Articling for Lawyer moving to Canada?
January 15, 2011 9:34 AM Subscribe
I'm an Attorney potentially moving to Canada (Vancouver) who needs to go through the articling process, but wants to do it outside of a traditional law firm. What advice can you give?
So I will be moving to Vancouver, Canada (yay!) if my spouse moves there with their company (quite likely). I have 4 years of PQE as a Lawyer (3 years in New Zealand as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court, and 1 year as an Attorney at Law in the Cayman Islands). In addition I have a further 2 years of other legal experience in the USA (paralegal type roles for non-profits and commercial firms).
Most of my legal work has been in non-commercial law fields such as human rights, native land law, immigration, environmental law etc. I have my LLB from NZ, I'm also a good way through my Masters in International Law (LLM) and have a Post Grad Diploma in International Law as well.
So - putting aside the whole Certificate of Qualification in Canada (I can deal with the exams, etc), what really worries me is having to do the articling. I really what to avoid a traditional law firm for articling if possible - I'd much rather do it with a non-profit or other interesting public entity which aligns more with my non-commercial focus. I'm more about being a lawyer to help individuals and do interesting work, and would rather work for an organisation who will recognise that I'm not a year 1 junior articling and who could use me to really help people. As such I know my salary expectations need to be low, but I'm okay with that (I've done extended periods of unpaid legal work at non-profits before).
Thoughts, advice, suggestions, personal experiences etc. really appreciated as to whether I might be able to find something in Vancouver that will work or how I go about doing this?
(anonymous as my current employer doesn't know about this yet...)
So I will be moving to Vancouver, Canada (yay!) if my spouse moves there with their company (quite likely). I have 4 years of PQE as a Lawyer (3 years in New Zealand as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court, and 1 year as an Attorney at Law in the Cayman Islands). In addition I have a further 2 years of other legal experience in the USA (paralegal type roles for non-profits and commercial firms).
Most of my legal work has been in non-commercial law fields such as human rights, native land law, immigration, environmental law etc. I have my LLB from NZ, I'm also a good way through my Masters in International Law (LLM) and have a Post Grad Diploma in International Law as well.
So - putting aside the whole Certificate of Qualification in Canada (I can deal with the exams, etc), what really worries me is having to do the articling. I really what to avoid a traditional law firm for articling if possible - I'd much rather do it with a non-profit or other interesting public entity which aligns more with my non-commercial focus. I'm more about being a lawyer to help individuals and do interesting work, and would rather work for an organisation who will recognise that I'm not a year 1 junior articling and who could use me to really help people. As such I know my salary expectations need to be low, but I'm okay with that (I've done extended periods of unpaid legal work at non-profits before).
Thoughts, advice, suggestions, personal experiences etc. really appreciated as to whether I might be able to find something in Vancouver that will work or how I go about doing this?
(anonymous as my current employer doesn't know about this yet...)
The Legal Services Society does the kind of work you are looking for. Their "Careers" page is here.
posted by lunaazul at 1:09 PM on January 15, 2011
posted by lunaazul at 1:09 PM on January 15, 2011
I'm not aware of LSS having articled students (not to say they don't - can't hurt to ask). I know that the Ministry of Attorney-General has articling positions, and they have a whole bunch of different mandates that might suit you. Of course, given the current provincial budgeting, I don't know how many positions might be around.
What I did when I didn't want to article for a typical firm was call around to sole practioners to see if any needed articled students, or knew of anyone who did. I was looking in the criminal sphere, but I am sure if you check around in the areas you are interested in, they'll be small enough that most people will be happy to help you with info, even if they themselves can't offer to supervise your articles. I was VERY clear that I was not expecting a big firm salary - and I actually had a number of lawyers combine to supervise me, since my principal could only take me on for 1/2 time. This included a month secondment with the Ministry of A-G, which actually led to my hire as a Crown shortly after my call to the bar.
The other thing I'd suggest is contacting the UBC career services office, and see if you can access some of their resources. Not all graduating law students want the typical articling process either, so they may have some useful information for you, and might be willing to share it notwithstanding you not being a UBC student (my guess is that competition concerns go way down with salary levels :-) ).
posted by birdsquared at 4:30 AM on January 16, 2011
What I did when I didn't want to article for a typical firm was call around to sole practioners to see if any needed articled students, or knew of anyone who did. I was looking in the criminal sphere, but I am sure if you check around in the areas you are interested in, they'll be small enough that most people will be happy to help you with info, even if they themselves can't offer to supervise your articles. I was VERY clear that I was not expecting a big firm salary - and I actually had a number of lawyers combine to supervise me, since my principal could only take me on for 1/2 time. This included a month secondment with the Ministry of A-G, which actually led to my hire as a Crown shortly after my call to the bar.
The other thing I'd suggest is contacting the UBC career services office, and see if you can access some of their resources. Not all graduating law students want the typical articling process either, so they may have some useful information for you, and might be willing to share it notwithstanding you not being a UBC student (my guess is that competition concerns go way down with salary levels :-) ).
posted by birdsquared at 4:30 AM on January 16, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by dfriedman at 9:48 AM on January 15, 2011