Hi - seeing a lot of posts about how the salary you should get is about 1/3 of your collected billables. I'm definitely below that. Am I being screwed or is the 1/3 number just wishful thinking and only realistic for the lucky few?

Is there a way to find or retrieve a Will if you cannot locate or perhaps the Will is being hidden to benefit the next of Kin?

And good topic to choose? I was thinking a common law llm…

Keep on mind I’ve been practicing for 16 years and never thought I’d go back to school 😀

Open to all areas—snow/cold is fine, would love public transportation such as subway.

Thanks in advance!

Can someone explain to me how it is that Canadian drivers caught for either speeding excessively (50 kph over any posted speed limit) or reckless driving rarely get charged to the full extent of the law? I understand their lawyers work out a deal to plead to a lesser charge.

I just started law school in September and so far I keep getting B+ grades in midterms and other assignments. If I finish the year with only B+ does that rule me out of getting hired for a 2L or articling job on Bay street?

If a person who had a previous felony conviction, who has had their rights restored and been pardoned by the Governor of their state, who is also disabled, wanted to immigrate to Canada, would they be eligible potentially?

Hi everyone, sorry if this is not the place to post about this. I became licensed as a paralegal (in Ontario) ~2 years ago, but have never actually practiced or provided services. Instead, I continued on in my schooling and am currently attending my first year of law school in Toronto. The hope is that I'll do well and eventually become a lawyer, but in the meanwhile, I'm paying a few hundred dollars a year to maintain a paralegal license that I have no intention of using. And law school is expensive.

My only concern is whether surrendering my paralegal license will cause any hiccups in the future -- I know surrendering will presumably be different from having it revoked, but I wanted to ask around to see if anyone had a similar experience/knows of any difficulties that might arise. Is there any stigma around something like this? Still in the preliminary stages, and might wait until I'm done my first semester/year before making any firm decisions, but any thoughts/opinions would be helpful!

Thank you!!

I am a 2023 call at a small firm in Toronto (civil litigation). I make 100k a year (base salary). There is a discretionary bonus paid out at the end of the year (not very much). I have so far this year brought business in worth at least 70k. I anticipate (since I got a big corporation as a client- 3 huge litigation files to take over) around 200k by the end of July 2025 (the time of my evaluation at the firm).

For future purposes - how should I negotiate my salary and bonus ? What’s a good structure? How does it work for the clients I bring in (which has progressively improved since my first year).

Hey I was wondering if lawyers in Ontario get special rates with any one mortgage company just like we do for auto insurance?

I'm finishing up my degree at UofT in English and History this year. My gpa there is currently a 3.5, which I'm very proud of! I have aspirations to become a criminal lawyer one day, but I think it is best for me to start small with where I am at now (academically burnt out and in need of money) which is why I want to be a legal assistant first.

I saw that Seneca offers an accelerated (1 year) program for previous grads, but I do not have the funds to live in Toronto currently. Right now I am living with my parents in Burlington and I hope to keep it that way until I can start working again. Are there any other accelerated programs in the GTA? I am also open to hearing about some of the standard 2-year programs, especially if they fit my current situation better.

Hello! I am in an ethics class and doing a project on police misconduct. I am looking for cases/reports of crimes committed against a police officer by another police officer. If you know of any, please share the links!! Thank you

Hello, I am born and raised in the U.S., and I have Canadian citizenship through my father. I went to a U.S. T14 law school and have been practicing environmental law in the federal government and private companies for about 10 years. I always intended to stay in the U.S., but I am considering having children and I do not feel safe doing that here. I would like to temporarily move to Canada for the next 2-4 years, but I would need to get a new job because my current role requires me to be in the office 3 days per week.

Because I don't envision being in Canada long term, I don't think retraining there as a lawyer there makes sense. I was wondering if this sub has ideas of types of careers to transition into for a temporary move. Alternatively, have you heard of roles in U.S. companies that permit fully remote work in Canada?

I’m so devastated and at the same time feel so stupid for being so attached to the outcome. I worked so hard for it and put everything else on the line, just for it to be completely out of my hands. I can’t stop thinking about it and I haven’t left my bedroom. I really don’t know what my next steps are or even how to handle this right now.

Hi everyone, I’m in a unique situation right now. I’m currently in Toronto and I’ve been living in this apartment my whole life. I grew up with my grandparents here and once they moved to another province they were fine with me staying here. The issue is I’m trying to get out a relative I let use the spare room until they got on their feet and they helped out with rent but now they don’t. They trash the place all the time, her and her bf have criminal records where as I do not. I tried to get them out with the police as unwanted guests but since I’m not the lease holder I’m not allowed to do that even with my grandmothers permission. When my grandmother moved in around 20ish years ago they signed a rental agreement and not a lease and with the building keep getting sold/bought by a new company they don’t have the rental agreement. They only have a few documents on file addressing her as a tenant of the unit. Is there anyway to get these people out? I got countless photos, damaged items like pots, pans, carpets etc. I’m also fairly confident the ID’s aren’t even showing they’re in the same town far as I know. I seen them have mail here once or twice but that’s it. Sorry if this doesnt make sense or just seemed jumbled. Really desperate to get them out. Best option I found so far is doing a notary letter from my grandmother stating she doesn’t want them living there. Either than that I’m out of ideas

When are written offers sent out? Thanks!

(Added context: nervous law student who got an offer on the phone but is eagerly refreshing their emails for a written offer since it does not feel real until everything has been signed)

Let’s say a person online is making claims that they were cleared of criminal charges or is filing a lawsuit. Is there a way I can find proof of this online through court files or something else?

A few of my friends or people in my network have been let go recently. Most are in their first or second year of call.

Have you or anyone you know ever dealt with this? How does one bounce back?

Hello!

I really want to go to law school - specifically work in international law. I go to uoft and I think I might graduate with a 3.3 gpa but that is not considered a competitive gpa. I have really great extracurricular activities too.

I might want to go to Osgoode if I can.

my questions then are:

1. Do law schools consider when you received your marks or do they just look at the gpa and end there?
2. Given that I can get good references and do well on the LSAT is applying to law school worth it or doable?

b) If it is still worthwhile, what kind of schools are still within reach? Are top schools still achievable or out of the picture all together?

Hey everyone.

looking for a concrete answer to the chances of finding articling after having done undergrad in a good Canadian uni but being forced to go to Australia for a JD.

Got clinic experience and student government experience in Australia. Extensive volunteering in various areas, and with hopes of doing pro-bono work for various charities I’m already in contact with. However my marks are awful, barely passed any of my classes. I’m currently suing my uni for discrimination and I’m being told by the lawyer in Aus that I have a good case. Not going to get into it much but a few profs made it fairly clear what motivated their marks.

Either way, I’m stuck with the marks and don’t have the financial support or freedom to try a different school (I’m only one semester away from graduating)

Already send out a couple dozen emails and a half dozen applications but haven’t even gotten a “thanks for your application”.

I’m being told from some of the people who are replying that I should wait to finish the accreditation exams before applying. But others are telling me I should keep applying because most articling students get placements months before they graduate.

I’m curious to what extent my marks have fucked me in the job market.

I’m looking for small town Alberta but I’m in a big city atm. I really wanted to do crim, particularly legal aid work.

Any advice, tips or direction would be appreciated.

I am learning a great deal about labour and employment law at work.

Only weeks after starting, supervisor requested I accept a 20% pay cut such that I am paid 620/week instead of my current rate.

Has anyone had a similar experience? I realized how bad things are, I just had to accept it and move on.

I’m an Aussie lawyer, I have 3 years of experience in criminal defence. I have an undergraduate degree in law and am midway through a virtual masters of law at a prestigious law school. I am planning on taking my NCAs next year, but will likely migrate over before I finish the exams. If that is the case - what job opportunities are likely suitable for someone like me? I plan on coming on a 2yr working holiday visa and ideally I’d love to work in criminal defence for the government (I.e duty lawyer) but open to paralegal other roles that might suit me. Let me know what alternatives you think there are for jobs within criminal defence law in Canada.

Hello, I’m looking for a good and reliable litigation lawyer for a situation that I am in. I purchase a home from a small developer, later found out he was an illegal builder and in financial distress. I got him to sign a promissory note saying that he’ll pay my deposit of 100k back, but still no sign of getting anything.

Any lawyer willing to help get my deposit back? Hoping I can get a flat fee lawyer or a reasonably priced hourly lawyer as I am in a tight financial situation.

I’m in the GTA, Ontario

I'm not a lawyer myself, but I'm an IT guy who works with I have a good paralegal friend who I recently shadowed for a few days. I saw that she was spending hours on a few different occasions manually redacting PII and SSN from court documents in Adobe Acrobat. She works in an employment law, so among other things, I saw her redacting information from payroll records, medical records, and employment records. I asked her why she was doing this manually and she said it was because a lot of the software she's tried to do this with will either redact too much information or miss important information, so she ends up spending more time fixing the mistakes.

I have a background in machine learning, so I built her a prototype that uses computer vision models to automatically detect and redact PII and other sensitive information from any document. She's been testing it and giving me some good feedback. I'm not a paralegal myself, so I'm wondering if this kind of tool would be useful?

https://reddit.com/link/1glbmoc/video/avew9wla2dzd1/player

I’m currently a 27m, UK grad, who is articling in a small real estate (with a little bit of litigation) law firm. At my previous employment I gained experience/exposure in criminal law, litigation, family law and immigration.

I just wrote my barrister exam and am writing my solicitors in February. If all goes well, I’ll get called to the bar on June 1, 2024.

However, my main concern is that I don’t plan on opening up my own practice as I doubt my ability to get clientele. Therefore, I want to work a large law firm where I can make significantly more money.

I don’t have any networks in big law or any large firms so I am unsure how to get a job there.

Does anyone have any tips or ideas on how I could potentially get employed at BigLaw given my circumstances? I understand that most large firms higher those who article for them.

https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/2024/2024onca811/2024onca811.html

[87]      The defendants argue that the speech in question — offered in media interviews by the Board Chair — was counter-speech as defined by the Supreme Court of Canada in Hansman. They say that the Board Chair was motivated to counter the offensive statements made by the respondent, as those comments conveyed discriminatory stereotypes about transgender persons, and it was necessary to ensure that the school system was a welcoming place for all, including those in the trans community.

...

[97]      The transgender community has experienced serious historical discrimination and disadvantage. Speech that stigmatizes and marginalizes transgender persons is properly countered in order to convey respect for their dignity and equality. These are important interests.

[98]      However, it is one thing to counter discriminatory speech; it is quite another to counter speech that was not expressed. The mischaracterization of what the respondent said is at the core of the action. The Board Chair’s remarks would have led members of the public to perceive that the respondent said something far more insidious than she did. There is a public interest in defending the rights of those who are stigmatized, but this does not license speech that derogates from truth.

Hi, I'm a high school student from BC, and I've been trying to search for some sort of volunteering opportunity that is related to law because that is what I want to pursue after high school. I've seen some people say to volunteer with non-profits but I haven't been able to find any. Does anyone know where I can volunteer, or at least what I can search for?

Hi! Please let me know if this is the wrong place to post this but I'm wondering if its bad for me to transfer from Queens to Osgoode. My biggest reason is I just want to be closer to home and don't really fit in at Queens but honestly I'll try and ride it out if I need to if firms look at it badly or it just looks off in general. I am hoping to do as best as I can and have been focused so far to do well academics wise but my main question is how bad is it if i do it career wise, connections/network wise, becoming a part of the student body etc. I've made connections at Queens w some of my profs as well but I'm really wanting to go closer to home. UofT ik is super competitive and I don't think i'd leave queens for TMU even if I applied, so honestly Osgoode is the only realistic one.

Hello everyone. I have a question. I was served a summons for charges under the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act (Provincial Offences), I already negotiated a deal with the prosecutor, I have my next appearance this Friday. I was wondering if anyone knows of any affordable paralegals I just wanted to seek some advice and possibly negotiate the fine with the prosecutor. I wouldn’t need more than 2 hours I would say. I’m currently unemployed so I am looking for an affordable paralegal, most of the ones I have spoken too are requesting $1,000 upfront which unfortunately is unfeasible for me currently. Thanks in advance.

Hey guys, I completed my articles, passed both exams and submitted my end of placement record. I called LSO and messaged, no reply. Does anyone know how it works to receive the instructions for the admin call? How long after submitting your end of placement does it take for them to process it to send you the next steps?

Any info would be helpful, thank you!!

How is it, that so many people ( seemingly) are worried about EDI but not nepotism?