Bartlet & Richardes llp - Articling
F.A.Q.
Is there an articling position available at Bartlet
& Richardes LLP (the “Firm”) for the 2012-2013 year?
Yes. We are hiring one student.
I want to apply to your Firm – what materials should I send; who should I
send them to and when should they be sent?
An application for an articling position at our Firm should include the
following:
(a) a cover letter providing
your current contact information and a brief background outlining your legal
interests and what you hope to achieve during your articles;
(b) an up to date copy of
your university transcripts – both law school and undergraduate;
(c) letters of reference are
not required – but if you wish to include same you may do so.
The materials should be addressed as follows:
Bartlet & Richardes LLP
N9A 1A9
If you have any questions with respect to the materials to be forwarded
or the timing of same you may contact Cathy at
I’ve applied to your Firm – what should I expect next?
We will acknowledge receipt of your materials by email or letter.
We then conduct interviews of selected candidates. The timing of the
interviews is dictated annually by the Law Society of Upper Canada (further
information is available on its website (www.lsuc.on.ca).
Given the number of applications we receive each year, we are unable to
interview all candidates that apply. If
you are selected for an interview, you will be contacted by our office to
arrange a mutually convenient time within the interview period set by the LSUC.
Are you hiring summer students (i.e. students between first year and
second year)?
Why hire only one student ?
Our goal is to provide each student with an excellent experience.
Given the number of lawyers currently working at the Firm and the nature
of their respective practices, we have enough appropriate work to provide two students
with a good experience or one student with an excellent experience.
We prefer the latter approach and can state, with confidence, that when
a student completes our program, the student will have acquired a tremendous
amount of quality practical legal experience as well as a proficient
understanding of the business side of the practice of law. In short, the student will be ready to enter
the world as a competent legal practitioner.
In which areas does the Firm practice?
We are a full service firm practicing in every
area except criminal litigation.
In broad terms, members of the Firm are evenly divided between corporate/commercial
law and civil litigation.
Our corporate clients include several manufacturers and tier one auto
parts suppliers, transportation companies, contractors, hospitals, a community
college, a railway and professional service firms. The nature of our commercial practice is
diverse and interesting, providing a comprehensive experience for the student.
Our litigation department is primarily
insurance based (insurer side). We also engage in estate, construction,
family, commercial, labour (management side) and
corporate governance dispute resolution (including litigation, mediation and
arbitration).
What is the philosophy underlying the Firm’s articling program?
What type of experience does the Firm’s articling program offer?
We view the articling experience as your fourth year of law school. It is the first sustained opportunity that
most students have to apply the theoretical knowledge acquired in law school to
practical use, assisting in finding legal solutions to actual legal issues.
Our responsibility is to help the student make the transition from law
student to practicing lawyer.
We assist the student in developing the practical application of legal
knowledge and the appropriate business/management skills relevant to the
practice of law, including:
(a) written and oral advocacy
skills;
(b) appropriate interaction
and communication with clients, support staff, witnesses, the court and other
counsel;
(c) appropriate file
management procedures;
(d) appropriate time
recording practices;
(e) orientation to appropriate
bookkeeping methods as required by the Law Society of Upper Canada;
(f) thorough understanding
and compliance with the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Rules of Professional
Conduct.
We believe that the two primary methods by which a student learns are
observation and participation (i.e. learning by doing).
Our student will have the opportunity to observe by attending at various
file events including meetings (client, expert, witness), examinations for
discoveries, mediations, motions, arbitrations, settlement/pre-trial
conferences, trials, transactional closings (and preparation for such
closings).
Advocacy and interaction styles are different from lawyer to lawyer. Accordingly, the student is encouraged to
attend as many of these types of events with as many different lawyers as
possible in order to observe different styles at work. Over the course of time, the student will
develop his/her own style. The student will have the opportunity to draw on the
elements of each style which she/he feels are effective.
The student will also have a tremendous opportunity to participate
actively in the conduct of legal matters at the Firm (all within scope of tasks
which are permitted to be delegated to articling students by LSUC).
For instance, the student will be primarily responsible for the conduct
of the Firm’s Small Claims Court files, including opening the files in
accordance with the Firm’s file procedure, direct communication with clients,
all legal matters (from pleadings to judgment and all steps in between, including
the conduct of a trial, if necessary), as well as time tracking and account
preparation.
While that may sound intimidating to some, fear not. The student will
perform all of these functions under the direct supervision of a lawyer at all
times. In other words, the student does not work without a net. The student’s work is reviewed at each stage
with constructive feedback from the supervising lawyer. By the time the
finished product reaches the client, the court, or opposing counsel, it will be
well polished, having been vetted internally prior to release.
Involvement in corporate and commercial matters tends to be more task
and transaction specific.
We do not expect that the student will produce perfect results on the
first try in each task assigned. Such
expectations would be unrealistic and unfair to the student. We do however expect that the student make a
thorough and solid effort to all tasks assigned. The key to the success in our program is a
willingness to try, and learn from one’s mistakes. Experience dictates that, if a student
consistently applies that standard throughout his/her articles, the student
will develop the skills necessary to become effective counsel.
We operate with an open door policy at our Firm. We encourage our students to ask questions, no
matter the issue, and each of our lawyers is generally available for
questions/discussion. We consult one
another informally on a day to day basis and our student is encouraged to do so
as well.
I’ve heard “horror stories” about articling students being subjected to
long hours, mundane administrative tasks, deliveries, etc. (none of those
stories involve your Firm, of course) – should I be worried about those types
of things ?
No. You
should not be worried about those types of things at our Firm.
The practice of law in
That observation is predicated on working hard while at work. However, each of the members of the Firm
recognize the importance of having interests and pursuits outside of the practice
of law and more fundamentally, having the time to engage in those pursuits. We believe that our Firm maintains that
balance quite well.
One has to realize that the practice of law can never truly be
characterized as a nine-to-five job. Often a lawyer’s hours are dictated by the
immediate needs of his/her clients. With
appropriate planning and time management skills, however, the lawyer can
accommodate a demanding practice and still have a full and rewarding life. We strive to teach our students these skills.
I am often asked by prospective articling candidates “What are the
expected working hours of our student”. My typical response is that, like the members
of our Firm, the student is a professional.
No one will be actively monitoring when the student starts and finishes
precisely each day (however showing up consistently to start the day at
If the student is present for business hours, meeting deadlines for
assignments, has a firm handle on active files and is making a genuine effort
to learn and improve his or her skills, we will be satisfied.
We make active efforts to avoid assigning the student mundane tasks such
as filing, photocopying, or being a de facto courier service. Those types of functions are not conducive to
our goal of assisting the student’s transformation to a competent practicing
lawyer.
As an articling student, will I be paid a salary? If so, how much?
Yes. You
will be paid a salary. The salary amount is fixed each year and is best described
as the “going rate” for
Is the articling student afforded medical benefits at the Firm?
Yes. Our
student is eligible for our Greenshield extended
health care coverage for the duration of their articles (particulars will be
available during the interview stage of the application process).
What is your Firm’s hire-back ratio?
We do not have a formal hire-back ratio.
As indicated above, the primary goal of our
articling program is to assist our student in making the successful transition
from law student to practicing lawyer. Having said that, our articling program is
also a key component of our Firm’s associate recruitment strategy.
When we evaluate potential associates, we consider a number of factors
including the Firm’s current and projected future needs, the ability of the
candidate and general fit between the Firm and the candidate. Each of these criteria is more readily assessed
with an “in house” articling student with whom we have had the opportunity to
interact for 10 months. Similarly, the student is able to make an
informed decision as to whether a practice with our Firm accords with his or
her long-term career goals.
Currently, seven of our ten partners and three of our five associates
articled with the Firm.
How much feedback will I receive throughout the year ?
Short answer – as much as you want.
Long answer – generally the student will meet with the articling principal
at the beginning of the year to review the articling plan and identify the type
of work the student is interested in pursuing.
The principal will follow up with lawyers practicing in the areas in
which the student is interested and encourage those lawyers to involve the
student in as much file activity as possible. The student will, of course,
interact with and receive assignments from all lawyers at the Firm.
The student and the principal will have two or three formal progress
meetings throughout the year. At those
meetings, the principal will provide general feedback on the student’s progress
to date and receive feedback from the student with respect to the quality and
quantity of work received to date.
The student and principal will meet toward the end of the student’s
articles to review, from the student’s perspective, the quality of the
student’s experience in the articling program.
The principal will be available throughout the term for informal
meetings and discussions, at the student’s request, to discuss any aspect of
the articling experience or any file specific matter. The student is not limited to seeking advice
and direction solely from the principal, but is free (and encouraged) to
discuss articling or file-specific issues with any of the lawyers at the Firm.
How much research will I be expected to conduct throughout the year?
Research is an important component of the
articling experience at the Firm. However it is not the only component.
The student will be asked to conduct some research. The objective of research is a legal answer. The role of counsel is to provide the client
with a legal solution. Undoubtedly,
research is a critical element of a successful legal practice, but the art of
law extends far beyond that.
We do not believe that having a student spend the majority of his or her
time in a library or online conducting research assists the student in making
the transformation from law student to practicing lawyer.
Instead the majority of the student’s time should be spent learning the
practice of law by observation and actively working on files. In other words, developing the skills
necessary to provide clients with not only legal answers but also legal
solutions.
Will I have independent responsibility for files (and will I have the
opportunity to go to court)?
Yes. The
Firm maintains a moderate volume small claims practice. The articling student is responsible for the
day to day handling of those files, from pleadings to trial to enforcement of
judgments, under the direct supervision of one or more of the Firm’s lawyers.
That practice affords the student the opportunity to develop not only
written and verbal advocacy skills, but the practice management and time
management skills that are essential to the successful practice of law.
In addition, the student will have the opportunity to prepare for and
argue simple interlocutory motions in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice,
and may assist with and attend at mediations, arbitrations and administrative
tribunal hearings such as the Ontario Municipal Board.