Vancouver

McCarthy Tétrault Vancouver has a diverse client base both locally and nationally, and across all industries. We also have a highly active international practice, assisting clients in almost every nation in the world and have more cross-border corporate finance experience than any other firm in Vancouver.

We regularly work with our London and New York offices on capital markets transactions on the London Stock Exchange, AIM, NYSE and Nasdaq. Our litigation group acts for, and advises on, large, important and complex litigation, both locally and nationally. We are also the leading real estate firm in Vancouver, acting for every major developer in the city and have advised on some of the largest and most highest-profile deals in the city.

Our work ranges from large matters with multi-faceted teams to smaller matters handled by individual lawyers. The diversity in our work allowed to students to gain exposure to all types of legal work, both locally in Vancouver and with lawyers from our different offices and practice groups.

Summer Program

Our summer program is designed to introduce you to the practice of law and to the firm's various areas of practice. As a summer student, you will have the opportunity to work with Canada's leading lawyers in business law, tax, litigation, real property law, and labour and employment law.

Our summer students have the opportunity to work with Canada's leading lawyers in business law, tax,  litigation, real property and planning and labour and employment law.

Our summer program begins with orientation and training to introduce our students to the firm, research and writing techniques and to provide our students with tips and strategies to help them maximize their summer experience at the firm. As part of the summer student orientation training, students receive a two day exercise based research training workshop from members of the Firm's Research Group.

Additionally, we offer extensive legal education and professional development programs covering topics such as “The Student’s Role in Closings”, “The Student’s Role in the Litigation Process” and “The Student’s Role in Due Diligence”. Our lawyers are frequently invited to speak to the students about their area of practice or topical cases or transactions.

Summer students are given a broad range of responsibilities, including attending meetings, hearings and other litigation processes, researching and drafting legal memos, providing research support to our trial teams, preparing draft advocacy and transactional documents, due diligence and work relating to the closing of transactions, participating in the drafting of conference materials, articles for publication, and case summaries. It is important that our students have a well-rounded experience.

As a strong supporter of pro bono initiatives and as the sole firm sponsor of Pro Bono Students Canada, our lawyers provide pro bono services to the community in areas as diverse as civil liberties, human rights, financial, business, labour and employment law. We also think it is important to involve our students on pro bono matters through a variety of different pro bono projects. To offer our students the opportunity to work on student directed pro bono initiatives, the Firm offers through its Pro Bono Committee a wealth of opportunities for students to get involved and make a meaningful contribution. Under the supervision of our lawyers, our students get hands-on experience working with clients and solving real world problems with all of the benefits of the Firm's resources and experience.

Each of our summer students will be assigned to one of our practice groups for the balance of their summer. However, students will have the opportunity to receive work from each of our practice groups, in order to gain a breadth of experience. If a student indicates a preference for a specific practice area, we make every effort to place the student in that practice group area.

Articling Program

The articling program is designed to maximize student your exposure to all aspects of the practice of law and our law firm.

It will provide you with the opportunity to experience our practice first-hand by attending and working on transaction and advocacy documents, conducting research, attending client meetings, strategy sessions, hearings and trials. You will be encouraged to work independently on some matters, all the while having support and guidance.

Our informal approach enables you to work with many lawyers in each area of practice. At McCarthy Tétrault, there is a spirit of co-operation and mutual respect that promotes teamwork and encourages us to work together and develop important working relationships, within the Vancouver office and within the firm.  The Director, Professional Resources and the mentors work closely with our students to monitor workload and to ensure that students are getting a wide variety of work experience in each of their rotations.

In Vancouver, our rotation system allows articling students to spend time working with lawyers in each of our practice areas: business law (including tax), real estate, and litigation (including labour and employment). While working in these areas, students are encouraged to approach and work with lawyers who practise in more specialized practice areas.  In each rotation, you will work on a wide variety of files and projects, and get exposure to a diverse range of expertise and styles.

Members of our Student Committee are experienced lawyers who will provide assistance, support and guidance throughout the articling period. They are responsible for assisting students in managing their workload, and for ensuring that students receive interesting and challenging work, as well as a balanced articling experience. Each student is also assigned a principal lawyer and associate mentor to oversee their progress and to provide assistance with their professional responsibility and practice obligations.

Feedback and Evaluations

In Vancouver, our students work closely with lawyers and feedback occurs informally on a regular basis, and formally through our performance review process.

Students are encouraged to discuss any aspect of their summer experience or articles with their principals, mentors and other lawyers in the firm, to seek constructive feedback on their professional development, and to tell us whether the firm is providing them with work and experience consistent with their expectations. Members of our student committee in each practice group are also available to provide assistance and discuss work-related matters with our students at any time. Student workloads and the variety of each student's assignments are monitored by the Professional Resources team and the Student Committee.

Social Activities and Community Involvement

In addition to the professional aspects of the summer and articling program, a variety of social events are planned throughout the year to round out your experience as a McCarthy Tétrault student. Social events are organized to provide an opportunity to meet and get to know other students and lawyers on an informal basis.

The training and practical experience of our lawyers enables them to make valuable contributions to the community. We regularly participate in conferences, as well as teach law school and continuing legal education courses. McCarthy Tétrault also sponsors academic prizes, competitive moots, business law internships, pro bono initiatives and student conferences.

Compensation and Benefits

As a student at McCarthy Tétrault, you will receive a compensation package that is competitive with other large national law firms. The expected annual base salary for this position is $80,000.

For articling students, we pay the Law Society admission fees and Professional Legal Training Course tuition fees for all students. In addition to a basic salary, articling students will receive medical and dental benefits, two weeks’ paid vacation (during the articling term) and a wellness subsidy. Salary is paid during PLTC. Summer students also receive a wellness subsidy and paid vacation.

Application Process

Learn more about the programs we offer at our Vancouver Office and see if it’s right for you. At McCarthy Tétrault, we look for students who are genuinely interested in our practice and our clients, who can work in a team-based environment, who have a strong desire to learn, who are highly motivated, and who demonstrate initiative and judgment.

We have learned, however, that the skills and character traits needed to practise law at a high level do not come in uniform packages and our students and lawyers have diverse backgrounds, personalities and interests.

We pride ourselves on our professionalism, client focus, innovation and ability to work as a team. If you think you might enjoy working with us, please send us your application.

Learn more about applying for a position in Vancouver.

Applications

Your application should include a cover letter, a complete résumé, and copies of all official transcripts of law school, undergraduate and graduate grades, as well as a list anticipated upper year courses. Writing samples and reference letters are not required.

Please submit your completed application through the viLawPortal. Attention: Charlotte Belliveau, Director, Professional Resources.  All of our recruitment procedures are carried out in accordance with the VBA guidelines.

For dates, please see the VBA website.

Please note that the Vancouver office hires its Articling Student complement from its Summer Student class, as a result, does not typically participate in the Articling Student recruitment process. Should you have any questions about the Articling Student process, please reach out the Charlotte Belliveau, Director, Professional Resources.

If you are applying from any of the schools where we will be participating in OCIs, please adhere to the application deadlines set by your law school.

Recruitment Process

You may be wondering how the recruitment process works at McCarthy Tétrault. When we receive your application, we will acknowledge receipt of your application by e-mail. Then the process will occur as follows:

1. On-Campus Interviews

Interviews are conducted on the dates set by the law schools for on-campus interviews.  After the OCIs have been completed, we will select students to attend in-firm interviews and will notify all students by email of the outcome of their OCI.

2. Call Day

Interviews are conducted in accordance with the Vancouver Bar Association Guidelines which set out an interview call date. If you are granted an in-firm interview, you will be contacted at that time.

3. Interviews at our firm

Students will meet with at least two of our lawyers during the course of the interview. Our interviews are generally an hour long. After the interview, you will be given the opportunity to meet with our current students to ask candid questions about their experience at McCarthy Tétrault.

Hints and Tips

We appreciate that the recruitment process can be a stressful time for students. To make sure the process goes as smoothly as possible, here are few tips:

Application process

• Preparation is key to a successful recruitment experience, so take time to reflect about who you are and what you want.
• A cover letter should be concise (no more than one page) and indicate briefly  why you are applying to McCarthy Tétrault.
• Use examples in your cover letter to demonstrate your key skills. Specific examples are often most compelling!
• Your cover letter should leave the reader thinking, "I want to learn more about this person."
• Gaps in a candidate's personal history may be puzzling and should be explained in your cover letter.
• Your résumé should allow its reader to determine what you have done and should highlight your education, extracurricular activities, leadership, work and community service.
• Don't forget to proofread! Lawyers and clients are very detail-conscious.

Interview process

• When interviewing you, we want to learn more about your skills and interests, and, most importantly, about who you are.
• During the interview, you should be prepared to answer questions about anything in your cover letter and résumé, about yourself and your career ambitions. We want to learn about your interests, motivations, passions, strengths and developmental goals.
• Listen carefully to the questions, and don't be afraid to ask for clarification.
• Practise answering questions with a family member or a friend or participate in mock interviews.
• Try to be on top of everything that is in your control in order to help ease the stress of interviews.
• Get to the interview with a few minutes to spare and be prepared with questions for your interviewers.
• Breathe, relax, smile: and, most importantly, be yourself.

Contact Us

We look forward to hearing from you!

Suite 2400, 745 Thurlow Street
Vancouver BC V6E 0C5

Tel: +1 604-643-7100
Fax: 604-643-7900
Toll-Free: +1 877-244-7711