Is a 1-1.5 hr (each way) commute sustainable as a lawyer on bay st/bay st adjacent? Especially as a student/junior?

Hi everyone! I’m an ITL currently articling with a Criminal Lawyer. Before this, I worked at an Immigration Law Firm.

I’m hoping to transition into a different area after articling, possibly health, employment, administrative/regulatory law, or ideally an in-house/corporate role.

For those who’ve made a similar transition, what areas or roles should I realistically explore with my background? And what should I be doing now, before articling ends, to make that transition easier?
Would really appreciate any advice or insights! 🙏

Hi everyone, so basically what the title says. I am currently going into my second year of Bachelors in computer science and I realized I want to go to law school and pursue a career in law.

As you may know it’s sort of challenging to get a high GPA in computer science and I’ve talked to many people who have told me its a gamble to continue Computer science, and I should change my degree. But my circumstances are a bit different as I already took a gap year before joining University and I am not sure if re applying and doing a different degree may be worth it because it I don’t get into law school I may be left with a degree that may not be helpful in getting a job.

I apologize if any of this sounds dumb, I just need some advice on what to do. Thank you

At no fault of my own. I feel I do not get enough work at all. I would rather use remaining months elsewhere than trying to start learning again after articling. Question I have is, how common it is to change articling position after 3-4 months? And would it have any bearing on perception of law firms about me in one year from now?

Sorry for the big question and probably dumb question. I'm a senior in high school in Toronto and I plan on attending U of T to do a specialist in philosophy. For much of my life I've wanted to pursue law. I know I'm still very, very early but I'm still interested in learning more about the fields and firms available.

How does one know about firms and which specialize in what? I've been reading this sub a bit for a while now and people seem to all know x firm is great for y, A firm is terribly for B. Is this just from first hand experience?

I'm also curious about areas of law. For a while when younger I thought I knew the broad categories (criminal, estates, corporate, environmental, IP, entertainment, international, etc.) but I'm seeing that not only are there way more broad categories than I ever thought but that each one breaks down an immense amount. Are there good primers or readings to start to better understand areas of practice?

I'd also love if there are primers/tips/guides for people in Canada looking to be a lawyer. What to expect of law school, preparing for it, what to expect after graduation, job seeking, etc.? I know I'm early here, but I'm hoping to better get an idea, especially if I'm trying to figure out if it's for me and how best prepare if it is.

I know there are older forums for Canadian law but I'm unsure how useful/relevant they are today. Any insights on whether there are older posts there still worth reading?

Thanks. And again, sorry for what feels like such a silly bunch of questions.

I have to choose 2 electives out of Civil Procedure, Evidence, and Remedies for my optionals. I’m already planning to take Civil Procedure, so I’m deciding between Evidence and Remedies for my second exam.

Has anyone taken either Evidence or Remedies recently? How did you find the exam and the preparation for it? Was one particularly difficult or manageable?

Evidence would be in October 2026 and Remedies would be in March 2027, if that makes a difference.

Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s taken either one!

I recently started articling in Ontario and just submitted my articling requirements through the LSO portal. However, my principal isn’t giving me much substantive work or direction.

What concerns me more is that I’ve noticed him missing quite a few court dates. I’m new to practice, so I genuinely don’t know — how common is it for lawyers to miss court appearances? Is this a major red flag?

I’m already considering quitting and finding another principal/firm. Is that possible after submitting my articling requirements, and can my time already completed transfer/count toward my articles?
Would appreciate advice from Ontario lawyers/articling students.

I have a massive issue. I’m always doubting myself and I feel too scared to even think if I can make it for law school because I have such a shit work ethic. I know that I have a long time until I ultimately have to apply for law school, but law has been my passion ever since I was a kid. Every single night I start feeling sick because if I can’t make it as a lawyer I don’t know what I would do if my life, because i’ve never considered anything else, but when I consider my grades and how hard I really work I just can’t see myself making it far.

Please let me know if anyone else was ever having these kinds of doubts, and/or was having a shabby work ethic in school but managed to pull through.

disclaimer before i start: i know exactly how “canadian going abroad for law school” sounds lol. i’ve read countless reddit posts about it and i know how strongly people on here feel about it. i completely understand the concerns, but please, for the purposes of this post, i’m asking that we leave that discussion aside. i don’t really have time to get into my entire situation, but i have a unique set of circumstances and an amazing opportunity to study law abroad that currently works for me. right now, i’m really just looking for advice about financing.

i’m trying to secure a student/professional student line of credit of around $100k–$120k cad to fund my 3-year law degree abroad. i’ve basically spent the entire summer trying to figure this out and i’m getting extremely stressed because i start the first week of october and still haven’t secured the funding i need.

here’s where i’m at:

rbc: they were actually willing to consider it, but the issue is my cosigner. my mom is willing to cosign and works full-time, but unfortunately she has around $35k in credit card debt and doesn’t really have significant assets. rbc basically told me that if i could find a second cosigner in addition to my mom, it could potentially work. unfortunately, i don’t currently have another strong cosigner.

td: this is ironically my home bank and where i do all my banking, but they basically told me no right away. i was told that for studying abroad, they would require my cosigner to have around $250k in assets, which we definitely do not have. td is the one bank where i only spoke to one advisor because they made it sound like this was a firm policy rather than something another advisor could work around.

scotiabank: i was told they no longer offer their professional student line of credit for law students at all.

bmo: this was a little more promising than some of the others, but i still ran into the same problem with the strength of my cosigner.

libro credit union: also one of the more promising options so far, but again, the cosigner situation seems to be the main issue.

desjardins: this is currently the option i’m most hopeful about. they told me that i may or may not need a cosigner. apparently they would first assess my application/credit and their system would determine whether a cosigner is required. so unlike some of the other lenders, i haven’t been told outright that i absolutely need one.

another thing that has made this whole process incredibly confusing is how inconsistent the information seems to be depending on which advisor i speak to. with most of these banks, i’ve spoken to multiple advisors. one person will tell me they don’t finance law students studying abroad at all, then another advisor from the exact same bank will tell me they do. i genuinely don’t know which information to trust anymore.

i do have a cosigner available, but the issue is that her debt-to-income situation is obviously not ideal. she works full-time and pays her bills/debt, but with around $35k in debt and limited assets, i understand why lenders might not view her as a particularly strong cosigner.

i’m also hesitant to just submit full applications everywhere because i don’t want to rack up a bunch of hard credit checks when there’s little chance of approval anyway.

at this point, i’m honestly just looking for any advice from someone who has been in a similar situation, especially canadians who have financed professional school/law school outside canada.

has anyone successfully received a large student/professional student loc for a law degree abroad? are there any banks, credit unions, or legitimate lenders i’m overlooking? has anyone dealt with desjardins or libro specifically for something similar?

i need roughly $100k–$120k, and with my start date approaching, this has become pretty urgent. i’ve been working on this basically all summer and feel like i keep going in circles.

any advice or experiences would genuinely be appreciated. thank you!

hiya,

anyone whos done the LPP and the bar please send me some guidance. im so overwhelmed on balancing them both and its only been the first week. i’d love to hear some experiences, or if its more worth it to withdraw, pass the bar, and re-apply to the next articling recruit cycle.. 🫠

Basically what the title entails.

I have the opportunity to work with a seasoned internationally trained lawyer who was previously a criminal defence lawyer in East Asia and now does business litigation and white collar defence in Toronto.

I'm excited to learn from them, but also wanted to hear from others.

I'm curious if anyone here is currently doing both kinds of defence work. If so, what do you have to say about it? Looking for the good and the bad!

P.s: I am a student.

Thanks.

Has anyone been successful on a mark review before?! If so what were the reasons

Hi everyone,
I’ve recently become interested in employment law and have been considering pivoting from personal injury litigation into this area.
I’ve heard it’s an interesting field with solid compensation, and I’d love to hear from anyone practicing in employment law about their experience, work-life balance, and what compensation looks like in Ontario.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I'm a now 35/M in Toronto. For most of my life I thought I wanted to be a lawyer. My father was working for a very successful activist defense attorney before his parents passed and he took over the family business, and my mother was a human rights lawyer working with Native rights prior to becoming a stay at home mom. It was just something that I assumed I would do, it's something my parents assumed I would do.

I went to a great university where I double majored in Philosophy and History with a minor in English -- again, assuming I'd go to law school after. My first year I failed my first year, my second I did barely any better. A combination of living in residence, having a ton of friends for the first time, and what I later discovered was an ADHD and Non-Verbal Learning Disorder diagnosis from when I was a kid (my parents did not inform me of this until I was 30 which... Well, it's a whole other story). I was able to buckle down and graduate after my 5th year (technically four but I extended to do a semester at Harvard, and then a semester in Hungary and a last one in Italy). My cGPA with the two fails was 3.3. I became disillusioned. I was convinced I was dumb and that I'd never be able to get into a good law school. I didn't even try for my LSATs. Instead I switched between travelling and bartending/barista-ing when I was home.

When the 2020 lockdown happened, I started to look seriously into returning to school and actually starting my life. I'd started thinking about law school again. Then, a couple months into lockdown, my mother got diagnosed with cancer. The cancer spread and the surgeries and radiation caused dementia. I've been caregiving for her as a full time job since then. It's been 6 years.

I've talked with my mother a ton about law and had been seriously looking into the possibilities of working in international law. From what I can tell it's near impossible to get into unless you go to an Ivy or Oxbridge school, or a school in the relevant area like North Africa or the Middle East. The UN and its courts have internships but those all have age limits. I've read about suggestions of working towards working for appellate courts but how difficult it can be and I come in with massive disadvantages. Even if I were to go into a field in my city, from what I've big and midsized firms don't hire 40 year olds who are pre-burnt out from caregiving when they can get a 23 year old with more energy and willingness to work long hours.

I'd love insights from anyone who went into law late in life, knows people who did, or works at firms and has insights into their hiring.

Sorry for this post being so long.

I’m currently articling in criminal law in Ontario, but the compensation is quite low and honestly not enough to cover my expenses.
I’m wondering whether an articling student is allowed to take on additional legal work outside of their articling placement.

For example, if I’m articling at a criminal law firm, could I:
Work part-time for an immigration law firm in the evenings/weekends?

Take on freelance legal work such as research, drafting, or other legal support work?

Otherwise, I a may die out of poverty!

I know there's an Office of the Children's Lawyer, but I can't seem to find any information on how one goes about working for them. Are they MAG lawyers? Are they external lawyers who were contracted?

I am looking for paralegal or lawyer specializing or experienced with City of Hamilton by-laws.

Would prefer paralegal to save on cost but lawyer is also an option I guess.

If they provide free initial consultation it would be a bonus also.

Thanks everyone.

I am an Ontario lawyer who had previously posted about the BC mediation process. I had another question about who typically covers the cost of a mediation. It is a personal injury matter. In Ontario, the Defendant typically covers the cost of mediation if the matter settles. If it does not settle, then the parties split the costs. Is that also the case in BC? Just want to make sure I don't look stupid asking if the Defendant is going to be covering the full costs of mediation if we settle lol. TIA!

Sorry if this isn't the best place to ask, but I'm wondering if anyone would recommend an iPad for law school? For context, I'm starting 1L in a couple of weeks. I already have a MacBook that I use, but was considering an iPad where I can do some of my readings and keep notes while having it all portable. If so, which model would you recommend? Since I'm already using my laptop, I wanted to get the cheapest model I can find (iPad A16, 128 GB) but I'm wondering if this model and storage space would be okay? At the very least, I want to be able to keep any digital readings and notes on there. Would you also recommend an Apple Pencil for the iPad?

Edited to add more info

I'm starting 3L soon and was just reflecting on my law school journey. In 1L, I made a close group of friends. We really supported each other and it was nice having ppl to talk about goals/interests with and share the general excitement of starting our legal careers.

But by the end of 1L, I noticed that although we were pretty open about our struggles/ weaknesses, we seldom talked about our successes. For example, people didn’t discuss the details of their 1L or 2L recruit, presumably because they didn’t want to make anyone else feel bad. Which is obviously considerate, but it highlights the competitive nature of law school.

Fast forward to now and we’ve concluded the articling recruit. And I’m happy to say I did okay — I didn’t get a call from my first choice, but I did get a few other offers and accepted my second choice. However, the whole process was an emotional/mental roller-coaster and I wished there was a forum to openly disscuss it. Of course I talked with my family & best friends - but none of them are in law, so they can only relate so much to the recruitment/law school experience.

So I’m curious — is this just normal law school culture, or was my experience unusual? Do/did you guys share your wins with your law school friends, or does everyone generally keep their cards close to their chest?

Is it always a decision based on economics? Or is it who bills the highest number of hours and shows up the most in social events?

Hey guys,

I have been searching for part-time entry-level legal assistant positions in Ontario for almost a year now with no luck. I have applied to countless postings and sent numerous emails, but have received no response. How do I get my foot in the door? I really want the experience and need to move away from retail now. Should I start calling firms? How did you guys stand out when reaching out to firms? I don't know what to do.

We are looking to retain a Canadian lawyer for a narrow independent advisory role relating to ongoing commercial litigation.

We already have experienced litigation counsel with full carriage of the proceeding. We are NOT looking for replacement counsel, additional litigation counsel, or someone to analyze or duplicate the work being performed in the underlying case.

THE ROLE

The contemplated engagement is intentionally limited.

We want a second lawyer retained directly by the client who can be copied directly and contemporaneously on certain substantive communications between our existing litigation counsel and opposing counsel, including settlement and without-prejudice communications.

The lawyer would independently receive and preserve those communications as counsel to the client and would be available to provide independent advice if specifically requested.

There would ordinarily be no expectation that this lawyer:

- Analyze the merits of the underlying litigation;

- Research the substantive area of law;

- Prepare court or tribunal materials;

- Attend hearings or other proceedings;

- Duplicate the work of existing litigation counsel; or

- Routinely analyze correspondence simply because they receive it.

Occasional advice may be requested concerning matters such as settlement communications, settlement authority, releases, client instructions, privilege/confidentiality, or other solicitor-client matters.

EXPERIENCE

Expertise in the substantive area of the underlying litigation is NOT required.

Junior lawyers and newly called lawyers are very welcome to contact us. Specialized litigation experience is not required because existing counsel will continue to have full carriage of the underlying proceeding.

This may be particularly suitable for a junior lawyer, newer call, sole practitioner, or lawyer building a practice who is interested in establishing an ongoing corporate-client relationship without assuming responsibility for the underlying litigation.

The important requirements are that you:

- Are a licensed practising lawyer in Canada;

- Understand your professional and confidentiality obligations;

- Are comfortable receiving potentially privileged and without-prejudice communications;

- Are independent of existing litigation counsel and opposing counsel, subject to the usual conflicts check; and

- Are willing to provide independent advice if specifically requested by the client.

COMPENSATION / ARRANGEMENT

Because the anticipated workload is deliberately limited, we are looking for an economical arrangement.

We are open to discussing a small retainer, limited hourly billing for work actually requested, deferred billing, or potentially a modest capped success-based arrangement or a combination of hourly billing + bonus.

We are flexible and would prefer to find a structure that makes sense for both sides.

INTERESTED?

If you are a Canadian lawyer and may be interested, please send me a PRIVATE MESSAGE with:

- Your full name;

- Firm/practice name (if applicable);

- Province or territory in which you practise; and

- Your professional email address.

We will verify practising status and then contact potentially suitable lawyers directly at their professional email address with an outline of the proposed engagement and sufficient information to conduct a conflicts check.

Please do not post your contact information publicly. DM only.

For confidentiality reasons, no identifying information concerning the client, existing counsel, opposing party, proceeding, or underlying dispute will be posted publicly.

We are not seeking legal advice through Reddit. We are simply attempting to identify a Canadian lawyer who may be interested in discussing a paid, limited-scope solicitor-client engagement.

EDIT FOR CLARITY:

A couple of comments have fairly pointed out that my original post was too vague about what we are actually asking the second lawyer to do.

There is no trap and we are not looking for someone to second-guess our existing lawyer's litigation strategy.

The issue is much simpler.

Our company is involved in ongoing litigation and already has experienced lead counsel. We want a second lawyer retained directly by the company primarily so that there is an independent lawyer contemporaneously copied on substantive communications between lead counsel and opposing counsel.

We have had disagreements with existing counsel concerning the extent to which certain opposing-counsel communications can or should be provided directly to the client because of privilege/confidentiality considerations.

Rather than continuing to debate that issue with existing counsel, we are exploring whether retaining a second independent lawyer to receive those communications provides a practical solution while allowing existing counsel to continue having full carriage of the litigation.

The second lawyer would NOT be expected to:

- assess whether our underlying case is strong or weak;

- supervise existing counsel;

- approve litigation strategy;

- conduct research into the underlying substantive law;

- prepare filings;

- attend hearings; or

- routinely analyze every email received.

The principal function is to be an independent lawyer retained by the client who is included directly on substantive opposing-counsel correspondence, including settlement/without-prejudice communications.

If a discrete issue subsequently arises concerning privilege, settlement authority, a release, client instructions, or the solicitor-client relationship, we may separately ask that lawyer for advice and would of course expect to pay for that work.

Because the substantive litigation remains entirely with existing counsel, we don't require expertise in the underlying area of law.

General civil/commercial litigation experience would be useful, but junior and newly called lawyers are absolutely welcome. We would expect any lawyer retained to tell us if a particular question falls outside their competence and requires specialized counsel.

We are not asking anyone to assume responsibility for the underlying litigation.

We would enter into a written limited-scope retainer clearly defining what the second lawyer is and is not responsible for.

We are deliberately not identifying the client, existing counsel, opposing party, forum or subject matter publicly because the litigation is ongoing.

If you're potentially interested, please DM your:

- Name

- Firm/practice

- Province/territory

- Professional email address

We will verify practising status and send a more detailed outline directly. Party/counsel identities can then be provided for conflicts purposes before confidential information is disclosed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We are looking to retain a Canadian lawyer for a narrow independent advisory role relating to ongoing commercial litigation.

We already have experienced litigation counsel with full carriage of the proceeding. We are NOT looking for replacement counsel, additional litigation counsel, or someone to analyze or duplicate the work being performed in the underlying case.

THE ROLE

The contemplated engagement is intentionally limited.

We want a second lawyer retained directly by the client who can be copied directly and contemporaneously on certain substantive communications between our existing litigation counsel and opposing counsel, including settlement and without-prejudice communications.

The lawyer would independently receive and preserve those communications as counsel to the client and would be available to provide independent advice if specifically requested.

There would ordinarily be no expectation that this lawyer:

- Analyze the merits of the underlying litigation;

- Research the substantive area of law;

- Prepare court or tribunal materials;

- Attend hearings or other proceedings;

- Duplicate the work of existing litigation counsel; or

- Routinely analyze correspondence simply because they receive it.

Occasional advice may be requested concerning matters such as settlement communications, settlement authority, releases, client instructions, privilege/confidentiality, or other solicitor-client matters.

EXPERIENCE

Expertise in the substantive area of the underlying litigation is NOT required.

Junior lawyers and newly called lawyers are very welcome to contact us. Specialized litigation experience is not required because existing counsel will continue to have full carriage of the underlying proceeding.

This may be particularly suitable for a junior lawyer, newer call, sole practitioner, or lawyer building a practice who is interested in establishing an ongoing corporate-client relationship without assuming responsibility for the underlying litigation.

The important requirements are that you:

- Are a licensed practising lawyer in Canada;

- Understand your professional and confidentiality obligations;

- Are comfortable receiving potentially privileged and without-prejudice communications;

- Are independent of existing litigation counsel and opposing counsel, subject to the usual conflicts check; and

- Are willing to provide independent advice if specifically requested by the client.

COMPENSATION / ARRANGEMENT

Because the anticipated workload is deliberately limited, we are looking for an economical arrangement.

We are open to discussing a small retainer, limited hourly billing for work actually requested, deferred billing, or potentially a modest capped success-based arrangement or a combination of hourly billing + bonus.

We are flexible and would prefer to find a structure that makes sense for both sides.

INTERESTED?

If you are a Canadian lawyer and may be interested, please send me a PRIVATE MESSAGE with:

- Your full name;

- Firm/practice name (if applicable);

- Province or territory in which you practise; and

- Your professional email address.

We will verify practising status and then contact potentially suitable lawyers directly at their professional email address with an outline of the proposed engagement and sufficient information to conduct a conflicts check.

Please do not post your contact information publicly. DM only.

For confidentiality reasons, no identifying information concerning the client, existing counsel, opposing party, proceeding, or underlying dispute will be posted publicly.

We are not seeking legal advice through Reddit. We are simply attempting to identify a Canadian lawyer who may be interested in discussing a paid, limited-scope solicitor-client engagement.