rid of any misconceptions about your value system.

I really hope things work out for you. 

[Diplock]

I'm probably reading a lot into a single sentence, but this is what stood out to me. "My main goal in Articling was to find a place to receive excellent training in a breadth of areas." There's nothing really wrong with this, in a direct sense, but are you really telling me you can't muster any description of the sort of law you even think you're interested in at this time? I'm trying to imagine what a sales pitch comes down to, once you strip away the fluff, when that's true. "I'm hoping for a position where I earn as much money as possible while I figure out what I want to do?"

The truth is, I'm crapping on that attitude a bit, because that admittedly seems to be how large, general service firms recruit. They take any students who are smart enough, hard-working enough, etc. (not to say you aren't) and point them at what to do. If the student happens to find interest somewhere in there, great. If not, that's still okay because they just need bodies to throw at the work. And in the end, I'm pretty sure that's why the wash out rate is so high in "big law."

So, in part, you've helped yourself here because you've already identified the next issue you need to address. Once big law has done their pass in recruiting - and it does happen almost exclusively during OCIs - you're left with employers and positions that are more specific in the work they do. That is not to say these positions are less "good" in any measurable sense - not necessarily in terms of pay, prestige, experience, etc. There is also generally a drop off here too, in terms of what comes available during the year, but many good positions by these standards remain available or will come available. The one thing that won't be the same, however, is their general nature. Which means you need to figure out asap what the hell you want to do with your law degree - over and above just convincing a big firm that you're good enough and smart enough to work there and wait for them to tell you what you should be doing with your law degree.

I'll wear my prejudice on my sleeve. As a lawyer who does a niche thing (even within my already niche thing) I don't know how anyone smart enough to be in law school can spend two years dicking around and not know what they want to do. That seems unbelievable to me. You can think in terms of work that interests you or, if you prefer, in terms of the sorts of clients you might want to serve. But surely you have some ideas. You're going to need that. Start thinking about it.

In the end, knowing what you want is an important step of doing well in your career. I'm taking a wide swing, but that could even explain some of your lack of success to this point. I acknowledge when you are applying to big, full service firms you might manage to obscure this need, and students can and do secure articles on the basis you described above. But I find they are the front line candidates to burn out and get dissatisfied with their careers early - because "please God pay me a lot of money to be smart and do whatever I'm told to do" just isn't very satisfying, past a certain point.

If you want to work with sophisticated, business oriented clients that's fine. There are more specific firms that do that. I'm not telling you your career ambitions should resolve around doing real estate transactions out of a strip mall going forward - though real estate lawyers who do that often have much more lucrative and lifestyle-friendly practices that you'd ever believe. I'm just telling you to figure it out. What kind of law do you think you wand to do, and/or what kind of clients are you interested in serving? Answer those questions and you'll be far better off.

Good luck.

[IPfreely]

@Diplock Thank you for the very thoughtful reply. I do have two particular areas of interest (both are reasonably specific and one is very much a niche within a niche), but recognize that I was never going to secure Articles exclusively in those areas - nor do I want to box myself in. I've gone through all the hoop-jumping that is Law School because I love that there's always something new to learn and a new niche to discover in the field. I think good lawyers are identifiable through their willingness to accept and interpret new things/ideas/experiences. As cliché as that might sound, I'm quite genuine in wanting to learn and grow.

I tried to express all that in my cover letters. Admittedly, I did feel the need to generalize my interests a bit, in trying to approach the different firms and their respective areas of practice. I think as GoBig mentioned, there's more networking to be done (though I don't think I'm the particular Allard student they're thinking of) and I guess more soul-searching too.

[Taiko]

Niche firms who don't take on dozens of students, as the large full service firms do, are looking to hire students who will be with them long term. The more prestigious boutiques offer excellent training because they see it as an investment in the firm's future. They are not going to give one of their limited spots to and invest their time and effort training a student who is likely to move on from them in the short term. I'm not saying you would. However, you want to make sure your cover letter doesn't inadvertently convey that message. That is to say, you want to convey your interest in the firm's area of practice and the opportunity of growing with the firm long term, while removing any suggestion of the contrary from you cover letter.

Edited July 15, 2023 by Taiko

[Psychometronic]

8 hours ago, IPfreely said:

I do have two particular areas of interest (both are reasonably specific and one is very much a niche within a niche), but recognize that I was never going to secure Articles exclusively in those areas - nor do I want to box myself in.

Why not start with litigation vs. solicitor or civil vs. criminal? You don't need to laser-focus on one or two areas of law necessarily. My firm, which does litigation work, has taken laterals who didn't necessarily have a background in my firm's practice areas but had general civil litigation experience. 

[Whist]

Different cities, but like you, I applied fairly broadly and didn't get a single interview in the articling recruit. I was prepared to not to get a job out of it, but it really stung at the time to not even be interviewed and then watch most of my friends get articles. My 1L grades are meh/bad, I improved in 2L but I suppose it wasn't enough. I also heard down the grapevine that a place I formerly did some work at offered a colleague who also interned there articles, but not me. I let myself sulk over those things for a bit, and then got to work on next steps. The reality is that the majority of people will have articles lined up somewhere or other by graduation. I have one or two practice areas I'm particularly interested in, and I've taken some time over the summer to network with firms/people in those areas. Even if they aren't or won't be offering jobs in the future, they might know someone who is or can offer insight on how they got into it. To sum it up, even though I don't have articles lined up at this point, talking to other people ahead of me in their journey has eased my stress and I'd recommend trying the same. I hope knowing you're far from the only person in this position helps a little as well.

[Diplock]

@IPfreely You've generalized your reply a bit and I entirely respect your right to do that (it's too big a headache to directly identify yourself, here) but lacking specifics here is my advice. Your interests may be niche but you can still expand outwards from them. Others have alluded to that same basic point. Personally, I consider starting from the client profile to be very useful. I practice criminal law, for example. I work with individual, "retail" clients who may not have much interaction with lawyers otherwise. There is a whole family of legal practice areas where this is true - it includes immigration, family law, some forms of civil including personal injury, etc. If you are attracted to doing one kind of work with this sort of client, it isn't too big a stretch towards doing other kinds of work with the same sorts of client. So that's a start, at least. And it's portable to other areas as well. For example, if you want to work with sophisticated business-related clients, there are shops practicing commercial real estate where you'll reliably be doing the same.

Those are just a couple of examples. But my point is, you seem to have been treating indecision almost as a virtue until now. I've seen many students do that, and as I indicated above, I don't understand it. Law is specialized. Even large firms have practice areas, and admittedly those large firms can recruit in a way that targets students who are willing to do whatever and then put them in rotation until they find a way to use them. But that approach serves the firm and not the student, really. I mean, are you really going to depend on your first employer to basically tell you what you want to do with the rest of your career?

Anyway, I've probably hit this point enough. Figure out what you want to do, and if need be extrapolate that into things that are at least similar to what you want to do. Then look for opportunities to do those things. You'll be better off in the end, I promise.