Strong academic standing in law school is a minimum requirement in our evaluation process, but it is far from the only factor we consider. The practice of law is a multi-faceted discipline, requiring the novel application of legal skills to a wide variety of human situations.

Blaney McMurtry is looking for superior Articling Students - Individuals who have demonstrated leadership and ability.

Thus, we seek out candidates with a diversity of extra-curricular interests. Successful applicants have often participated in law-related activities while at school, such as mooting, editing a law review, writing articles or book reviews, or participating in a community legal aid program. Active interests outside the law help us identify candidates who share our view that our obligations as lawyers imply a broad commitment to our profession and the community at large.

Finally, we look for candidates who have demonstrated an ability to work as part of a team. We emphasize a whole-hearted commitment to providing the highest calibre of legal services to our clients. This commitment implies a willingness to seek out imaginative solutions and a readiness to work hard to apply them.

For more information on Blaney McMurtry's Articling Student Program, please contact:

Alva Orlando, Professional Development and Research Partner
416.593.3980
or
Janice McLaren, Professional Development Coordinator
416.593.7221 ext.2222

At Blaney McMurtry, we maintain a flexible, individually tailored rotation system involving two principal stages.

Litigation
Our students are exposed to commercial litigation, insurance litigation, administrative law, insolvency, mortgage remedies, labour and employment, aboriginal, family and environmental law.

Business Law
In this stage of their articles, our students have rotations involving a mix of corporate and commercial law, taxation and estates work, and real estate.

Through the rotation system, we try to ensure our students are exposed to as many disciplines of law as possible. The articling program is very much focused on the teaching and instruction of our students. The rotation format is also designed to allow our lawyers a fair opportunity to assess each student's potential as a prospective member of the firm.

We believe in enrolling our students in all facets of our practice. Considerable emphasis is placed on each candidate's sense of initiative and willingness to assume responsibility. Our students are continually challenged and can expect to become involved in matters of increasing complexity and responsibility as their abilities develop through the articling year.

In addition to legal research and analysis, our students can expect to be directly responsible for assisting in the formulation of strategies for problem solving and drafting documents. They can expect direct client contact and reporting, and advocacy before courts and administrative tribunals within the parameters set out by the Law Society.

Blaney McMurtry is committed to the development of the student as a professional. Our mentor program is designed to ensure that this commitment is fulfilled.

Each student is teamed with a senior associate or partner of the firm. The mentor monitors the flow of work to the student, as well as progress generally. In addition, the mentor provides both formal and informal evaluations to the student as to his or her progress over the course of the year.

The mentor program affords a unique opportunity for each of our students to establish an ongoing relationship with an experienced member of the firm.

Alva Orlando is responsible for recruitment, managing student and associate programs and for the implementation of educational programs and the continuing development of the lawyers and students within the firm.

To assist our articling students in the fulfillment of their responsibilities, Blaney McMurtry provides a full complement of law librarians, title searchers and conveyancers, process servers, litigation and corporate clerks, messengers and information services personnel.

We use the latest computer and communications technology, incorporating state of the art systems and databases, and encourage students to take advantage of our in-house computer software training facility. All students are on-line with Quicklaw and the Internet at their desks.

Blaney McMurtry lawyers are involved in many outside activities such as teaching at law schools and the Bar Admission Course, participating in professional and industry seminars, writing and editing legal publications and specialized newsletters. We regularly publish a wide variety of different newsletters and other material on areas of law of interest to our friends and clients.

Members of the firm are also active in our respective communities, holding positions of significant responsibility in local religious, charitable, social, amateur athletic and non-profit organizations. We consider participation in the profession and the community to be a life-long responsibility. We expect our students to involve themselves with these kinds of organizations as a way of fulfilling, in part, our obligations to the community in which we practice.

Please note that we do not participate in the Law Society of Upper Canada's ("LSUC") recruitment process for articling students as we anticipate hiring from amongst our Summer Students.