Family Law on Monday, Privacy Law on Tuesday, and Transportation Law on Wednesday...

Being an articling student is one of the few times in a legal career where we are afforded the opportunity to practice several different areas of law in any given week. As you may have gleaned from the title, I’ve been given this chance during my articling term with McCague Borlack LLP.

For my development, I keep track of all the assignments I complete.

"Here’s what my daily journals
look like in a typical week..."

Monday - Family Law

My week began with completing the first draft of a separation agreement for one of our clients. It was exciting because I needed to draft terms that reflected our client’s interests. This included going through a risk analysis of each key term to see if it could be used against us. Being trained at a firm that primarily does litigation work, I have been provided with insight into the ways that contractual terms can be effectively drafted to accomplish their goals.

Tuesday - Privacy Law

I was tasked with conducting legal research around the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act [PIPEDA]. After my research, I wrote to our client to advise on whether their practices and policies were compliant with PIPEDA and helped them prepare consent forms. My newfound interest in Privacy Law is entirely because of the diverse legal work I am given at our firm.

Wednesday - Transportation Law

I began a transportation law-related action in New Brunswick. This involved researching how to bring an action in New Brunswick, reviewing all the relevant documents, drafting a Notice of Action with a Statement of Claim, then serving and filing the Claim. This wasn’t the first time I had to bring an action in another province, nor will it be the last.

Thursday - Mediation

I attended a mediation for which I prepared the mediation brief. We settled, and it was amazing to see the arguments I prepared come to life and help create a positive result for our client.

As you can see, many of my weeks and days end up being filled with various areas of law. It always keeps me engaged and I look forward to assignments that have me exploring a new area.

by Paul J.

Be a Sponge Part 2: What I Learned from my Summer Student Experience

In my last blog, I outlined all the things I planned to do to make the most out of my summer student experience. As promised, in this blog, I will let you know how everything worked out for me, as well as mention other things I learned this summer.

Every assignment is a new opportunity

In my last blog post, I said I would keep an open mind when it comes to new assignments (no matter how daunting they seemed). I am proud to say that I did just that. 

"When I was first assigned to do a report for a marine law file involving multiple jurisdictions, I felt extremely overwhelmed since I had never even heard of marine law before."

When I first started the assignment, the issue felt impossible to solve. However, instead of feeling defeated, I saw it as an opportunity to learn about an area of law that not very many lawyers I know practice. After pushing through the difficult parts and keeping an open mind, I found that I actually enjoyed learning about marine law. Through that experience, not only did I learn things I would have never learned in law school, but I also found a new area of law that is of interest to me.

Small assignments can turn into big assignments

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, when I complete an assignment or attend a field trip, I would ask the lawyer if I can be a part of the next step on the file. Sometimes, I didn’t even need to ask because the lawyer would already assign me the next step on the file. Because of this, what started out as a simple assignment has allowed me to get more involved in the development of a case. For example, after drafting an initial report recommending that we file a claim, I was able to draft the actual claim itself. Because I already had familiarity with the file, the lawyer thought I would be the best person to move the file along. This not only increased my knowledge in the different areas of law but also helped me build connections with different lawyers at the firm.

Ask and you shall receive

Whenever I had an interest in exploring a new practice area, I learned that all I had to do was ask the lawyers if they had any work in those areas. Most of the time, many of them have something I can help them with and are happy to give me assignments that I can work on. This is another way to build connections with the lawyers and gain a broad range of experience in the different practice areas.

Last but not least, your fellow summer students are one of your best resources

I am so grateful to have been able to share this experience with my fellow summer students. Whenever I receive an assignment I have never done before and I feel overwhelmed, I can just quickly shoot a message to the summer student group. Most of the time, someone else has already done it and can send you a precedent and even give you some advice. What would have taken several minutes to figure out has just been solved in a few seconds by a single message. I honestly do not know what I would’ve done without Anita, Alexandria, Rebecca, Winona and our Student Program Director, Ashley. They have been such a valuable resource to me and have made this experience truly amazing.

I am super excited to come back to article next year. I look forward to continuing to be a sponge and soaking in more knowledge and experiences (and sharing them with you again)!

by Dominique M.

Make the most of it

The bar call is just around the corner, marking the end of the articling term. But while the call to the bar officially means the end of our days as law students, the learning process undoubtedly continues well into our careers as lawyers. I believe articling serves as a very critical and foundational step in this career-long learning process, so if I had to give just one piece of advice about articling, it would be to learn as much you can during your articles. 

seek out and take every opportunity to try new things and to challenge yourself...

As an articling student at McCague Borlack, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to gain experience in a number of areas of law. I found this to be one of the most valuable aspects of articling, so I suggest you seek out and take every opportunity to try new things and to challenge yourself.  Not only will you gain knowledge and experience, you may also discover where your interests and strengths lie. Diversifying your assignments also allows you to sharpen your researching capabilities. It’s best to start mastering the art of legal research as early as possible, as strong research skills are essential to your success as an articling student, and you will continue to require and hone these skills as a lawyer. 

Speaking of research, another great way to maximize your learning as an articling student is to take the initiative to develop your own research assignments. Start delving into areas that interest you, or develop your knowledge in areas that you’re not as familiar with. Be inquisitive – ask yourself questions and look for answers. And for those questions that you can’t find answers to, ask someone. 

While it may not seem always feel like it, articling really does go by surprisingly fast. So make the most of your last ten months as a student, and get as much out of it as you can.

Shene H.

All Work and No Play? Think Again…

Here at MB, articling students are invited to most client events hosted by the firm so we really do get to know the clients. Some examples of events I have already attended include: “Lunch & Learn” seminars, the glamourous “Christmas in January” cocktail party, the epic "Winterfest Ski Day”, as well, there is a “Bowling Night” coming up right around the corner. These events should not be underestimated as they provide an environment to build personal relationships and gain insight into our clients’ world.

It is crucial to build relationships and maintain a good rapport with clients.

Naturally, as articling students, at first, we are more concerned about producing good work product and being thorough in our research and analysis of the law, than about client contact. It is easy to keep your head down and focus on tackling a problem by yourself, especially in this day and age where people communicate via email which is a more constricted and impersonal manner. Therefore, it is important to also remember that client interaction comprises a large part of our roles as lawyers whether it is to report on the status of a file, seek instructions, or attend meetings, mediations and settlement conferences with clients in attendance. As such, it is crucial to build relationships and maintain a good rapport with clients. Personally, I believe having the opportunity to practice this skill early on in our careers is vital to building our future practice. It is also important that this is done in a stress-free environment where the clients and the lawyers can interact with each other face-to-face and not just over the phone, or by email, discussing only work-related matters.

So far, I have found that each person I have connected with has interesting stories to share about their career paths, as well as their experiences with lawyers and in legal matters. At the end of the day, the client is another individual and communication is key to any good working relationship. Besides, everyone could use a well-deserved (and excused!) break from work, especially when it is a gorgeous day and you’re skiing alongside the Georgian Bay!

Leona K.

Half-Way Point: People, Places and Things...

It feels like it was only yesterday that I wrote the bar exam and commenced my articles. On the sunny morning of August 4th, I started as an articling student and thus far the experience has been more than I ever could have expected. Thinking of all of the opportunities that have been made available to me including the people that I have been able to meet and places that I have attended, I definitely believe that I would not change this profession for any other.

I would not change this profession for any other.

Some of the tasks that I have been assigned include drafting motion materials (that were presented to the Regional Senior Justice), making submissions to a Judge at a settlement conference, participating in examinations for discovery and conducting cutting-edge legal research on novel areas of law. All-in-all it feels like I learned more in 5 months of articling than in 3 years of law school (no offence Windsor Law).

Secondly, the articling experience at a law firm like MB brings with itself the opportunity to meet some of the brightest minds and reinforces how much we have yet to learn. I have been able to work on many interesting files with lawyers and partners at MB that have allowed me to grow as a future lawyer and expand my writing and advocacy skills. Advancing legal arguments to Judges at different levels of Court, whose intelligence and eloquence are outstanding is a true privilege. I have been very fortunate to experience first-hand the dynamics of working with our clients who are leaders in their respective industries.

Lastly, the places I have been able to visit while working at MB have made this experience even more pleasant. To name a few, I attended hearings in Toronto, Barrie, Niagara Falls, Newmarket, Kitchener and this March I am even flying to Timmins! Travelling while articling has made the entire experience that much more exciting.

Now that I am at the "halfway" point, I can only hope that the other half of articling contains just as many interesting things to do, people to meet and places to visit.

Bogdan M.