Our Summer Student Program
In addition to our articling program, the Vancouver office of Lawson Lundell offers a summer program for students who have completed their second year of law school at a Canadian law school. Our summer program is an important part of our recruiting process, and every year we anticipate that our summer students will return to article with us after they finish law school. Currently, we do not have a summer program in our Yellowknife office. Applications are usually due in September of the start of the second year of law, with interview week taking place in October. More specific guidelines and timing can be found on the Vancouver Bar Association's website.
Summer students are treated just like articling students, except that we do not rotate summer students through different practice areas. Our summer students enjoy a self-directed summer experience, where they are encouraged to explore our various practice groups and seek out work that interests them. With a flexible summer program, our students can start to develop areas of interest and professional relationships that will provide a solid foundation for when they return for articling. The goal is for our summer students to have a meaningful work experience and to leave feeling like part of the Lawson Lundell team.
The Work
Prospective summer students often ask what sort of work they can expect to be doing during the summer months. Summer students have a chance to do the same work as articling students. They may be asked to assist in preparing for trial or a hearing in our litigation department. They may be organizing and preparing documents or performing due diligence on companies to assist on a corporate deal. Summer students are often asked to do longer, in-depth projects, as well as to assist in writing papers or preparing for presentations.
The focus for our summer students is not on billable hour targets but on meaningful work which exposes them to an interesting practice area. We recognize that our students have unique skills and backgrounds and we attempt to help find projects which will make the best use of their skills. For example, we recently had a student interested in environmental issues who was able to contribute to our new Climate Change Group's newsletter during the summer months.
We also understand that summer students are at the firm to fully participate in our firm's culture and professional development opportunities. Summer students can attend all of our in-house seminars for lawyers, as well as all social events such as the lawyer/student soccer game. We also have a series of lunch-time seminars just for our summer students where a lawyer from a specific practice area speaks about that particular area.
We invite our summer students to keep in touch with us during their third year of school, and if students are in town, we invite them to attend student lunches and firm social events. Our summer students are wonderful contacts at the law schools for prospective students. We encourage prospective students to speak with our students about their summer experience.
Our Articling Program
At Lawson Lundell, our goal is to deliver an articling program that ensures each student is engaged in a broad range of challenging and meaningful work within a structure that provides guidance and support from our lawyers. We want to hire students who will become associates and eventually partners. To that end, our program focuses on:
- Encouraging professional development
- Fostering cooperation, not competition
- Directly involving students with clients and colleagues
We value our students. All of our lawyers and students work in a professional, team environment, while nurturing individual strengths.
We strive to be flexible in our start dates, rather than expecting all students to begin articling at the same time. We encourage our students to take advantage of clerkships at various courts and we are willing to adjust our start time to accommodate clerking.
We understand that selecting a firm for an articling program can be a difficult process for students. There are so many aspects of programs to be weighed and considered. We are always willing to speak with students about our firm and its program.
Contact Info
Allison Jackson,
Director, Legal Talent
604.631.9183
ajackson@lawsonlundell.com
