Our student programs are flexible and allow you to gain exposure to a wide range of practice areas while exploring your own interests. We encourage students to reach out to lawyers in practice areas they would like to learn more about or with whom they are interested in working. You will receive interesting and practical hands-on experience in our diverse practice areas:
Litigation & Advocacy: You will be exposed to commercial litigation, insurance litigation, administrative law, insolvency, environmental, employment & labour, family, wills & estates, immigration and aboriginal law.
Real Estate & Business Law: You will be exposed to a mix of corporate and commercial law, taxation and real estate.
We believe that our students should be involved in all facets of our practice. Our students are continuously challenged and will become involved in matters of increasing complexity and responsibility as their abilities develop. Examples of assignments given to students include:
- Handle your own small claims court files with supervision
- Draft correspondence, pleadings, motion records, facta and research memos
- Attend discoveries, mediations, pre-trials and hearings before courts and tribunals with our experienced lawyers
- Assist with both corporate and real estate closings
- Draft corporate contracts as well as director and shareholder resolutions
We treat summer and articling students similarly in terms of assignments and level of responsibility, except for the restrictions on rights of appearance before courts imposed by the Law Society.
Summer Student Program: We try to match you with a lawyer in your chosen practice area in either our corporate/real estate or litigation practice areas as we feel the summer is too short for a formal rotation system. That said, we are flexible and allow you to seek out work in any and all areas of interest during your summer experience.
Articling Student Program: We maintain a flexible individually-tailored rotation system in our two primary practice areas: litigation and business law.
Blaney McMurtry LLP is committed to providing accommodations for people with disabilities. If you require an accommodation, we will work with you to meet your needs.
Meet our 2024 Articling Students
Lasanya Blake:
416 593 1221 ext. 2270
LBlake@blaney.com
Lasanya attended law school at the University of Ottawa with a semester abroad in Belgium at the Université catholique de Louvain, where she learned about the functioning of the EU and its internal market. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Applied Economics with a Minor in Business Management from Wilfrid Laurier University. Prior to law school, Lasanya worked in U.S. Corporate Immigration at Deloitte and as a Law Clerk / Assistant at an insurance defence firm.
At the University of Ottawa, Lasanya was the Vice President of Academics for the uOttawa chapter of the Black Law Students Association, and an Executive for the Allies in Law student allyship program. Lasanya is also an avid mooter having participated in the Nelligan O’Brien moot in her first year of law school. In her second year, she was a member of the uOttawa team for the 30th William C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, where they placed in the top 8%. These experiences allowed Lasanya to develop a passion for advocacy while assisting her fellow law students.
In her spare time, Lasanya enjoys travelling, planning vacations for family and friends, cooking and listening to podcasts about psychology.
Hannah Diebold:
416 593 1221 ext. 2271
HDiebold@blaney.com
Hannah graduated from Windsor Law with a minor in Indigenous legal orders. At Windsor Law, Hannah was a semi-finalist in the Canadian Client Consultation Competition and representative in the Kawaskimhon National Aboriginal Moot.
She attended Western University for her schooling prior where she obtained a Master’s degree specializing in international relations and an Honours Bachelor of Arts in political science. During her time there, she was a member of the Varsity Track and Field team and a 5 time Academic All-Canadian.
Presently, Hannah conducts research in the field of international law and is a board member of the International Law Association of Canada. In her free time, she is a runner, yoga instructor, and amateur cidermaker who tries to spend as much time outside as she can.
Constantine Kanargelidis:
416 593 1221 ext. 2273
CKanargelidis@blaney.com
Constantine obtained his J.D. from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Economics and Public Policy from the University of Toronto where he graduated with high distinction and was a Dean’s List scholar.
During his time at UofT Law, Constantine was the student representative for the Hellenic Canadian Lawyers Association and was involved in UofT’s Greek Students Association as the graduate student representative. He also represented UofT in the Walsh Family Law Moot in his final year of law school.
Outside of law, Constantine writes articles for his blog “Maladies & Remedies” on substack (Constantinek.substack.com) where he writes about various health related topics. He is also currently working towards being fluent in Greek and French.
Sotiri Katsuras:
416 593 1221 ext. 2274
SKatsuras@blaney.com
Sotiri earned his dual JD/MBA degree from Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business. He also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Toronto.
While at law school, Sotiri was deeply involved in advocacy competitions, winning Osgoode’s annual negotiation cup and securing third place in the national competition. He also competed internationally, placing as a finalist in the INADR mediation tournament in Bologna, Italy. Sotiri was an active leader within the Osgoode community, serving as Vice-President of Alumni Affairs & External Relations for the JD/MBA Students’ Association and as Co-President of the Osgoode Panhellenic Association.
In his free time, Sotiri enjoys playing soccer, basketball and beach volleyball. He cherishes his summer visits to his family’s ancestral village on Mount Olympus, Greece. A dedicated sports fan, Sotiri supports all Toronto teams and is an avid follower of the Las Vegas Raiders.
Ethan Lee:
416 593 1221 ext. 2275
ELee@blaney.com
Ethan obtained his JD from the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology from The University of Western Ontario.
While in law school, Ethan was an active member of the law community, where he served as Vice-President for the Asian Law Students’ Society. During this time, Ethan organized numerous activities and joint events with the focus of providing opportunities for people to come together from various Asian backgrounds and obtain valuable networking and mentoring/mentee opportunities.
Ethan also sought to further expand his expertise in legal writing, becoming a Legal Writing Leader for the Faculty of Law. During this time, Ethan assisted professors in evaluating student papers/assignments and held individual legal writing sessions geared towards assisting students with improving their legal writing skills.
In his free time, Ethan enjoys snowboarding and mountain biking, and has been slowly moving towards his goal of breaking 100 in golf. One day he may achieve this.
Callum Paleczny:
416 593 1221 ext. 2276
CPaleczny@blaney.com
Callum obtained his J.D. from Queen’s University, having earned his Bachelor of Commerce from Dalhousie University. During his time on the East Coast, Callum was included on the Dean’s List in each of his final four semesters and spent two co-op terms working at Fidelity Investments.
At Queen’s, Callum relished the opportunity to combine his passion for sports with the law and was a member of the Sports & Entertainment Law Society in each of his three years. In his second year, Callum captained Queen’s Law Games team in competition against other law schools in Ottawa. In his final year, Callum organized the Queen’s Law Cup, an annual hockey tournament between Ontario law schools, where he captained Queen’s to victory.
In his free time, Callum enjoys baking and playing sports, including hockey and golf. Callum is also an avid music fan, having played both the cello and the tenor saxophone. Finally, Callum adores traveling – he visited France and Portugal last year and is planning a trip to Korea and Japan following his Articling term.