Best tips to get a lawyer articling position and mentorship

Best tips to get a lawyer articling position and mentorship

Filipino Canadian Lawyers Network President Alicia Natividad

SPECIAL REPORT, PART 2: DEPROFESSIONALIZATION OF IMMIGRANTS

By Michelle Chermaine Ramos
The Philippine Reporter

In our previous issue, we interviewed Filipino Canadian Lawyers Network (FCLN) President Alicia Natividad on the developments in the licensing process since the 1980s and the available resources and connections for newcomer Philippine-trained lawyers today. Overall, the accreditation process has improved over the years with more support for immigrant lawyers. However, as Natividad explained, the two major issues, which are the main complaints echoed by foreign-trained lawyers still remain.

One of the toughest struggles for new immigrants is the financial cost of going through the accreditation process which involves studying Canadian law courses as required by their provincial law societies while often juggling a survival job and family responsibilities. Natividad stressed the importance of contacting their provincial law society to get all the requirements for the process. “The Law Society would also have resources and FCLN is one of those resources. So, they can contact FCLN and ITLNCA. They should contact all of the related legal organizations to get their information. What I find sometimes is they get information incorrectly from people. They say, ‘but I was told this’. I would not do that. The first thing I would do is get the facts,” she said.

The second toughest challenge is completing an articling period. According to Natividad, this is not only difficult for foreign-trained lawyers, but all lawyers in Ontario due to the number of applicants competing for these positions. However, the good news is the Law Society of Ontario is allowing applicants to complete their articling period by spreading it out with several law firms. Different law firms or organizations with legal departments with an Ontario-trained lawyer can offer articling positions for a few months each for each candidate thereby allowing the flexibility to accommodate the influx of applications.

So, how can Philippine-trained lawyers find placements and how can the FCLN support them? The FCLN has partnered with the Internationally Trained Lawyers Network (ITLNCA) to help Filipino lawyers find articling jobs. They are also growing their network by building partnerships with other legal organizations and lawyers across Canada. “We will canvas our own network of Filipino Canadian lawyers first. That’s one resource we could give. And the other one is to link them with ITLNCA because they are the most active. And of course, you know there are local bars. Students often put in their requests and also local schools and there are also days that law schools have when law firms can be present. All the big law firms are always present but it’s really medium-sized and small law firms – it’s word of mouth,” Natividad explained.

So, how can you stand out from the competition to land an articling position? Natividad has mentored many law students and lawyers over the years and gets many applicants from lawyers of different ethnicities. Having done articling selection for her own law firm, here are her tips on how to win that job.

Know the most fundamental areas of law

Most law students don’t know what areas of practice they will fall in. Those who do focus their studies in that regard, although most don’t. “In the practice of law, the most fundamental thing is to know and learn the fundamental basis of law – real estate, contract law, even criminal law, and so on. Because those are the areas you will be examined on when you write your bar exam,” said Natividad. “Law is a building block. It doesn’t matter if you call it intellectual property, but the concept of intellectual property resides in property. Just remember how it started in that area. It’s very, very important to do that.”

Focus on getting high marks and don’t waste time socializing

Don’t have so many social activities that will eat up your time to study. At law school, your objective is to get the highest marks. “Your marks at law school will carry you always and will be with you wherever you go. So, get the highest mark you can because that will narrow the competition for you. You will always have competition,” said Natividad. “When interviewing a student or prospective lawyer, you’re going to look at the overall personality, but I could tell you marks are the first thing that a person interviewing will look at. That’s an initial entry, and then everything else follows.”

Be strategic in doing pro bono work

“If doing pro bono work, work in the areas that will meet the basic legal matters that you have to think about,” she explained. “For example, if you want to do litigation or if you want to do landlord and tenant, you could do some pro bono work in that regard.”

Personality matters

Natividad says that she first looks at marks. However, that is not everything, so she tries to get a better picture of an applicant’s personality in an interview. “Some people do well in exams, some don’t, but they have the intellectual capacity. Or as I say, they didn’t focus enough or they didn’t understand, or there’s always a reason as to why. I ask the law students, ‘Why did you have a low mark in this area? What was the problem?’ so, you get to understand,” Natividad explained. The other aspect is purely social. “You want somebody you can get along with and so on. I want to know who they are, what they are, what they do, because that will tell me whether that person will fit in the law firm in that social context because every law firm is different,” she said

Get good references and be careful of what you post on your social media

Your personality outside of the office and online matters too. Natividad also looks at references and social media. Just like in other industries, what you put on social media can also positively or negatively impact a decision to hire you. Make sure you build good connections and always be professional.

Read part 1 in our previous issue: Fil-Can Lawyers group builds bridges of opportunity: https://philippinereporter.com/index.php/2021/08/13/fil-can-lawyers-group-builds-bridges-of-opportunity/

RESOURCES:

Filipino Canadian Lawyers Network: http://www.fcln-rapc.org/

Law Society of Ontario Lawyer Licensing Process https://lso.ca/becoming-licensed/lawyer-licensing-process

Are you a Canadian or foreign trained lawyer or law student? Got questions, comments or want to share your experience? E-mail at pitchmichelle@gmail.com