When I informed my friends that I was going to do the articling recruit, the universal response was whether I was suffering from a debilitating case of self-hatred. In their defence, we had only finished the OCI recruit in March and the Toronto articling recruit started in early July. The idea of going through another rigorous, time consuming and emotionally draining recruit mere months (four to be precise) after the OCI recruit was something that was not easy to digest. During those short months, I debated whether or not I should go through that process, especially since I really enjoyed working at MAG Crown Law Office Civil (CLOC) and received an articling offer there.
Eventually, I decided to do the articling recruit to see what’s out there. Now that it’s been almost a month since the end of my third and last (thankfully) recruit, I finally have the mental and emotional capacity to reflect on my experience. Weighing my options I knew that I loved the work at CLOC. As a student, I was involved in cases that challenged and defined the scope of governmental liability - I could see how the work I was doing helped shape the direction of the law. Opportunities like these are generally not available for individuals so early on in their career. To any student interested in litigation, I would highly recommend applying to CLOC. The scale and scope of litigation you get to experience is unparalleled and it is a surefire way to earn your stripes as a litigator. My decision to pursue other options was largely because of my interest in business development. After co-founding Legally Brown and helping to build our legal brand, I knew that business development was an area of interest that I wanted to explore further. Learning how to successfully build relationships with clients is something that I could only get from private practice. After coming to this realization, I decided to try my luck in the articling recruit. Comparing the recruits The biggest difference between the recruits was that I was in a completely different position. During the OCI recruit, I was hounded by the fear of not having a summer job. Summer jobs lead to articling jobs which lead to associate positions. I was terrified that if I didn’t secure a summer job through the formal recruit, I would completely miss my door of opportunity. Being a first generation law student with no legal contacts only added to my anxiety during the recruit. As you can imagine, this fear, which was for the most part unreasonable, affected my mental health and performance during the OCI recruit. This anxiety was greatly reduced during the articling recruit because I knew I had an amazing offer from CLOC, should I not find what I’m looking for. I entered the articling recruit with a confidence that I lacked during the OCI recruit. I strongly believe that my newly found confidence had a powerful impact on the way I presented myself and interacted with my interviewers. I guess the saying that confidence is attractive has at least some truth to it. Another difference I noticed was that a greater percentage of firms were leveraging behavioural and/or substantive questions. This change was personally a huge boon for me. While I hope I’m capable of engaging in conversation without making the other party want to run for the hills, I am well aware that I am not a winning conversationalist. However, being asked relevant, inquisitive questions about my background, experiences and skills did not only make me feel comfortable during the interview but gave me the sense that all applicants were being assessed on an even playing field. While some take issue with this model of interviewing due to qualms about increasing stress for applicants, I truly believe that this model of interviewing helps eliminate biases through standardization and restores applicants’ trust in the process. The Firm Reveal I am happy to announce that I will be articling at Dentons come August 2022! To avoid being teased that I sound like I’ve just been drafted into the NBA, I’ll briefly summarize my immense excitement about this. I interviewed with Dentons during the 1L recruit. I had the opportunity to meet with their associates and get a sense of the firm’s culture. Although I didn’t land a 1L position there, I knew I was going to apply again during the articling recruit. If there’s anything to take away from this long-winded blog post, it’s this - if at first you don’t succeed, try again. I’m proof that sometimes the second time around, things might just work out for you. If you have any questions about the articling recruit or job hunting in general, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] or message us on LinkedIn. As a dual degree student, seeing your peers who started law school at the same time as you undergo OCIs and other recruits and settle into their legal placement while your second summer. I was proud to see my friends doing fantastic things with their legal career early on - each person in my immediate friend group was thriving (quite literally all nine of them landed positions that were well suited for a 2L summer position, and have accepted articling positions at fantastic places and I can’t wait to see what their journeys have in store for them).
As a result, at the back of my mind I didn’t want my 1L summer to be a bust. I wanted to diversify my experiences and maximize output. I ensured that this summer I kept busy and tried to gain experience in different areas of the law. Was that the best use of my time? Absolutely. Another summer impacted by lockdowns, COVID-19 impacts, the emphasis was to continue to motivate myself to learn and grow as an individual. I worked four different jobs in the field of business law, securities litigation, employment law, and estate law! Of these experiences, I would like to reflect on my time at Epilogue Wills (“Epilogue”). First and foremost, it started on LinkedIn. LinkedIn has been an ally in learning more about what people do with a JD/MBA education. Alumni from my school have curated careers that range from strictly business-focused positions to a variety of law-based roles. This time I found lawyers who combined the two - working in estate law but not as lawyers, as tech entrepreneurs. It sounded like quite a different experience since it related to a legal tech based startup which simplifies the process of will-making for Canadians. Sidebar - If you’re reading this and are above the age of majority, you should definitely look into getting a will for your assets. If you’re a student and think you don’t need a will, think about your social media accounts - there is a will for that - the social media will! Back to my story, I applied via email and thought to myself that it would be really cool to work in an entrepreneurial environment where both co-founders are lawyers! The culture Culture is key. It can make or break your experience and drive. Being surrounded by individuals who treat you like a valued team member even if you’re the most junior person at the company/ firm can set the tone and vary the experience from if that was not the case. The best place to get a feel for culture is in the interview. The first impression of speaking with potential team member(s) and expectations is why I enjoy partaking in interviews to learn more about the goal of the company and people who work there. The interview was a conversation! I got to learn about both co-founders and the company, as they learned about me. When they extended me the offer - I accepted immediately! I was immersed in the company’s culture through meeting the rest of the team and being in constant dialogue with team members based on my tasks. The co-founders, as busy as they were expanding the business across Maritime provinces, were only a Slack message away when it came to meeting with me to provide me with feedback on the tasks I did. It really aligned with theories I learned in Organizational Behaviour about the ideal environment to work in! The co-founders always asked if I had the ability to enjoy the nice weather, partake in summer activities and make time for myself. They made sure I was not overburdened, which was greatly appreciated from the standpoint as a student who may not know if the work they are doing is ever enough and up to par with the standards. Even as a student, the co-founders asked for my take on the law after conducting research - I felt like a valued member and got comfortable with discussing the law outside of a classroom. What did my role look like? My role consisted of two major responsibilities: legal research and blog writing. The legal research component sounded daunting at first, since there was an end of term project associated with it. However, when I was assigned this topic - I would get subsumed with conducting research and comparative analysis that I wouldn’t even notice the time flying by. I worked with the co-founder to showcase my findings, discuss legal opinions and continue to contribute to my end of term project. Blog writing combined my interest in the law and writing - sound familiar? It differed slightly from my experience here at Legally Brown since the emphasis was on specific topics such as Notary publics and will making. I also improved my SEO writing, and received feedback and direction directly from the Director of Content. Whichever task I received, I never felt like I was abandoned or doing an ancillary piece - it felt like I had a voice and my opinion mattered. I enjoyed the level of autonomy as well and definitely had a positive experience. So for those individuals who have an opportunity to work at a start-up I say embark on it! You will learn a lot more than technical skills. My love for estate law I had an inclination towards corporate transactional work since undergrad - based on the mere specialization and my gravitation towards accounting and finance based courses. This carried through in the MBA. However, there is overlap between the aforementioned disciplines and estate law in Personal Finance. That course taught me the importance of wills and estate planning not for myself but the impact and ease it would have for my loved ones. Besides that, everything substantive I learned was on the job - so by no means are the courses prerequisites. I had a crash course in wills and estate law taught by the co-founders in the beginning of my internship. Working at the Epilogue this summer showcased the dynamic nature of the law - the digitization of witnessing, the accessibility in creating wills from one’s home, and the impending changes in legislation globally. Conclusion My 1L summer was definitely a boom. A second summer of “non-traditional'' big law allowed me to choose my own adventure through different types of roles in the legal industry and apply the knowledge/ skills I obtained from my education thus far. I’m really excited to see what this school year has in store for me and where my journey takes me next summer. By: Karen Randhawa This post is not about my legal journey, it’s something bigger than that - it’s about life, love and learning. If there’s one thing I would like you to take away from this, it’s make time for your loved ones: it can be as small as a text, Zoom call, or a visit (if COVID-19 guidelines permit) just to check up on them, show them you care because tomorrow is never promised. There will always be deadlines, milestones in goals, but the people who helped you get to where you are - those loved ones - may not.
I’m writing this with a heavy heart, yesterday I lost a key individual in my life - Senpai. For those of you who know me, you’ll know I’ve spent most of my life doing karate. It’s often the fun fact/ ice breaker that I share. But karate wasn’t all about the technique, force or speed. It taught me how to be a better human being and the credit goes to Senpai. 7-year-old Karen wasn’t exposed to women in sports, Senpai was the first - and that too a 5 foot woman of South-Asian descent who has a black belt, many awards, and the determination & grit of a champion. She showed me and a lot of others who looked like me, that with hard work you can achieve your dreams. Senpai exemplified the qualities of a champion, training hard, teamwork and lifting spirits. Senpai showed us what it meant to cheer on your friends from the sidelines at tournaments, and being proud of the dojo’s success as if it were your own. Senpai is a second mother to her students, she was a shoulder to cry on after a loss at a tournament or anything in your personal life, and she was the friend you could rely on for anything. Senpai was diagnosed with lung cancer, and fought it with the utmost strength and willpower I have yet to see in anyone else I have known. We lost her to this disease that no one saw coming, from her healthy diet, positive attitude and focus on fitness. The goal ahead is to continue to exemplify her teachings, and pass on the mentorship and values to make her proud. Her students have started a GoFundMe to cover funeral costs and assist the family in their time of need. You can access the link here. To the best fighter in and out the dojo, memories and teachings that will last my lifetime, until we meet again 🤍 By: Karen Randhawa As someone who has spent almost a fourth of their academic experience (5 years of 20 years of schooling) at Schulich, I have had the opportunity to take courses in different realms (believe me, in business school, taking a course outside of your specialization is akin to entering an unknown universe).
I have just finished up my 1st full year of the MBA program, where 9 of my 10 courses were electives. To some this may seem like a breeze - spoiler alert it was not. Elective courses at the graduate level will require you to put in the effort (and lots of it). Top 5 Electives You Should Take as a JD/MBA My career aspirations have always been geared towards a career in corporate work, so take these recommendations with a grain of salt. I am also an individual who enjoys quantitative courses (feel free to message me about very technical Finance and Accounting courses if that’s something you’re interested in). For Finance specific courses, I would highly recommend Financial Management (FINE 6100) and Investments (FINE 6200) - but that’s a post for another time. These recommendations are more aligned with an overlap and utility as a career in corporate law based on the things we learned. Personal Finance (FINE 6050) This course is highly recommended for any student. Personal Finance literacy is absolutely crucial, we covered topics from credit cards to mortgages, from tax planning to wills. With respect to why I think it’s good for lawyers, Professor Jamie Golombek does a phenomenal job with bringing guest speakers to share their experience in the industry. Two topics that I found particularly relevant for future lawyers, whether you’d like to practice tax or family law, was the Wills & Estate lecture and tax planning. During these two lectures, I felt as if I was back at Osgoode - the lectures made many references to cases to drill in the importance of having a will and the tax implications of these decisions. Law school courses that would likely complement this course: Estates, Family Law, Taxation and Trusts Mergers and Acquisitions (SGMT 6050) Getting into this course was a challenge, the waitlist filled up within hours of the course being announced because it was being taught by Professor Graeme Deans. A seasoned expert in the consulting industry, being able to learn from him is a gift for a lack of better words. The course was structured based on the phases of an M&A deal (Structuring the Deal, Negotiating and Valuation, Day One, and Integration). For aspiring corporate lawyers, it is important to understand current deals and the role of all professionals and stakeholders involved in the process. In every class, course material was contextualized through case studies, providing us the opportunity to apply and critically analyze. Class engagement and discussion were also promoted through break out sessions which helped students bounce ideas off of each other. Provided that M&A is a large corporate group on Bay Street, this course is greatly recommended for anyone interested in this practice area as they will be equipped with knowledge about the work that goes into these deals and important considerations of thinking as a business professional to augment your legal skills in the future. Law school courses that would likely complement this course: Bankruptcy & Insolvency, Business Associations, Commercial Law, Contracts II, Intellectual Property Law, Labour and Employment Law, Legal Drafting, Securities Law, Taxation Law Venture Capital and Private Equity (ENTR 6910) Admittedly, I was hesitant to take a course in the Entrepreneurship department due to my lack of experience in the field and how daunting the course name seemed. However, looking back I am grateful that I took this course as it truly has opened a new door of possibilities with respect to the field of Venture Capital and Private Equity. My Instructor, Stuart Browne, and Course Administrator Amelia Dookhee are actively involved in the Venture Capital world in Canada through Pycap Venture Partners. This course emphasized the role of lawyers in practice through Term Sheets and provided me with a solid foundation of Venture Capital & Private Equity funds - from their structure, strategy and trends in the industry. Learning about different exit strategies, new methods of equity crowdfunding and beta testing a product ensured the relevance and updated nature of the industry. A class that was my particular favorite was hearing Dragon Vincenzo Guzzo share his experience as an Angel investor. Law school courses that would likely complement this course: Business Associations, Contracts II, Legal Drafting, Securities Law, and Taxation Law Power and Politics in Organizations (ORGS 6400) The title is what attracted me to take this course, I wanted to know more about how organizations function. My professor was the Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, Ena Chadha. Learning from a lawyer in business school has its own perks as they are aptly placed to analyze issues from business and legal lenses simultaneously. This course was very attuned to social issues and how to address them as a future business leader. From role playing exercises to class discussions, it was always interesting to hear everyone’s experience in various organizations. The readings were very relevant and with the times. This course taught conflict resolution strategies, equity sensitivity and developing oneself as a leader in today’s diverse work environments. I would highly encourage any student to take this course to challenge the status quo and learn more about your political skills to augment your career trajectory. Law school courses that would likely complement this course: Civil Liberties, Indigenous Peoples and Canadian Law, Indigenous Perspectives and Realities, Individual Employment Relationship, International Human Rights Law, Labour Arbitration, Labour & Employment Law, Legal Ethics, Meditation Clinic, and Transnational Corporations & Human Rights Negotiations (ORGS 6560) Prior to taking this course, from what I could recall from the Moot I took part in last year, I thought negotiations were adversarial. Negotiations was a challenging course because it necessitates self reflection in order to change our natural inclination to turn adversarial and instead adopt a new way of approaching problems. Dr. Cheryl Rivers was always happy to share her experience, assisting students if they had any questions on dealing with specific behaviours that stopped them from negotiating the optimal solution. The applications of this course have already paid dividends with respect to Negotiating competitions early this year, which without this course I would not have frankly considered participating in. Law school courses that would likely complement this course: Lawyer as a Negotiator, and Trial Advocacy Differences between Law School and Business School Law school is generally more exam focused, with higher stake exams (anywhere from 50% to 100% weighted finals). Not many group or partner projects during my 1L year (I think I may have had two partner projects), although this was before Zoom Law School and accordingly, this may have changed in upper years. In business school, course work and mark allocation can differ greatly, whether it be specialization specific or dependent on the professor teaching the course. There is a lot more emphasis on group work, so be ready to have Zoom meetings before and after class to delegate tasks, perform check-ins and collaborate for the final product. Most of my courses had a participation component to the grade distribution. This meant more than turning on your camera, it meant using the raise hands function to share your thoughts, demonstrate knowledge and speak about the topics at hand. I liked this component, not because I participate avidly in terms of speaking, but I learned how to actively listen to my classmates. Being on the less experienced side of the class, I liked hearing about how my peers have seen these theories in practice, what worked, what didn’t and where they felt further research should be allocated to improve the function of organizations. It was also a way of expanding my network, meeting people virtually through these open format discussions and various breakout rooms. I found that my colleagues in the MBA came from very diverse backgrounds, from geographic regions to career trajectories and identity - which truly made it seem like we were in a global classroom in a way. If you’re enrolled in the MBA program and you would like to ask questions about course selection, feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected] or send me a message on LinkedIn. I’m happy to help! By: Karen Randhawa Coming into law school, I had big dreams to pursue a career in international law. A year into my law school journey, I quickly realized that I had no idea what international law really means or what a career in that field would look like. So, when I saw that I could take a semester off school to gain practical experience in this area of law, I was more than excited. Osgoode’s International Transnational Law Intensive Program (or ITLIP) places students with a variety of partner organizations, anywhere from the UN in Geneva to Canadian law firms specializing in international law matters. The beauty of the program is that everyone in your cohort will be working with different organizations, and everyone has a chance to share their experience during the weekly seminars. What does a semester of ITLIP look like? Everyone’s placement will differ greatly, depending on where your interests lie. Months before the winter semester, you will be asked to rank a list of partners and potential placements by preference. The process can be a little daunting at first because the organizations that partner with Osgoode offer such amazing experiences and in diverse areas of areas of international law. For myself, I was fortunate to have taken courses in Trade Regulation and International Investment Law and knew that I wanted practical experience in those respective areas. This past semester I was placed at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), where most of my work revolved around their trade and investment project. Throughout the term, I was able to write articles for their website on a range of topics, from international regulation of intellectual property to COVID-19’s impact on international investment. I was able to assist on some very exciting publications and research projects, such the CCPA’s NAFTA Chapter 11 Review. Although I was working remotely, I truly felt like I was part of a team. Why apply to ITLIP? If you’re interested in anything related to international law, I highly encourage you to apply to ITLIP. As Veena mentioned in her post, there is only so much you can learn in the classroom. Practical, hands-on, and concrete experiences are the best way to prepare for legal practice. Through my placement, I have been able to further my skills in written advocacy, which is necessary for any career in law. I was surprised with how trusting my supervisors were and how much autonomy I had over my work, which allowed me to learn how to manage my time and keep myself accountable. I was able to content pitch ideas and work on issues that sparked my interest. The experience was incredibly rewarding, and I am grateful for the connections I was able to foster at the Centre. Depending on your placement, ITLIP offers great opportunities to hone in on some of the essential qualities that all lawyers need for a successful career. As an added bonus, everyone in your class will share a little bit about their experience, so you learn from one another and get a sense of what international law means across different organizations. Application Tips Your application should, first and foremost, highlight why you are interested in international law. This can be difficult because who really knows what international law is in their first few years of law school, but as long as you show genuine interest in learning more about it, you will have a solid foundation for your application. Before your interview with the program director, make sure you know your resume as they will likely ask you about your past experiences and how the skills you’ve developed therefrom could contribute to your future placement. You may also be required to interview with your placement before you start, but again, there you should just prepare as you would with any other interview—that is, understand what the organization does and thoroughly review your resume prior. As always, if you want to know more about ITLIP, feel free to send me an email at [email protected] or message on our LinkedIn/Instagram pages. Lucinda Chitapain A year ago, this time last year this blog was in its inception phase. To commemorate the one year mark, the support we've received from leaders, contributors and the community - we are hosting a panel on Wednesday May 5 at 7:00 pm EST.
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Legally BrownThree Osgoode Hall Law students sharing their lived experiences and providing *unsolicited* advice. Archives
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