Chance For 1L Summer Jobs/Upcoming 2L Recruit With 1L Grades? Any Hope For Big Law?

[esqharveyspecter]

Hi everyone! Currently overwhelmed so glad to get some insight over 2 areas I am working through right now:

 

1) 1L Summer Jobs - I applied to almost all firms in the last 1L recruit in Toronto and Calgary but didn't get to hear back from any of them. Happy to note any connections, advice, or tips for getting a job this summer. I am pretty flexible with field/practice-area (law firm, in-house, banking, etc.), location, time, and pay/benefits this summer. Add: I have been in Alberta with family and friends up till high school, and my undergrad + law school is in Ontario.

2) 2L Recruit - I'll be taking part in the upcoming 2L recruit for Toronto and Calgary. With that I just got my 1L grades which give me between a B and B- as my overall 1L average. With an equal amount of Bs and B-'s with a few B+'s, I have a C+ and D+ in Legal Ethics and Indigenous so I am concerned how would my overall application stand? What should I do to make this situation better? I've took part in negotiation + moot competitions, pro bono work, and an executive role in my law school's corporate law club throughout my 1L. I also have client service/work experiences from the past 5 years, which includes real estate sales from the past 3 years onwards and [before that] retail banking and fast-food service all during undergrad.

 

I am focussed on either big law/corporate (due to my work background) or government (litigation or prosecution) for the 2L recruit, but I'm not sure if I need to stay open/stick with one field or reconsider altogether. Great to hear from y'all! Thanks

Edited May 4 by esqharveyspecter

[Turtles]

It's May. Your best bet for a relevant summer job at this juncture is approaching professors to do a research assistant kind of thing. Maybe one of them has idle research funds and could use a hand.

Big law may be a reach for you. Apply as broadly as possible. You're not disqualified from getting the job you want by any means, but you are not particularly well-situated for it and applying to the greatest number possible is the single biggest boost you can give to your chances of ultimately landing something in the recruit. 

Edited May 4 by Turtles

[GoatDuck]

With your grades, applying to all big law firms in Calgary and Toronto strikes me as almost guaranteeing that you won’t get any interviews from either city. I don’t know what school you’re at, but unfortunately your grades seem too low to get Toronto big law interviews. Calgary firms will see that you’re applying to their Toronto offices and this will be a red flag, signalling to them that you’re not committed to staying in Calgary, and this may be a strong reason for not interviewing you. 
 

As your grades would probably give a better chance in Calgary, my advice is to apply to only to Calgary offices and not to Toronto offices. Still, big law might be a reach at this point, so consider applying broadly.

[esqharveyspecter]

2 minutes ago, GoatDuck said:

With your grades, applying to all big law firms in Calgary and Toronto strikes me as almost guaranteeing that you won’t get any interviews from either city. I don’t know what school you’re at, but unfortunately your grades seem too low to get Toronto big law interviews. Calgary firms will see that you’re applying to their Toronto offices and this will be a red flag, signalling to them that you’re not committed to staying in Calgary, and this may be a strong reason for not interviewing you. 
 

As your grades would probably give a better chance in Calgary, my advice is to apply to only to Calgary offices and not to Toronto offices. Still, big law might be a reach at this point, so consider applying broadly.

Thanks for your update - I just added the point that I have been in Alberta with family and friends up till high school, and my undergrad + law school is in Ontario. Anything changes with this?

[GoatDuck]

1 minute ago, esqharveyspecter said:

Thanks for your update - I just added the point that I have been in Alberta with family and friends up till high school, and my undergrad + law school is in Ontario. Anything changes with this?

It might push the needle in your favour, but I wouldn’t risk it. At the end of the day there’s no exact science to how things go on the recruiter’s end. One recruiter in Calgary explicitly told me that seeing a borderline candidate apply to the Toronto and Calgary offices of their firm was the deciding factor in not inviting them for an interview. Interpret it how you want. My personal sense is that not stellar grades + doing law school in Ontario is enough raise eyebrows upon seeing that you’re applying to both Calgary and Toronto offices. 

[esqharveyspecter]

On 5/4/2024 at 2:54 PM, Turtles said:

It's May. Your best bet for a relevant summer job at this juncture is approaching professors to do a research assistant kind of thing. Maybe one of them has idle research funds and could use a hand.

Big law may be a reach for you. Apply as broadly as possible. You're not disqualified from getting the job you want by any means, but you are not particularly well-situated for it and applying to the greatest number possible is the single biggest boost you can give to your chances of ultimately landing something in the recruit. 

Thanks Turtles for your update as well! 
 

1. I have heard about RA roles with professors but I don't know how you approach them and what’s the process to get accepted. Great if you can describe how it would work similar to my profile.

 

2. Can you also explain a bit by applying broadly (as also mentioned by GoatDuck)? The thing is that I applied to almost all firms in the 1L recruit for both places and also got to go on coffee/virtual chats with associates, articling students, and summer students but still didn’t get a response. But also the 1L recruit is different from 2L so what would this method of applying broadly entail now and what pointers I should keep in mind?

Thanks once again!

[GoatDuck]

1. You send an email to the professor, introduce yourself, say that you don’t have a summer job lined up and express your interest in being an RA for them. Explain briefly why you want to be their RA (“I need a job” is honest but ideally you’ll have something else to say, e.g. “I have background in criminology and I really liked taking crim with you”, or “I know your next book involves a substantial quantitative analysis component, and I spent two summers doing quantitative analysis in my role at XYZ”). Finally, ask if they’re looking for an RA and thank them for their time. Keep it short. 
 

2. “Applying broadly” here means two things. One, insofar as you’re applying to firms, applying to firms not listed on the recruit portal. Only a handful of firms participate in the formal recruit process, most of whom are big law firms. There are many other mid-size and smaller firms that may hire summer students. You need to seek them out, get in touch with them, find out if they’re hiring summer students, and apply. You may have to do cold calling, cold emails, knocking on doors etc. 

Two, “applying broadly” also means applying to in-house and government positions. I suspect the latter is fairly competitive though. You may find some of these positions listed on your school’s career development platform, but you may also need to do some of your own research. 

[Dinsdale]

It doesn't hurt to apply everywhere, with the possible exception of the Toronto offices of national firms that also have Calgary offices (which I had not thought was an issue, but is mentioned above).  Apply everywhere you can!  Having said that, those grades are a bit below the Toronto BigLaw standard, unless you're at U of T.  And even then the D is far from great.  So focusing on medium and smaller firms may be a good idea.   But don't read anything into the fact that you didn't get any bites in the 1L recruit.  The 2L recruit is massive compared to the 1L.  Good luck.