With COVID-19, our student programs pivoted to a virtual platform and continued to provide students with an integrated and supported learning experience. Students are currently permitted to attend the office on a full or part-time basis, subject to safety protocols and advice from provincial health authorities. When commencing summer articles at Blakes, students attend a series of orientation and training sessions that introduce them to the Firm and set them up for success. We were able to create a large video library of lawyer-led training sessions during the pandemic which will continue to be an amazing resource for students for years to come (a COVID silver-lining).
Practice Areas
We seek input from our summer articled students regarding areas of particular interest so that we can assign them mentors from those areas. However, we encourage students to seek out work from as many different practice groups as possible during their summer so that they can have a rich and well-rounded summer-student experience.
Mentoring
Mentors are actively involved in training students and ensuring they receive interesting and varied work assignments. Blakes has a long tradition of providing a strong foundation for legal careers through top-notch mentoring. Our lawyers benefited from the mentoring of more senior members of the Firm, and they are anxious to pass those lessons on to our students.
Evaluations
Our goal in the evaluation process is to develop skills as lawyers-in-training. In addition to informal feedback provided throughout the summer, students will receive a structured evaluation at the end of the term which will provide feedback and tips for continued success during articling.
Compensation & Benefits
The current annual salary for summer articled students is C$80,000, which includes 5 days of paid vacation. Summer articled students who return for articles receive payment of third-year tuition fees to a maximum of C$6,500 and a book allowance of C$500.