2025-2026 Articling Recruit

[anon4672388]

Historically which downtown big law firms take articling positions?

[QMT20]

Varies from year to year and my knowledge is also a few years out of date. From what I recall, Dentons usually participates in the articling recruit. Goodmans, Torys, and Stikeman Elliott have also recruited in some, but not all years. Where the big law firms participate, they often only hire 1 student. 

A few openings may also pop up in the middle of the year, outside of the articling recruit. Norton Rose hired an articling student around February-April when I was in 3L.

 

 

[LMP]

It really does vary year by year, but I wouldn't gamble too heavily on these positions. As was said above, they are often looking for just a single student. 

[lawclerk1234]

It is heavily dependent on grades/school/circumstances etc, but a lot more of the big NY firms hire for positions after graduation than Canadian big law firms hire for articling. They are obviously incredibly competitive positions, but depending on your situation, that could be a better option (that is my current plan). 

Edited November 9, 2024 by lawclerk1234

[chaboywb]

22 hours ago, lawclerk1234 said:

It is heavily dependent on grades/school/circumstances etc, but a lot more of the big NY firms hire for positions after graduation than Canadian big law firms hire for articling. They are obviously incredibly competitive positions, but depending on your situation, that could be a better option (that is my current plan). 

I have never seen a Canadian law student who didn’t have a big law summer position in Toronto land a position in NY big law directly out of school. I wouldn’t put energy into this if I were OP.

[lawclerk1234]

20 hours ago, chaboywb said:

I have never seen a Canadian law student who didn’t have a big law summer position in Toronto land a position in NY big law directly out of school. I wouldn’t put energy into this if I were OP.

As I said, it is entirely context dependent, but I know multiple people from U of T who have done this. May not be viable given OP's circumstances, but it isn't impossible and they hire much more for grad roles than Toronto biglaw firms do for articling spots, although of course, the NY spots have more applicants. 

[chaboywb]

37 minutes ago, lawclerk1234 said:

As I said, it is entirely context dependent, but I know multiple people from U of T who have done this. May not be viable given OP's circumstances, but it isn't impossible and they hire much more for grad roles than Toronto biglaw firms do for articling spots, although of course, the NY spots have more applicants. 

OP's history indicates they are a B average student at Osgoode. Nothing wrong with that at all but I would not suggest they target an NY big law position in lieu of landing an articling job. 

Your situation may be different if you are a top student at UofT. It's likely still an uphill battle (the majority of students I've seen go to NY straight out of law school also had summer jobs at the relevant firm) but worth a shot if it's not your sole focus.