-
Recent Posts
-
@iiPhreshKidd which firm? Cause I also got a call out of the blue. Now im wondering if the partner did this for a lot of people. -
By QuincyWagstaff · Posted
OP, I missed the part where you indicate your career goals/interests (other than “not poverty law”). -
-
By xdarkwhite · Posted
I don't mean to come off too much as "hoorah UofT" but I think your example with the Davies Corporate/Securities Moot might actually go the other way – UofT has won the Davies Moot every year since 2011 except for 2014 when they placed second and 2020 when you caught 'em slipping (though UofT got second place oralist!). I guess even Lebron James misses the playoffs once in his career! -
By CleanHands · Posted
Howdy. I am a UBC student and did get out-of-province clerkship interviews, but at the trial rather than appellate level (I never actually applied to an appellate-level court, although I don't think I would have been competitive). I also participated in formal recruits for government and boutique jobs, out-of-province. My grades have consistently been closer to average than the top of the class. Not to boast, but I received an interview for almost every single job I applied to throughout my time in law school (exceptions were one clerkship, one government job, and two research assistant positions that were likely spoken for before the postings were even published). I only have my experience at UBC to go off of but I frankly doubt I would have fared as well with comparable grades at most other schools in the country. Based on my experience I think the following: People tend to either overstate or understate the relative strengths of different schools. On the one hand, we obviously don't have anywhere near as much of a tiered system as in the US. And basically all schools do have strong local placements. But there are still tangible differences. There is a difference in national (and international) reputation/brand among schools, and that does affect mobility. How much that matters to an applicant will obviously be a personal matter. More universally importantly, as you allude to, you can be competitive for the same positions with a lower class rank depending on your school. People are going to get to pick and choose opportunities when they are at the top of their class regardless of school, and will likely have to hustle when they are at the bottom of their class regardless of school, but it's just easier to land okay as a fairly average student at UofT, McGill or UBC than Windsor, Lakehead or TRU. There's empirical backing for this in terms of published hiring numbers in the regular reports related to the recruits so I am not sure why this is somehow controversial to say on this site. The "study where you want to practice" mantra of this site is somewhat overstated. At least when we're talking about a "stronger" out-of-province school vs a less well-regarded local school. There's truth in that in the sense that studying where you want to practice is very important for networking and establishing ties to the local bar and all that. But I found it quite effortless to secure articles in a different province than where I went to school, and I don't feel I would have been better served by attending the law school local to where I'll be articling. In fact, between law school, articling and jobs during school, I now have ties established in the legal community in three different major cities in Canada, which gives me a lot of options and I'm sure will serve me throughout my career. And the practice area I'm interested in tends to have pretty small local bars where everyone knows everyone, so it's easy to settle in and adjust to the local climate once you get hired somewhere.
-