How to find abridged articling positions/articling positions for NCA lawyers?

[Cattypake12]

Hello, just wondering if anyone has experience searching for shortened articling positions? I'm American and went to a U.S. law school but am now a permanent resident of Canada. I received an articling abridgment from the Law Society based on prior experience so I only need to article for 4 months.NCA exams and barrister/solicitor exams are done 😀 so this is pretty much the last step before I can practise in Ontario! 

I'm looking for positions in Toronto starting ASAP - I know the timing isn't ideal but I was working in another province in a law-adjacent job before we relocated to TO. There's not much on the Law Society's articling registry (I'm seeing postings for summer 2022 already) and I've also been applying to lawyer job postings and explaining that I need to article for 4 months first in my cover letters. Is it just a numbers game at this point? Would appreciate any advice or success stories!! 

[Hegdis]

You might want to check in with firms to see if they have any big cases going on that you could help out with. You are basically a short term contract. 

[Toad]

What area(s) of law did you practice in the United States? What area(s) of law are you interested in practising in Canada? How long did you practice in the United States? Did you go to a decent law school? These are all questions that will help people give you more targeted suggestions.

Even among Canadian law school graduates only around 40-70% or so of the class receive positions from official postings (OCIs, the 2L articling recruit, jobs posted on career boards). Everyone else has to approach firms or network to find their articling positions. At this point in the year there will be a small trickle of articling positions that get posted throughout the rest of the summer but most people looking for an articling position around this time are either cold calling or emailing firms.

 

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by Toad

[Cattypake12]

18 hours ago, Toad said:

What area(s) of law did you practice in the United States? What area(s) of law are you interested in practising in Canada? How long did you practice in the United States? Did you go to a decent law school? These are all questions that will help people give you more targeted suggestions.

Ideally, commercial litigation/employment law (employee or management side). Practiced in the US for about 1 year (otherwise I could have gotten an articling exemption!), worked in a law-adjacent job for a couple years in Canada, have experience in employment and immigration law and went to a decent law school.