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Struck out at articling recruit, next steps?


Jfox

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Jfox
  • Law Student

I struck out at articling even though I got briefly waitlisted to a firm I really wanted.  Right now Im working at a small firm but  I don’t want to article here. People are great I just want to do more high stake work in a different field I guess. 

I’m a little down and was wondering what the opportunities look like for ppl going into 3L without an articling job lined up. I go to an ON school and want to work in Toronto. 

What kind of jobs are usually left? Can I still do corporate and/or advocacy at a high level? What do laterals to the big firms look like and do they happen regularly?

 

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BlockedQuebecois
  • Lawyer

Just FYI, early offers for articling are only required to be held open until the end of the Toronto recruit. I’m not sure what discussions you’ve had with your firm, but it’s possible they’ll be expecting an answer now and you’ll have to decide whether or not to turn them down to be a free agent. 

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Jfox
  • Law Student
14 minutes ago, BlockedQuebecois said:

Just FYI, early offers for articling are only required to be held open until the end of the Toronto recruit. I’m not sure what discussions you’ve had with your firm, but it’s possible they’ll be expecting an answer now and you’ll have to decide whether or not to turn them down to be a free agent. 

Ya no I won’t be going with the firm I’m with now, sorry if that was vague, they’re really small and I’m not even sure if they have solid plans on articling.

The “waitlist” was just one of those 5pm Wednesday calls telling me that basically if someone else rejects their offer I’m next up. Not in those exact words but you get it. Then a follow up a few minutes later saying I didn’t get it. 

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Rashabon
  • Lawyer

Depends what you mean by "high level". If you mean deals you'll read about in the G&M on a regular basis, probably not. But there are tons of small firms that do "corporate" law in the general sense of the term and they hire. Lots of jobs will appear throughout the year on various posting boards.

Lateraling right now is being mostly a warm body because every big law firm in North America is in a bit of a crunch but if/when things slow down or normalize who knows. If you have experience or can demonstrate some good skills and potential big firms will hire laterals from time to time. I'm towards the top of the market so it's harder for me to visualize the pipeline (our pipeline is often other big or medium sized law firms) but I'm sure the smaller/mid-size big law firms will source from smaller firms that practice areas that transfer well.

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  • 2 weeks later...
TheCryptozoologist
  • Articling Student

Lots at my school went into 3L without an articling, but after the first structured recruit, not sure. I was one of the few that don't, and have above average grades and still don't have an articling position partly out of choice. LPP is always a good backup which I am doing and has an application system for jobs at firms/inhouse for 4 out of 8 months in order to get your license. Other than that, if you graduated from a Canadian school you are generally already fairly trained and should just reach out to attorneys in your area. 

Then again my advice isn't the best. My plans aren't really lined up with a traditional law career at all since I am trying to bridge into a currently niche field that is about to see big changes if we are following comparative jurisdictional trends. 

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Keep your grades up, keep applying to jobs that pop up on your school's job board, prepare for each interview and do your best. The process is partly a numbers game. It just takes some people more time than others. Lastly, if you haven't already, get a friend (who has a job) to conduct a mock interview and give you honest feedback. 

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