Summer & Articling Law Student Program
At Neinstein and Associates, the articling program is designed to expose students to every aspect of litigation and to provide them with the skills necessary to be a successful lawyer.
What You Can Expect
Our Summer and Articling students are provided with practical hands on experience that only a smaller, boutique firm can offer. Students are provided with a wide range of assignments from all lawyers within the firm. They gain valuable experience in drafting pleadings, motion materials, factums and memoranda of law, as well as in the art of oral advocacy. Our students are expected to attend and argue their own motions before Masters of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, conduct Pre-Trials in Small Claims Court and appear on behalf of clients before various Tribunals, including the Canada Pension Plan, Social Benefits and Criminal Injuries.
Students may be given the opportunity to have carriage of their own files, under the supervision of the responsible lawyer. Students are always encouraged to sit in and contribute to client meetings, examinations for discovery, mediations and pre-trials.
With practical legal training through active participation, with guidance of a mentor to provide insight and direction, we provide one of the most practical articling experiences in the city.
‘My summer experience at Neinstein was special because of the practical hands on experience. Not only was I responsible for going to court for motions, but all the lawyers repeatedly included me in their practice which gave me the opportunity to see how my assignments were applied in practice. For example, writing mediation briefs and attending the mediation to see the file settle; researching issues to be examined in a discovery I went along to watch; or listening to new clients tell their stories and then drafting their Statement of Claim. It was a fantastic experience!’
Mentoring
Students can expect to have one lawyer acting as a mentor for them. Typically, all student assignments are approved by the mentor. This way our students are ensured to have a constant, manageable flow of appropriate assignments.
‘It was great to have a lawyer mentor who monitored and provided training for all my assignments. In addition to this, I was encouraged by all the lawyers to approach them for assistance every day. The true open door policy made me feel confident about my work because of the constant guidance I received. The on-the-job training was the best way to learn.’
Recruitment
Who We Are Looking For
We are always looking for ambitious and intelligent students with a keen interest in litigation and personal injury to join our expanding firm. We typically hire one summer student (who has completed their 2nd year at law school) and one articling student each year. We have a record of hiring from each of the Ontario law schools.
Compensation
Our compensation package equals or exceeds that of other Toronto firms of a similar size.
Hireback History
The student program at Neinstein and Associates also acts as our recruitment system. Neinstein and Associates articling program has been extremely successful for both the firm and the students.
Each year we aim to hire one summer student who returns as an articling student and hope that that student will return as an associate the following year. In the past five years, four of the past five articling students have returned to the firm as lawyers. We are confident that at the end of the articling term, our students will have developed a solid foundation for a career in civil litigation and acquired the tools necessary to excel.
‘While working at Neinstein & Associates I felt like part of the team right from the beginning. I don’t know whether it was the intimate working environment or the many firm events that allowed me to feel comfortable with everyone in a social setting. The events included: lunches, dinners, baseball games, a private movie screening, charity fundraisers, The SickKids Foundation Volleyball Tournament, and monthly birthday celebrations.’
Contact Us
We welcome all candidates interested in joining our team to submit their resumes, including law school and undergraduate transcripts to Sonia Leith at sonia@neinstein.com.
Please note we are not recruiting Summer students for 2012.
We are pleased to welcome Mike Wolkowicz as our 2012 articling student.
Articling applications for the 2012-2013 year are no longer being accepted. We thank you for your interest.
If you have any further questions about our student program please contact Sonia Leith