Life skills and career tips for Canada's lawyers in training
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when they begin practising. She says she is not aware of a single Robson Hall student who has not found a position in criminal defence. "You're not going to be working in a big fancy fi rm, but certainly there's a lot of opportunity to get jobs in this area." Shannon Leo, co-director of career ser- vices at U of T's law school, says it's vital for students interested in a career in criminal defence law to work in a legal clinic. She says fi rms who hire articling students "re- ally value that experience." You can also pad your resumé by landing a paid re- search fellowship at an organization that does criminal-related work, such as the As- sociation in Defence of the Wrongly Con- victed. Other students have made a start by acting as research assistants to crimi- nal law professors. If none of that comes through, she says it may be necessary to do unpaid summer work to augment non- law-related, paid work. "Th e real key is to show that dedication to the work when they are applying for articling." Meanwhile, the strategies Hechter em- ployed to land his articling spot can ben- efi t students looking to land a job where opportunities are few and far between. He spent a summer at U of T's legal clinic, Downtown Legal Services, concentrating on criminal law and immigration and get- ting his feet wet doing prep work for trials. At the same time, he introduced himself to criminal defence lawyers whose work he was impressed with, and kept his eye out for any opportunities to meet lawyers practising in the area. "I met one lawyer on the bus who ended up hiring me to do some research for him, on the way back from school one day," says Hechter. He says it was all about "looking for opportu- nities to connect with people in the profes- sion, and who were doing specifi c things that I was interested in doing." Th at positioning paid off when it was time for him to land an articling spot. He ended up with off ers from various Toronto fi rms, all of which were familiar with him. While students with enough drive and ambition can fi nd an articling spot, big- ger questions can arise once that term ends. Many face the prospect of hanging their own shingle in order to pursue their dream, but that's a move many seasoned criminal defence lawyers caution against. Toronto lawyer Patrice Band worked as an assistant Crown attorney and as counsel at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario before opening his own crimi- nal defence practice in 2006. By the time he started on his own, Band had been a practising lawyer for nearly a decade, and even he found it a struggle to juggle every- thing involved in running his own shop. "It's really, really challenging," says Band. "I came at it laterally with a fairly good grasp of the law and a lot of trial practice under my belt, and so my main challenge apart from getting clients was fi guring out how to run the business. To have to do all three things at once — fi gure out the busi- ness, learn the ropes in terms of the law side, and get clients and get paid — that would be a really huge challenge." He adds it would be "next to impossible" for new lawyers to attempt such a move in isola- tion. So while the temptation to cut over- head costs by working from home may make sense from a fi nancial standpoint, it may limit your ability to prosper. A good idea is joining forces with other lawyers, which helps cut down on ex- penses while at the same time providing an atmosphere that allows you to draw Martin's Annual Criminal Code 2010 Student Edition Fully annotated, this annual resource is a force to be reckoned. It continues to deliver the highest quality content, the best value and contains the largest number of important cases with more than 4,900 reported and unreported cases in the most practical and accessible format. Martin's Annual Criminal Code, 2010, Student Edition is portable and has unique features that make it an invaluable resource, including: ORDER your copy today Hardbound • 2,374 pp. Published August each year • $47 P/C 0635060999 • ISSN 0527-7892 • all Acts fully annotated with more significant cases analyzed than any other annotated • balanced analysis from two renowned lawyers and a respected judge • practical and easy-to-use format • forms of charges for the the as well as an Offence Grid Martin's Pocket Criminal Code, 2010 The pocket-size edition that includes everything you need in a Perfectbound • Published July each year • $35 • P/C 0638010999 • ISSN 0527-7892 and , . For a 30-day, no-risk evaluation call: 1.800.565.6967 CL0310 14 SPRING 2 0 1 0 Martins Annual (CL 1-2h) Student.indd 1 Canada Law Book is a Division of The Cartwright Group Ltd. Prices subject to change without notice, to applicable taxes and shipping & handling. C ANADIAN Lawy er 4STUDENTS 2/22/10 12:55:15 PM W ith Marie and annotations H einen by Edward L. Greenspan, Q.C., The H onourable Justice Marc Rosenberg Controlled Drugs Criminal and Substances Code Act Criminal Code Criminal Code