Is becoming a lawyer worth it?
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By QuincyWagstaff · Posted
Can you do this in Alberta? In my province, provincial Crown positions are tied to your year of call. If you’ve been called more than 5 years, for example, then you couldn’t be hired as a level one Crown. -
By Cookies20000 · Posted
I have an in-firm with a "small" firm that specializes in a certain area. I am not sure if this is important, but it has a larger office in another city. I am interested in this firm's practice area and quite enjoyed my OCI with this firm, more than my OCIs with any other firm actually. I would like to know what I can do to increase my chances of obtaining an offer at this firm. This is a broad question: does anyone have any insight as to how in-firms at "small" firms are different (vs. in-firms at large or mid-sized firms) in terms of what small firms look for in candidates? For example, will it be of particular importance to them that I am able to demonstrate an interest in their practice area or that I express interest in them specifically? I understand my question is broad and that firms are very different, but any insight would be helpful, as I do not know what to expect or what I should do differently, if i should do anything differently at all. I do like this firm a lot, from what I have seen, so I am a bit nervous about the in-firm. Thanks in advance. -
I think that gif is going to show up in a nightmare. Will Ferrell makes me feel funny inside, just saying.
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By needhelp11 · Posted
It is harder for me to relate to someone finishing high school/under grad and then going straight to foreign law school. My situation was different. I did differentiate myself from these sorts of younger, inexperienced candidates. The less you have to differentiate yourself, the harder your situation. Some things could be: Do you speak another language? Do you have any volunteer experience? Do you have any work experience? Any transferable skillls? Do you have any unique interests? What's your story on why you went to law school? What kind of existing network do you have? Can you look at leveraging your network for opportunities? Are there any specific lawyers or firms that you are interested in? Reach out to them. These are some things to think about. If I had no prior experience skills, etc., and was a foreign law grad, here is what I would do: Offer my services for a limited period of time for free. This allows anyou to get your foot in the door, gain experience and prove yourself. Make it no obligation/low risk for the potential employer and show as much value as you can in the limited time. Have a specific plan to present of exactly how you will be working and articulate exactly how you will be saving them time. This is an example. If a student approached with me this sort of proposal, I would consider speaking to them further. So now that I thought about this topic further - YES going to a foreign law school will subject you to some discrimination in Canada. Larger firms will likely discriminate more than smaller ones. Try to differentiate yourself from the competition. Don't approach with a what's in it for me mindset - approach the situation from a what's in it for the potential employemindset and focus on that. Be creative. Don't give up, but know that you will have some setbacks. Focus on gaining experience and then leveraging that in the future. Once your career starts and you have more and more legal experience, the law school that you went to will start meaning less and less. Regarding the last sentence - I will add another thing to consider. I remember when I was in law school, I was stressed out about getting the highest marks possible. One bad mark on an assignment or an exam left me distraught. However, now that I look back at that - how much does that specific assignment or exam mark matter now? It doesn't matter now at all. Thus, your difficulty in finding an articling position at first may be challenging and stressful - one just need to keep an open mind and project into the future - how much will the foreign law school discrimination, challenge in finding articles matter in five, ten,twenty years? -
By CleanHands · Posted
I'm not the person you asked, but I have worked for a provincial Crown prosecution service. I won't pretend to be experienced at this point, but the answer to your question was very apparent very early on in my time there: spending several years working outside of criminal law will only hurt you if you intend this transition. My office regularly received applications from mid-career lawyers with civil litigation experience, including at the big name national, full-service BigLaw firms, and never interviewed such candidates. Although the problem was that they were always applying for positions for experienced lawyers (commensurate with their year of call), and the Crown didn't view non-criminal experience as sufficient for that purpose. Maybe they could have gotten interviews for entry-level Crown positions, but private practice to the Crown is already a hit to the paycheck without being on a lower grade as well relative to one's year of call. If you want to move over to the Crown: 1) Do it as soon as possible. 2) Do criminal defence work instead of civil litigation before applying for the Crown.
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