Toronto Big Law Hireback 2025

[Turtles]

'Tis the season, folks.

In the spirit of giving -- i.e., helping fuel the worst Type A personalities among us, myself included -- please feel free to share rumours or confirmed details you hear about Toronto hireback (e.g., anticipated decision release day in the lead up to hireback or the actual results once communicated). 

FYI from my network, I am mostly hearing firms have set their decision release day at either May 2 and May 9. 

Feel free to PM me if you wish to post something anonymously.  

[Anonymous]

National firm in Ottawa = was just told "Mid-April/Early May" started inquiring at a firm in Toronto and was told they will be hiring strictly through their own class of students (99% of all the firms response).

[Turtles]

I am hearing a couple reports now that a few big law firms have told their student cohorts that their decision day will be pushed closer to mid May. Not a lot of data points though.

[Turtles]

I am told some students at Fasken gained early access to their hireback list and the firm accelerated decision release as a result. I am also told the result was "bad". Anyone care to confirm or deny? 

[chaboywb]

12 hours ago, Turtles said:

I am told some students at Fasken gained early access to their hireback list and the firm accelerated decision release as a result. 

How?

[Turtles]

1 hour ago, chaboywb said:

How?

My information indicates firm sloppiness led to the list being made available to students when not intended. The firm then immediately moved up the "decision day" individual meetings to be able to touch base directly (as students talked and became aware of whether or not they were getting tossed). 

Anyone from Fasken (or with friends there): feel free to DM me if you can confirm or deny or add further details (will respect requests for anonymity and only share details you permit) or feel free to comment directly in this thread. 

[MyWifesBoyfriend]

Forgive me if this question seems naive. Aside from the obvious gut punch of not getting hired back, how fatal is it to not get hired back after articles? Is it similar to failing the 2L recruit insofar as you will struggle to land a Big Law job until you’re 2-3 years out?

[chaboywb]

3 hours ago, MyWifesBoyfriend said:

Forgive me if this question seems naive. Aside from the obvious gut punch of not getting hired back, how fatal is it to not get hired back after articles? Is it similar to failing the 2L recruit insofar as you will struggle to land a Big Law job until you’re 2-3 years out?

Not fatal. Most people who article in big law can fairly quickly find another firm to take them on as a first year, and firms often provide resources to help out their students that they can't keep on. Hireback is often not due to poor performance but lack of need in a particular area - for instance, if a firm can only hire two litigators but has four students who only want to work in litigation, two will get cut. But they will be a good fit for another firm that had more students interested in corporate.

That said, bad hireback across the board will mean there will be less positions at other firms, plus there will be more competition. Articling in big law still carries value for applying at smaller firms, boutiques, in-house, etc. but it will be more of an uphill battle in a bad economy.

[MelonLord]

On 4/25/2025 at 2:49 PM, chaboywb said:

Not fatal. Most people who article in big law can fairly quickly find another firm to take them on as a first year, and firms often provide resources to help out their students that they can't keep on. Hireback is often not due to poor performance but lack of need in a particular area - for instance, if a firm can only hire two litigators but has four students who only want to work in litigation, two will get cut. But they will be a good fit for another firm that had more students interested in corporate.

That said, bad hireback across the board will mean there will be less positions at other firms, plus there will be more competition. Articling in big law still carries value for applying at smaller firms, boutiques, in-house, etc. but it will be more of an uphill battle in a bad economy.

Can you speak to (or others on this forum) what the hire back environment was like during the 2008 recession? 

I feel as though that those conditions might be the most comparable to the down market we appear to be entering, though obviously not to that extent.  

[Turtles]

Couple sources say 20/24 at Stikemans announced on Wednesday.

[Turtles]

Cassels is announcing tomorrow apparently.

Reminder: feel free to post here or DM me directly. 

[Turtles]

New intel:

Aird & Berlis hired 8/11.

Torys intends to hireback 19/22, to be formally announced later this week.

Gowlings, Bennet Jones, and Davies are announcing later this week. 

These have not yet been corroborated. If you have info, pls feel free to post or DM.

[Turtles]

One source says Fasken was 14/20.  

[Turtles]

15/23 at Cassels today but source is a bit iffy, can anyone confirm?

[Turtles]

1 hour ago, Turtles said:

15/23 at Cassels today but source is a bit iffy, can anyone confirm?

Hearing 17/24 from a more reliable source now (+5% but still a ~30% drop from their usual 100% hireback).

[lawyeringalways]

Multiple sources at Fasken confirm 14/20 in Toronto and 1/3 on Ottawa. And also confirmed that there was an inadvertent filing of the hireback list found by 2 students who circulated the information to associates and other students. Those 2 students were not hired back and swapped places with students on the no-hire list. 

 

[LMP]

28 minutes ago, lawyeringalways said:

Multiple sources at Fasken confirm 14/20 in Toronto and 1/3 on Ottawa. And also confirmed that there was an inadvertent filing of the hireback list found by 2 students who circulated the information to associates and other students. Those 2 students were not hired back and swapped places with students on the no-hire list. 

 

@BlockedQuebecoiswill be pleased 

[chaboywb]

11 hours ago, lawyeringalways said:

Multiple sources at Fasken confirm 14/20 in Toronto and 1/3 on Ottawa. And also confirmed that there was an inadvertent filing of the hireback list found by 2 students who circulated the information to associates and other students. Those 2 students were not hired back and swapped places with students on the no-hire list. 

 

Unbelievable. I understand articling is an extremely worrisome time, especially around hireback season, but I've heard too many stories about similar things happening and it's never a good outcome. Even if one were to stumble across the list, going on to share that information with the group is a wild decision.

Edited April 30 by chaboywb

[StoneMason]

1 hour ago, chaboywb said:

Unbelievable. I understand articling is an extremely worrisome time, especially around hireback season, but I've heard too many stories about similar things happening and it's never a good outcome. Even if one were to stumble across the list, going on to share that information with the group is a wild decision.

I would think the wild thing here is the firm's reaction and not the sharing of the list, no? 

Sharing the list was definitely imprudent, but I can also sympathize with the students wanting to help out their colleagues who didn't get hired back with a heads up. 

[Steve from Stevenage]

15 minutes ago, StoneMason said:

I would think the wild thing here is the firm's reaction and not the sharing of the list, no? 

Sharing the list was definitely imprudent, but I can also sympathize with the students wanting to help out their colleagues who didn't get hired back with a heads up. 

We can all sympathize with why they did it.

At the same time, they took information from their firm that was clearly not intended to be public and immediately distributed it. I'm not sure how you could trust that person moving forward, when one of the pillars of a lawyer's duty is the protection of confidential information.

To me, this seems like a similar scenario to a lawyer who accidentally receives confidential documents from opposing counsel. It obviously is not their fault that they received it, but they're expected to notify the other party of their mistake - not use it for their own advantage, or distribute it beyond any means they have of controlling its further spread.

Edited April 30 by Steve from Stevenage

[chaboywb]

16 minutes ago, StoneMason said:

I would think the wild thing here is the firm's reaction and not the sharing of the list, no? 

Sharing the list was definitely imprudent, but I can also sympathize with the students wanting to help out their colleagues who didn't get hired back with a heads up. 

On a social or emotional level, sure.

At a professional level, absolutely not. Beyond the platitudes like "integrity is everything in this profession", it is such a foolish mistake to make. Everything you do on your work computer is traceable and word travels fast. It shows a serious lack of judgment to go looking for this info and then to share it.

You will likely face an ethical dilemma like this when you're articling, like whether you should go snooping or share information that you've obtained confidentially from a source. I'd strongly advise you against doing so. It's not worth it.

For what it's worth, I do feel for these students and, were I to speak with them, I'd encourage them to keep their heads up and see this as a learning opportunity and a blip in a long career. But it should also be a learning experience for future students not to make the same mistake.

 

Edited April 30 by chaboywb

[Turtles]

One source is saying 16/17 at Davies.

[Turtles]

Precedent JD launched today. 

https://lawandstyle.ca/hireback-watch/toronto-wide-hireback-numbers/?yr=2025

Fasken bloodbath numbers I shared earlier are now officially corroborated. 

In contrast, specialized shops seem to be doing well. 

Wildeboer 6/6 (note February 2026 start date, which is consistent with past practice but is not readily comparable to other firms). 

Lenczner 6/6 

LOLG 3/3

Sherrard 5/6 (1 opt out)

[Turtles]

Torys has now reported 22/25 on Precedent JD. (This is a slightly better ratio than the 19/22 rumour I referenced earlier but same number of no-hires.) Not to overstate it, but this is their lowest result since 2015, for reference.

[lawyeringalways]

For Torys it is 19/22 from their original student cohort. They poached 3 articling students from Davies around 2-3 months ago and hired them back making the final numbers 22/25.