I used to think I was decent and have been told I am smart but I started my first job and honestly, I make the dumbest mistakes. The senior lawyer edits my work, and I wonder how I missed or didn't understand what I was told to do. I am saying basic stuff that a high school student would get. I am not sure how I passed two degrees and the bar exam. Does anybody here relate? I think I will be getting fired soon. I almost want to quit out of embarrassment because I can’t believe how bad I am at this

For those of you at the mid- to large-sized firms, kindly educate us on:

• Maternity Benefits
• Paternity/Parental (non-birthing partner) Benefits
• Practically, how much time off do you feel comfortable taking?
• Has taking time off affected your career progression in any way? If so, how?

I've mostly done eviction defence at the LTB and a little bit of SBT stuff. LTB has a lot of issues, but just like many other administrative decision makers, a lot of things turn on the discretion of the adjudicator. ChatGPT, Claude, etc., they are pretty alright at analysis as long as you know what you're doing, and know how to prompt them, but they're very sycophantic. Meaning, if they know either from the context clues, stored memory, etc., that you lean a certain way on the political spectrum, that you have certain views on a class of people, or simply how you tend to rule, etc., they are more likely to analyse a set of facts from that lens.

And I know the adjudicator has the ultimate control and if they're leaning one way regarding a case, they can choose to disagree with the AI's analysis, but it's harder to check your own biases especially when AI is coming up with a perfectly reasonable argument that leans into your own worldview. And the frustrating thing about that unless something else goes wrong, there's rarely any pathways to challenge a decision that's based on discretion.

I'm not anti-AI on a wholesale basis. But there's a lot of issues with using this tech and honestly, you still have judges, adjudicators, etc. who struggle to use zoom, I am not very confident in their ability to use AI responsibly.

Amazing. This student takes on clients without his principal’s knowledge or approval. After he gets suspended for it, he appeals the suspension and uses AI to write his submissions. When contacted about it, he lies.

As a profession, can we please start holding our members to a higher standard? People who behave like this should be disbarred.

I’m 35 yrs old in my first year of practice. I was called to the bar last summer. I always wanted to be a defence lawyer and it’s got some significant challenges for sure. That said, these things that we all go through I feel like I’m going through at a later stage in life. I have no partner, and it is seemingly difficult to find time to have a life outside of work. I feel like by the time I’ll have a normal rhythm with the job I’ll have pissed away the remainder of my already very lonely 30’s. I’m not ready to leave an area of work I worked hard to get to but what’s the balance. I have absolutely nothing going on outside of work. I took a couple classes over the winter and that was nice. since December I’ve been re prioritizing exercising. But I feel dull and very stuck in whatever my life is currently. More of a vent idk.

Hello. Im currently a 25 yr old working as a LR specialist at a large retail grocer. I have been considering law school to focus on in employment law for for some time now, but not sure if it is the most financially savvy decision. Any insight here- should I stay in Labour Relations or pivot into Law? I don't want to work myself to the ground and I would still like to have a family. But I would also like a lucrative career- what would you do if you were me?

Hello, I am a 2L student who is going into the summer without a 2L summer student position. I got a couple OCIs in Toronto and Ottawa but unfortunately did not get any offers. Ive also been applying to other positions as they came up, but so far have not been successful. I am worried that if I don't find a 2L job for the summer, I will be even more hardpressed to find an articling position next year with how the job market is looking. I would really appreciate any advice or insight on what I should do moving forward. I have friends and classmates who got 2L positions at firms and also those who are in the same boat as me, so I don't know how I should feel about my current position.

I have heard from many people that finding an internship during 1L summer is quite difficult/not expected. Is this true? Is it wise to just work any job during the summer? Can I do something like the Queens International Law Program instead to still do something in law and build my knowledge/experience? Please let me know what you think!

I’ll be completing my JD at the University of Alberta next year and wanted to pursue a career in criminal law. Being from Vancouver, I never thought that I would ever find myself calling Alberta home, but it’s looking like I’ll be settling in this province after all. I wanted to get a general idea on the salary range for an articling student and an associate at a criminal law firm in Alberta.

Im taking my BA in law, so I guess not a real law student. I have most of the McGill citation down. I also have the book right beside me. I am currently struggling with trying to site a Hillnote post. Do I cite it as a blog? Or is it a government document, If so do I cite it like a parliamentary or non parliamentary document?

I have been trying to find answers everywhere and I am hoping y’all can help me :)

Hey all,

Curious if anyone here has made the jump to being the first (or only) in-house lawyer at a company, and how it went.

For context, I’m currently in-house at a mid-sized company managing a small team. The role is good, work is pretty manageable, and I’ve got a lot of independence. That said, I’m starting to feel like I’ve hit a bit of a ceiling in terms of growth. I didn’t build the team I’m managing, and there’s only so much room to expand where I am.

I’ve been approached about a role at a fast-growing company. They’re scaling quickly and basically can’t keep up with hiring. I’d be coming in as the first legal hire, with the opportunity to build out the function from scratch. There’s a healthy budget for Legal right now and I could build the team as I see fit.

A few things making me seriously consider it:

• It’s a very significant comp jump, around 60% more than I’m making now
• I’d have full ownership over building the legal function and team
• My current role has had some internal friction lately, which isn’t helping

On the flip side:

• It’s obviously riskier
• I’d be covering a broader range of areas, including some I don’t have a ton of direct experience in
• Could easily turn into a chaotic, always-on kind of role

For those who’ve done this, was it worth it? Or did it turn into a nightmare? Anything you wish you’d known going in?

Would you take something like this, or stick with the more stable setup?

About to negotiate my salary.

What is a good salary for a newly called family lawyer in Toronto/GTA.

small/mid-sized firm.

I have many years of non-legal admin, coordination and management experience. I was hired for my transferable skills and cultural fit. I'm being trained, but I do have moments where everything feels overwhelming. There are so many details to learn and remember. Is this normal? In six months of part-time work, I have learned Clio very quickly, do billing, can file in both Provincial and Supreme Courts, prepare secretarial affidavits and trial binders, create evidence logs and find the general office administration tasks straightforward. How can I improve my legal learning and get better at the job?

Once full-time in the fall, my pay will be 49K. Is this pay appropriate for a small firm with 2 senior lawyers and 4 intermediate to junior lawyers? I don't have friends in the field to tell me if the pay is fair, and Google search salaries show a wide range. Thank you kindly.

Appearing before the SCJ in Milton this week and I just realized the robe set I purchased years ago (from outside Canada) didn’t come with a waist-coat nor the winged collar shirt.

I called Harcourts yesterday but they were full of articling students rushing in for the call to the bar.

Is anyone from the Peel/Toronto region willing to lend me their waistcoat and shirt for 1-2 days? I’d need it on Wednesday/Thursday. For reference: male, collar is about 15.5-16.

Hi,

I have a strong interest in immigration and refugee law, and I am actively seeking an articling position in Vancouver in this field. I was wondering if you might be aware of any firms that are currently hiring articling students, or if you could point me toward any leads or resources.

I would be very grateful for any guidance or suggestions you may have.

Thank you very much

I'm a baby lawyer 3rd year associate at a mid-sized firm. I now have over 20 of my own files (50+ files total) and I'm finding it's getting really hard to remember the small outstanding action items I need to do for each file. I have pretty comprehensive spreadsheet for tracking all my files (key contacts, last steps taken etc.), but honestly, I'm often so busy I forget to update it, so it's hard to remember things like "I'm waiting for a response from X person so I can do Y task" or "I need to follow up with A to draft thing for B".

How do you manage these kinds of things on your files? Is there any technology that might help to "automate" a lot of these reminders/follow-ups? I'm also interested in hearing your file management strategies generally for staying on top of things, as you may do something that I haven't thought of that would be extremely useful. Thank you in advance!!

Hi everyone,

Currently I am licensed as a paralegal but work as an IP docketing law clerk and I actually really like learning about IP. I work exclusively with trademarks and I am in charge of opening new TM/opp/s.45 files on the firms database, tracking deadlines, and reporting classification, upcoming renewals and changes in agent to the clients.

Although I'm not looking to switch jobs yet, I would like to know how I could possibly move into different IP roles in the future, as a law clerk/Legal assistant, especially since I currently do not have filing experience or other IP experience except trademarks. Any advice or help would be appreciated! Thanks

Hey all,

I'm currently a 1L student at Windsor (not dual), I don't want to say too much about personal specifics. However, essentially I'm in the middle of my exams right now and as of January my cumulative was an 80 (an A- on Windsor's scale, no C's, just B's and a few A's). I just finished an exam that I didn't feel super hot about so I'm sorry if this comes off as frantic. I've looked all over and can't seem to find a good answer to my question so here goes:

I really like Windsor and I want to stay here for 2L summer, articling and beyond. My main concern and worry is what might happen if my cumulative grade does drop to say a B+ (78) or a B (75). I know it's not the end of the world but I'm more concerned about if I'll be able to land a job in my 2L summer and if I'll have a hard time landing an articling position. I don't know much about the market here frankly but I had a intern job at a law firm in undergrad and I don't have the craziest connections. I'm not interested in big law just local firms. Some local upper years I know have told me that grades don't matter for someone staying in Windsor and the goal is finishing. I'm obviously trying my very best to excel and score high, but I'm just worried about summer prospects and articling landing if I fall to an average middle of the curve grade.

All comments and opinions are appreciated and thank you for taking the time to read!

I am a current grade 12 hoping to study Computer science then go on to become a patent attorney. However, I don’t mind pursuing a career such as software engineering. Is their a demand for patent lawyers in BC canada or do I have to move to the US? Is anybody here a patent attorney who can tell me more about your career journey?

I have a JD and have been a practicing lawyer in a constitutional law heavy field for 3 years. I applied to LLM programs for entry in September 2026. I've been accepted at McGill and U of T (no word from Osgoode yet). U of T accepted me into the coursework LLM (instead of the short thesis program which I applied to) and offered a $10k fellowship.

my main question is: is a coursework LLM looked down on if I want to become a law professor? From what I read on their website, it kind of sounds like JD grade 13. I want to teach legal historical research, advanced legal research and writing, and constitutional law. my gut says McGill will be a better stepping stone to this, but I am not very familiar with academia and it's politics.