NEW: Articling in the Aboriginal Law Practice Group
Looking for experience advocating for Indigenous rights, in a leading-edge and intellectually challenging Aboriginal Law practice? This is the place for you!
** New this year: We are looking for an articling student with a demonstrated interest in Aboriginal Law and Indigenous rights to work primarily with our Aboriginal Law practice group (based in Toronto). The first law student hired for this position will article in the 2025-2026 articling term.
The Work
The primary focus of this articling position is the firm’s Aboriginal law and Indigenous rights practice. The lawyers in this practice group work with Indigenous governments and individuals to advance and protect their Indigenous and treaty rights, and to build space for greater self-determination. The practice includes litigation at all levels of court and before administrative tribunals, consultation processes and negotiations with governments and proponents, and advice concerning governance and economic development matters.
Under the supervision and guidance of the partners in our Aboriginal Law practice group, this articling student will assist with all aspects of the practice. The work of an articling student includes conducting legal research and preparing legal memoranda; historical and archival research and document review; preparation of draft opinion letters, pleadings and factums; and participation in meetings with clients, witnesses and experts (including, potentially, travel to remote communities).
This articling student may also assist the lawyers in our Civil Litigation and Class Action groups with certain civil litigation files.
Student Resources
The successful articling student will work closely with the partners and associates in our Aboriginal Law Practice Group, including Jessica Orkin, Natai Shelsen, Maria Lucas and Rachael Gardner. Our Practice Group prides itself on its team-based approach to practice, where we encourage active participation and the exchange of ideas on all of our files.
Our articling students have access to electronic research services and the firm’s internal databases, as well as an excellent law library containing numerous reports and digests, and hundreds of legal texts, periodicals and other resources.
The Collective Agreement
Our articling students have been organized for forty years, thanks to this former articling student.
Students’ terms and conditions of employment are set out in a collective agreement between the firm and the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union, Local 343. Among other things, the collective agreement provides for:
- wages competitive with other similar firms in Toronto;
- an election to have the articling salary reduced on a pro-rated basis to provide weekly pay for the period commencing 9 weeks prior to the first day of work. This allows a student to have an income while studying for and writing the licensing examinations;
- payment of Law Society application and licensing fees;
- a signing bonus equivalent to 30 working days’ salary, payable in the week of the first Law Society licensing examination in June (whether or not the student elects to take the licensing examination at that time);
- extended health care benefits for articling students;
- a child care allowance; and
- an allowance for health club, at-home internet, and/or public transit expenses.
During the course of the articling term, students and their COPE 343 representative negotiate with the firm for the renewal of the collective agreement.
Applications for the 2025-2026 articling term
Applications will be accepted until Monday, December 9, 2024, at 5:00 pm. Applications should be submitted by email to: careers@goldblattpartners.com.
Please include a cover letter, résumé, law school and other post-secondary transcripts, as well as a writing sample.
Applicants may also wish to include reference letters in their application. If a referee prefers to send a reference letter to us directly, they may email it to: careers@goldblattpartners.com.
We anticipate that we will hold interviews for short-listed candidates in mid-January 2025.
We will contact short-listed candidates no later than December 20, 2024. Only the candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.
We are committed to a culture of diversity and inclusion and encourage members of all equity-deserving groups to apply. We welcome applications from people with disabilities and will make accommodations available upon request for applicants who take part in this selection process.
For more information about this position, please contact Jessica Orkin.