What can you expect from articling with Iler Campbell?
In short: to do meaningful work for organizations making a difference in their community, while being mentored by a passionate team of practitioners.
As the only student in a small general service firm, you’ll get a taste of all our practice areas, including charity & non-profit law, commercial law, real estate, human rights, landlord and tenant law, employment law, construction, corporate governance & structuring, estate law and civil litigation.
You’ll be exposed to all the firm’s major client groups, including housing co-operatives, affordable housing developers, non‑profit organizations in a variety of industries, and progressive for-profit organizations.
You’ll get to know and work directly with our clients by attending client meetings and events, as well as hearings and other matters at tribunals and courts, with our lawyers or on your own.
You’ll learn the everyday work of managing your legal practice and be exposed to all stages of a matter – from the initial client consultation to the close of the file.
What makes Iler Campbell different?
At Iler Campbell, we believe in the social goals of our clients, so we see our role as helping our clients do what they do – be it run a better housing co-operative, build more renewable energy projects, create more affordable housing, or provide a charitable benefit.
We are actively involved in community-level organizations by sitting on boards, committees or volunteering with non‑profit and charitable organizations.
What kind of work does the articling student do?
You will be asked to research and prepare client opinions that provide practical legal advice on a wide range of legal issues. Most of the firm’s civil litigation work comes from our corporate and real estate development clients; as a result, articling candidates should come expecting mostly solicitor and administrative law work – there is no guarantee that each articling period will involve much litigation. If any comes through the door, the articling student will be involved. This could include drafting submissions, preparing for examinations and disclosure, and observing court appearances. You may also get the chance to appear on simple motions or small claims court matters.
Students are also trained to represent housing providers at the Landlord & Tenant Board at mediation sessions and merits hearings. While there is no guarantee of litigation work, tribunal work at the LTB is a good opportunity to get familiar with appearances before decision-makers.
Most students are exposed to at least some stages of an affordable housing project - from the purchase or sale of land, obtaining construction financing, the creation of a condominium corporation, to the sale of affordable housing units. For the student, work on these files can involve drafting agreements, organizing due diligence materials or reviewing closing documents.
Our articling student is also involved in the corporate law services we provide to our clients. This can involve reviewing by‑laws for legislative compliance, drafting employment or human rights policies and research on corporate structuring. These files involve consulting relevant legislation and preparing plain-language materials that help our clients make decisions and understand their responsibilities as directors of a corporation, employers, housing providers, or in fulfilling their duties under the Human Rights Code or other relevant legislation.
We are a small firm, so there is no formal rotation. You will receive work directly from the lawyer working on the file and likely have a mix of litigation and corporate/transactional work on the go at the same time.
For example, in one day, you could be attending a hearing at the Landlord and Tenant Board in the morning, researching an employment law issue in the afternoon, and attending a housing co-operative board meeting to review their by-laws in the evening.
In sum, you can expect to be exposed to a very broad range of practice areas and have a real impact on the work we do for our co-operative, non-profit and progressive business clients.
Read about our recent students on our blog: meet Karly, our 2019-20 student; and Brynn, our 2018-19 student. Or check out our bios: Iler Campbell partner, Celia, started as an articling student with the firm.
Are you interested?
Check back later for how to apply when applications open up.
