ARTICLING PROGRAM

At Gowlings, we're looking for individuals who are passionate about the practice of law, dedicated to client service and driven to excel in everything they do. Our culture encourages collaboration, rewards innovation and recognizes the value of interests outside of school and work. We're all about the team, so we want people who recognize the value of teamwork, but who can also work independently when the occasion calls for it. Sure, we look for excellent grades in our students, but we also value personality, attention to detail, work ethic and a sense of humour.

If this sounds like you, we want to hear from you.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Your application package, which must include a copy of your résumé, your undergraduate and law school transcripts, and a list of the third year courses for which you plan to register, or queries in this regard, may be directed to Anne Mundy-Markell, Director of Student and Associate Affairs. Following a review of applications, selected candidates are interviewed in accordance with the Law Society of Upper Canada's Articling Recruitment Procedures.

Gowlings Ottawa is an equal opportunity employer. Nonetheless, we appreciate that there is value in diversity in the make-up of our professional and administrative personnel complement.  Aboriginal persons, members of visible minorities, or persons with a disability should, therefore, feel free to self-identify.

Gowlings Ottawa hires approximately 17 articling students each year.

APPLICATION SCHEDULE

The schedule for the Gowlings Ottawa 2012-2013 articling recruitment is now complete.

The schedule for the Gowlings Ottawa 2012-2013 articling recruitment is as follows if we decide to hire additional students beyond our returning 2012 Summer Students:

IN-FIRM INTERVIEWS

The Interview

As a normal rule at Gowlings Ottawa, our interview process entails only one interview. There are generally no student receptions or dinners.

Because of the large number of strong student applications that we receive from across Canada, we conduct a very large number of interviews over a relatively short recruitment period. An interview with us will last approximately 45 minutes to an hour and will then be followed by a tour of our office with one of our current articling students which will take another half to full hour. During the interview itself, student applicants will usually meet with a partner of the Firm, with an associate lawyer, and with our Director of Student and Associate Affairs. During the tour, the student will have an opportunity to meet with a number of current students and lawyers with the Firm.

This large number of interviews, together with the significant time commitment that we make to each student interview, precludes our conducting second interviews or undertaking student receptions and dinners. Also, because we attract students nationally, many of the students who we see must travel a significant distance to interview with us and we do not want our student applicants to incur either the time or the monetary costs that attendance for second interviews and student receptions entails.

Call Day in Ottawa

"Call day" is the colloquial term for the day on which the law firms in the Ottawa recruitment area are allowed to make offers of articling positions. Your preparation for the Ottawa call day should start well before call day itself arrives.

In the same way that the various recruiting firms determine which student applicants would be a good fit for their particular practice areas and firm culture prior to call day, you should also be making the same kind of determination as to which firms would be a good fit for you. We recommend that you list the firms with which you interviewed in order of your preference and put your list on paper so that you have it for easy reference on call day. Beside each firm name, you should note the name and telephone number for the point-of-contact person at that firm.

For articling student recruitment, all of the firms hiring articling students are governed by the 8:00 a.m. start time for offers required by the Law Society of Upper Canada and the "offer open" period is similarly controlled by the Law Society.

Should you receive an offer on call day that is not from your first-choice firm, we recommend that you follow the steps below.

Simply thank the person who has called you, confirm that the offer will remain open for a while, and indicate that you will get back to them as quickly as you can.

Immediately call the point-of-contact person at your first-choice firm and ask where you are located on their offer list; they should be able to tell you whether you may get an offer from them and approximately when.

If it appears that you will not receive an offer from your first-choice firm, you should then repeat this process with your second-choice firm to determine where you stand with it.

Work your way down your preference list, repeating this process, until you get back to the firm which has made the offer. You should be able to tell them at this point whether you will accept their offer or at what time they may expect a call from you.

Please keep in mind that there will be many students hoping for offers on call day. When everyone helps to move the offer process along expeditiously, you and your fellow students will be saved a great deal of angst and the day will be more pleasant for everyone.