underrated

Was never asked about my undergrad grades during the recent recruit. For context I had a couple Ds and Cs during my first 2 years. Will be summering at a large full-service firm.

I'd take the policy job, especially if you'd like to strengthen your application for a corporate position next year. Although not a business related job per se, it will likely expose you to a team-oriented and/or project-based environment that will allow you to present some transferable skills to potential employers in future recruits. But if you'd rather take the research position, it won't be a negative to your resume going forward.

What does a "semi-successful" career entail? And who are the big 5 firms?

I don't believe the 4 firms I mentioned that increased hiring this year participate in the 1L recruit. Edit: Faskens take a couple 1Ls in non-traditional law positions outside of the formal recruit, not sure if this is effected.

Davies and Osler's numbers are more or less consistent with the last two recruits. At first glance, BJ, Faskens, Lenczner, and Stikeman have certainly increased their numbers by more than 5 additional hires compared to previous years. I assume this is partially a result of firms having a great 2020 and an assumption of continued growth in the future. Any thoughts on how additional summer hires will effect hire-backs after articling?

Have you been accepted anywhere else?

Not sure about Alberta, but you can accept an offer outside of Ontario and still maintain your candidacy for the Ontario schools you've applied to.

Focus on your grades. Then focus on crafting the best application possible before submitting. Then focus on OCI prep. Then focus on in-firm prep. This year's recruit seemed to be a bit different, but historically, and still to some extent this year: a B+ average at Queen's is good enough for atleast a handful of OCIs. I'm sure Ottawa is similar, although there are less OCI spots (40 vs 20 for most firms). Your corporate expeirence, should you articulate them well in your application, will proabably help you with getting OCIs. At the in-firm stage, grades seem to matter less, but still matter. Your resume obviously still matters, but alot of it boils down to how much you can "connect" with a firm and your ability to interview/conversate. Remember they want to know if they can stand being in a room with you for extended periods of time. This is why some top students strike out and some average/below average students get top jobs. Very subjective process. In my experience, networking is more for you to learn about firms than vice versa. Instead of helping me get OCIs, networking helped me convey my interest in firms during interviews. I don't think just slapping an articling students name on your cover letter will get you an OCI. Don't worry too much about where you're working this summer. If you can pick up something solid that could improve your application (business/corporate/client-facing/law firm in area of interest), then thats a plus. But if you have good corporate experience through your undergrad and if you've been active outside the classroom during 1L, don't fret about not doing much this summer. You're right - you want to try and make yourself stand apart from other candidates as much as you can. A lot of that boils down to how well you can articulate your experiences and relate your skills to what firms are looking for in your application, then in an interview. Focus on your strengths on your resume. As you get further along in the process you'll start to understand this aspect more (hopefully). It's a marathon not a sprint. You have ample time after exams to prepare your applications. I very much understand how you feel because I was there one year ago! R E L A X Good luck!!

Blakes' compensation information looks incomplete on NALP, but it does seem that a lot of firms made the bump to $1900... Wonder if other firms will follow for next year's summer/articling

Which firms?

I'll give it that. I think I recall in a past year someone being waitlisted one day and accepted the next.

A good sign would be getting accepted right away. Getting waitlisted (at any point) doesn't mean your chances of admission are 0%, but its far from being even at 50%. The time of being waitlisted likely doesn't have an effect on admission chances, it probably just means they reviewed your application earlier than others.

Any idea when the ultravires report will be released?

The politics of this whole process is ridiculous, and this is only amplified because of it being completely virtual this year. If its so important to declare first-choice firms then let us know. The LSO really needs to rework the logistics of the recruit and look towards maybe a rank/match system or something.

Who else's call day was a shit show?