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Archive for the ‘Articling Student’ Category

April 13th, 2012

It seems like only yesterday I was attending my first motion, settlement conference and spending countless hours deciphering paper jams, but here I am eight months down and just two to go. With the anticipation of my Bar Call in June fast approaching perhaps the one thing I have learned most during my articles is the true meaning of the term ‘Practicing Law’.

While I have had the opportunity to work toward improving certain aspects of my practice by attending to similar matters over and over, I have quickly realized that even the most trivial of matters can keep you on your toes. For example, when you think you had perfected the best way of advocating for a particular client within the realm of a small claims settlement conference, you soon meet your match, whether it be an unreasonable unrepresented, a brilliant opposing counsel or a hardened judge. One again you are back to practicing new techniques and learning new ways of advocating. It all comes back to practice, and if I have learned one thing during my articles it’s that the practice part of law never ends.

Getting Your Ducks in a Row Early

February 22nd, 2012

As I’ve preached several times before, the practice of law takes a great deal of hard work and dedication, and certainly isn’t a career chosen with minimal deliberation.

Always happy to be helping students who display the motivation to succeed, I was pleased to accept an invitation to speak on behalf of Devry Smith Frank LLP as a panel member with the Pre-Law Society at York University taking place February 29th, 2012.

Mitigation is critical in unlawful dismissal disputes

January 18th, 2012

When a terminated employee decides to sue their former employer for damages, an important factor (which is often neglected) on the part of the suing employee is their responsibility to mitigate their losses resulting from the termination. Without proper mitigation, or the necessary documentation of mitigation efforts, the former employee may be entitled to a significantly reduced damage award.

Mitigation entails that the employee has made reasonable efforts to find new employment. Such efforts can be demonstrated by documenting all online job searches, preparing an updated resume, and utilizing the services of an employment agency or search firm. It is important to note that the mitigating claimant does not need to necessarily accept any offer of employment that comes their way, but merely must prove that reasonable attempts were made.

The case of Leo Magnan, a nearly 30 year employee of Brandt Tractor in Alberta, provides a cautionary tale regarding the failure to mitigate damages resulting from an unlawful termination. Mr. Magnan was forced to retire, based on an unwritten company policy that demanded employees to step aside by age 65. Upon reaching 65 years of age, Mr. Magnan expressed his desire to remain employed, but the company refused, relying on the company policy that Mr. Magnan had consented to. Though Brandt Tractor eventually offered Mr. Magnan his job back, he refused the offer, and successfully sued the company based on constructive dismissal. Unfortunately, due to Mr. Magnan’s earlier indications that he would have accepted his forced retirement, and his failure to look for new work upon termination, the court only awarded him 3 months of income as a damage award, where he would have been entitled to a significantly larger notice period award, given his many years of service.

To summarize, despite the legitimacy of your claim for unlawful dismissal, if you cannot prove a financial loss by making reasonable efforts to find new employment, your damage award may be significantly reduced.

Our 1st Annual Skate-A-Thon

January 12th, 2012

DEVRY SMITH FRANK LLP is proud to present our 1st Annual Skate-A-Thon in Support of the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

This event will take place at the outdoor ice-rink within the Shops of Don Mills located at 1090 Don Mills Road on Friday February 17, 2012 between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm.

For more information please contact Igor Poroger by email igor.poroger@devrylaw.ca or by phone 416.446.5860.

Here is a link to our event on the Heart and Stroke Foundation website.

If you would like to make a donation please click here.

Slip and Falls: Winter’s around the corner, so watch your step!

December 13th, 2011

Slip: A sliding motion where the foot (shoe) loses traction with the floor/ground surface resulting in a loss of balance.

Trip: Involves a loss of balance when the natural movement of the foot is interfered with momentarily.

Fall: A drop in height of the human body.

Slips and falls are a very common cause of injury, especially during our wonderful Canadian winters. While it is our recommendation that you should always maintain a sense of caution while walking around, you should also be aware of your rights, should you find yourself off your feet!

A 2005 slip and fall case, Cooney v. Kingston (City), demonstrates that cities can be found to share the burden in recompensing slip and fall injury victims. The plaintiff in this case was a newspaper delivery man, who was familiar with the location in which the accident occurred. Though the plaintiff was wearing winter-appropriate footwear, he slipped on a piece of ice that had formed on a city sidewalk. The resulting injury to the plaintiff’s ankle, tibia and fibula had him in a cast for over six weeks, and forced to use a cane for two months.

The plaintiff took the City of Kingston to court, claiming the City was negligent in its sidewalk icing operations. The Court determined that the City was grossly negligent in failing to maintain a safe sidewalk, but also found that the plaintiff was partly responsible, for failing to keep a proper lookout. At the end of the day, both the City and the plaintiff were found to be equally negligent, and so the plaintiff’s damages were cut in half. The damage award was $40,000, so the plaintiff received $20,000 in total.

If you are injured as a result of a slip and fall, and you believe that part, if not all, of the blame lies with the person or organization responsible for the area you fell in, contact one of the Personal Injury lawyers at Devry Smith Frank LLP for a free assessment of your case.

How Quickly the Tables Have Turned

December 13th, 2011

It’s that time of year again, the Christmas lights are out and summer student interviews are upon us. Feels like just yesterday I was bombarding Students-at-Law about their firm experiences in order to gain that upper hand. I guess it’s now my obligation to return the favour. Ask away students.

My Criminal Legal Career Takes Off (not really)

December 9th, 2011

They may just be first appearances, but considering I thought my criminal legal career ended with Student Legal Aid, it’s two more appearances than I anticipated.

5 Random Things I’ve Learned in the First 3 Months of Articling.

November 2nd, 2011

1. Sleep is for the weak.
2. When work is due, your printer will automatically jam.
3. Lunch is a good source of extra work time.
4. Support staff are priceless.
5. Gray hairs don’t appear one at a time, they brings friends.

It’s the Only Way You’ll Learn

September 22nd, 2011

Day 1

Lawyer #1: I want you to prepare all relevant materials to direct a judgment debtor’s examination being held tomorrow.

Student-at-Law: I’ve never even seen a judgment debtor’s examination; are you sure I can direct one?

Lawyer #1: It’s the only way you will learn. Review all the files and prepare all the materials. Don’t worry, you’ll do fine, and besides, the debtor never shows up anyways.

Student-at-Law: If the debtor isn’t going to show up, why do I need to prepare the whole examination?

Lawyer #1: It’s the only way you’ll learn.

4 hours of prep time and 2 hours spent in traffic later.

Day 2

Lawyer #2: Hey, did the debtor show up this morning?

Student-at-Law: No.

Lawyer #2: Ha.

Appease the Gods

September 14th, 2011

Graduate law school, complete your articles, become associate, work diligently, make partner. That’s the end goal for many of us. How is it accomplished? Any number of ways arguably, however, the one common thread is working countless hours and making sure the work is top notch. Appease the clients and more certainly, for a student-at-law, appease the lawyer that feeds you the work. With billable hours a necessary evil of accountability to both, the firm and the client, the student-at-law must become an efficiency machine in order to keep everyone happy. Within two weeks of starting my articles I had a decent flow of work coming in and a solid handle on effectively completing it and getting it back to the assigning lawyer and/or client. Still, I felt the need to ask for more in order to further my pursuit of the end goal. Two words, big mistake. Here I am, a little over one month in and I can barely see over the files piled on my desk.

The Life of a Student-at-Law

September 1st, 2011

So there I was, a full two weeks of vast legal experience under my belt and being called into the managing partner’s office for a meeting. All that hard work and finally I was due to receive a hearty handshake and hopefully a big time file to sink my teeth into.

As students-at-law we have been through the trenches to get where we are; undergraduate programs, LSAT exams, law school applications, three arduous years of schooling, bar exams and all the while with the general pursuit of landing a law firm job as the shining light at the end of the tunnel.

Of course I was well aware that my role was mostly going to be comprised of researching, motion and memo drafting, and whatever other works the real lawyers disliked the most, but I was proud to be entering a professional designation that I had been working so diligently to reach. The truth is, as a student-at-law, or articling student as we’re more commonly known outside the legal realm, we are nothing more than the very bottom rung of the lawyer hierarchy.

All that work and dedication and here I am, assigned to writing a blog about the very thing I’ve been pursuing instead of the work I hoped to be doing. Yet another dire task that further reminds me of the notch on the rung that keeps me in my place.

This is just the first post in a series that will continue through Leonard’s time as an articling student at DSF.