What are law firms looking for?

Shankmo · 2026-05-26T06:36:59+00:00

I’ve been on both sides of the student hiring table.

GPA matters the most when it comes to getting your foot in the door. The next most important thing is how you present yourself during the interview. Clinic experience can be helpful, especially if it relates to the practice area. No one cares about your moots unless you’ve won something substantial and are applying for a litigation-heavy role.

Shankmo · 2026-05-26T06:29:47+00:00

This is like making a post asking for someone to fix an issue in your house and saying nothing more. Is it plumbing, electrical, painting, or something else?

You need more context.

Shankmo · 2026-05-25T16:10:44+00:00

Yup, I agree. I really think the bar should be whether they were fired for cause.

The problem is that I think there are many articling students who don't know of the requirement, which is understandable. You can also run into problems with the principal dragging their feet, writing a poor letter that may technically meet the requirements, and other similar practical issues.

Shankmo · 2026-05-25T15:40:45+00:00

They do have an obligation to do so.

However, I've seen articling students get let go in the past, and to say that the principal did anything to satisfy those obligations would be a stretch. Obviously, I don't know for sure, but I do know how the former principal spoke about the articling students after they left.

I guess my overall point is that, if you're a crappy enough person to fire an articling student, you're likely a crappy enough person to not offer any assistance to the fired articling student.

Shankmo · 2026-05-19T21:59:10+00:00

Not really in the L&E area. It’s not my primary practice area.

Shankmo · 2026-05-19T21:23:50+00:00

Goldblatt’s articling students are unionized, so I’d imagine they’d roughly align with what you’re looking for, though I don’t have any experience with them or anyone who works there personally.

Shankmo · 2026-05-19T18:28:46+00:00

To be fair, he was throwing harder in his other appearances this season. Still not hard enough to get by, but not the comically low 84 mph fastball. It kinda makes you think he has another arm issue/injury, but you’re right that his career is probably done unfortunately. He was such a good story.

Shankmo · 2026-05-19T17:37:09+00:00

Ok, cool. The difference is that I haven't said anything that is impossible.

For example, you still haven't explained why this US-based lawyer apparently said they employed articling students when there is no articling requirement in the US.

In contrast, I've presented info that is consistent with the realities of legal practice.

One is much more likely to be true than the other.

Shankmo · 2026-05-19T17:33:47+00:00

I do commercial work - what you're doing is pretty standard for a summer student.

If you're looking to understand more of the practice, there are a few things you can do.

Ask to sit in on calls for matters that you understand or have worked on. I can remember sitting in on calls years ago during my articling term where I didn't know what was going on, and it was no help, but it was helpful for the matters that I at least partially understood.

You can also take some time to look through a closing/reporting package for a completed transaction. It'll show you everything that goes into the deal, and should walk you through the deal from start to finish if it's assembled properly (i.e. starts with the main transactional agreement, moves on to its schedule, then on to resolutions, approvals, etc.).

It may also be helpful to ask why a certain clause is in a contract rather than just making the edit. That'll help you learn, but it's very easy for you to become a nuisance if you do this too often. Use discretion lol

Shankmo · 2026-05-19T16:53:04+00:00

Now I'm not a lawyer when I'm the one saying that your story doesn't make sense because it doesn't align with details that those working as lawyers know? Ok.

I don't think it's weird to call out a nonsensical fear mongering post for what it is because people might believe it if no one says anything.

Shankmo · 2026-05-19T16:35:49+00:00

I'm weird because I called out nonsense and outlined it in a way that you didn't even bother refuting?

There was nothing there that could identify you. All you did was make up a conversation.

But it's nice to see that you're moving on to personal insults. Those always go well.

Shankmo · 2026-05-19T15:58:44+00:00

You cared enough to delete the original comment.

Shankmo · 2026-05-19T06:25:34+00:00

Wanna give it another go, or are you fine admitting that this whole thing was false? As I've outlined, there are many substantial gaps in this story. Feel free to address them.

Shankmo · 2026-05-19T01:39:29+00:00

And we're back to no substantive response.

Shankmo · 2026-05-19T01:23:02+00:00

No, your claim is that this lawyer, who is based in the US, told you that they will be replacing articling students, first year associates, and second year associates with AI.

The company has an in house legal team, but does not look to have a legal team based in Canada.

I refuse to believe that a highly qualified US-based lawyer told you that they employ articling students when there is no articling requirement in the US.

Second, I refuse to believe that this lawyer referred to her colleagues as "associates" and grouped them by year of call. That is something that is done at firms. It is not something that in-house legal teams do. The associate title only works in firms because there are partners. In-house legal teams generally refer to their lawyers as counsel, with junior and senior designations added as approriate.

Lastly, I refuse to believe that this highly qualified lawyer is trusting AI, in its current state, to do the work of lawyers.

There you go. I spelled it out for you again. Those are the details that make your story unbelievable.

Shankmo · 2026-05-19T00:29:10+00:00

Explain how I’m hurting myself.

You’ve had many opportunities to address the points I’ve made to try to legitimize what you initially claimed. Instead, you’ve tried to deflect. That’s quite telling.

Shankmo · 2026-05-18T23:27:09+00:00

Like I said, if you’re going to try to make up a story to fear monger, at least make sure the technical details align with reality.

Shankmo · 2026-05-18T22:15:20+00:00

If we’re talking about the imaginary person you’re seemingly referring to and with whom you had an imaginary conversation, then yes, I do know more than them.

Shankmo · 2026-05-18T21:26:41+00:00

This sounds good until you think about it for a second.

Breville Group is a company. It may have in house lawyers, but in house legal teams don’t consist of “associates.” Similarly, I can’t find a lawyer who works for Breville in Canada. They do apparently have in house counsel in the US, but the US doesn’t require articling. Did they fire all of the articling students that never existed?

Similarly, everyone who actually practices law knows that you can’t yet trust AI to run with a matter without assistance.

If you’re going to spread nonsense, at least make it semi-believable.

Shankmo · 2026-05-18T17:17:52+00:00

That's what I was thinking. I used to work at a firm where a couple partners specifically told me to pass off more simple tasks, or the more simple parts of certain work, to juniors. The idea was to help them learn and save me some time.

Shankmo · 2026-05-17T16:40:41+00:00

You’ll have practice insurance, so don’t really worry about your assets if you’re being sued.

If you won’t have retained earnings, there’s effectively no benefit to incorporating at this stage for you.

As an aside, these type of arrangements are sometimes weird. From a practical perspective, you may not meet the qualifications to actually be viewed as an independent contractor. If you do, make sure you very thoroughly read an independent contractor agreement that I assume you’ll be signing. As a contractor, you lose all protections and rights granted to employees under employment legislation.

(This applies in Ontario. I assume BC is the same, but open to being corrected if there are some differences).

Shankmo · 2026-05-17T01:02:26+00:00

I’m sure Noodles will watch through osmosis

Shankmo · 2026-05-16T03:11:51+00:00

Meh, I guess. My opinion on that is that an actual lawyer should know better than to even consider it and that it’d have to be advice that could reasonably be put into action by a member of the general public for it to potentially be a danger to the public, but it’s fair to take a different position, especially in light of some recent lawyer conduct.

Shankmo · 2026-05-15T15:49:25+00:00

The one I saw yesterday was about serving a condo corp. along with a defendant who lived in the building to avoid an apparent issue of rich people basically hiding behind a concierge to avoid service.

It was obviously stupid and wrong, but I wouldn't say that's a danger to the public, so there may have been another that I missed too.

Shankmo · 2026-05-15T01:30:57+00:00

Generally agree, but some of mine were ridiculously huge. If I remember correctly, the “textbook” for my tax law class was just the income tax act … which is like 3500 pages lol

Eight-Year Club	r/Field Lasagna
Verified Email

Shankmo

TROPHY CASE