Canadian Lawyer 4Students

articling term and also the fees during the bar exams. What is the likelihood of students getting hired back? During the last series of interviews we had for our next articling student, that was pretty much the first question. We don't tend to have a lot of entry-level positions. That doesn't mean there isn't an opportunity. Once we get to know a student and understand their strengths and where they might fit in, there's always an opportunity to develop that into something more. We certainly want to do as much as we can and, if possible, offer the student employment with the law group. That being said, we also have other opportunities within RBC. RBC is a very large financial institution and it has about 80,000 employees. There are lots of lawyers that don't work within the law group. There are opportunities in compliance [and] in other functions that a trained lawyer can use their skills and actually have a very fulfilling job. some of the work areas that we do. So if someone has a definitive interest in being a family lawyer, this is probably not the best place for them to get experience in. So we're looking for someone who likely is more focused on a corporate field than a litigation field. That's not to say we're precluding anyone who has an interest in litigation because we do have many litigators that work for [RBC], but we can offer the best kind of work to those that are more interested in a corporate field. Do you consider students' marks and other experiences? Absolutely. When we interview a student and short-list for interviews, we're not just looking at transcripts, we're looking beyond that to see what other activities the student is involved in. Certainly being a good lawyer isn't dependent or indicative necessarily of how they did in law school. So we don't need the best student in the class, we're looking for someone who's engaged and wants to practise law. ■ Who can apply for the program? We would like to encourage any students who identify themselves as aboriginal to apply. We received a broad range of applicants last year from across Canada. We advertised with all the career offices of all the law schools, mostly common law law schools in Canada, so we did get applicants from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, and Ontario — pretty much every jurisdiction. How can students apply for the program and when is the deadline for the next articling term? We go along with the law society's recruitment [deadlines] for articling students. So we've already hired for 2013. Our next interview season will be probably in August of 2013 and it will be for the following year. So we will be interviewing and looking for second-year law students going into their third year and those who are seeking an articling position for 2014. What are you looking for in the person you hire? What we're looking to do is find someone who understands and realizes the difference between a law firm and an in-house legal department, and is interested in C A N A D I A N Law yer 4 students ntitled-3 1 Spring 2013 13 2/23/11 4:38:31 PM

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