Vancouver v. Toronto

October 2, 2009 9:11 PM

Question for Canadian lawyers (not law related). I'm currently a law student and deciding which city I would like to summer/article in (I'm from Vancouver but go to law school in Toronto). I was wondering whether anyone has experience in lateral movement between firms, or branches of a firm in different cities, and the consequences of requesting such a transfer after a few years at a firm.

(Am posting anonymously to avoid being blacklisted by potential employers.)

I know that my best option would be to begin working in the city I would ultimately like to live in, but I would like to know what kind of options I have available if I do chose to move once I've been practicing for a few years. Do the Bay Street firms typically frown upon a request to transfer after they've invested time into training you, even if you move to their Vancouver office, or are they pretty accommodating? I should also point out that the firms I am interested in are primarily large corporate/commercial firms.

Any advice is very much appreciated.

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (1 answer total)

The first thing to realize is that you will not be able to simply pick up, move to a different province, and start working. Each province has its own regulatory body, and while there are provisions for temporarily working in another jurisdiction, if you want to MOVE, you will need to be called to the practice of law in that new province. This will take time and money.

It can be done, and some of my colleagues have moved to B.C. from elsewhere to practice here, and some of my colleagues have moved from B.C. to practice in other provinces, but I work in criminal law, which, for the most part, is uniform across the country. In business terms, unless you are working at the national or international level, you are going to need to know the local legal framework, and that's going to take additional time (and maybe money).

I doubt this type of request would be unduly frowned upon. People need to move for all sorts of reasons, and if you are an asset to the firm, I have difficulty seeing why they wouldn't accommodate it, BUT, I don't practice in a big firm, so maybe this aspect of things should be addressed by someone with relevant experience.
posted by birdsquared at 9:36 PM on October 2, 2009