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OUR ARTICLING EXPERIENCE
At all times, members of the Articling Committee will be checking in on how you're doing. They are available as resource persons in different areas of practice and different point in their careers with different perspectives on the practice of law and the Articling experience. Their job is to answer any questions you have, help with any problems you might be experiencing, and to basically give you any assistance you need. This year the Articling Committee is composed of Ken Baggs, John Barrett, Greg Kirby and Ian Patey. Like all lawyers at the firm, their doors are almost always open, and if they're not, they'll get back to you ASAP. In addition to the in-house work, plans are being made to have you spend a couple of days with a title searching company in the Registry of Deeds and Companies. You'll get hands-on work at a vital part of the practice of law, searching title to property. To identify your strengths and help develop your skills, we encourage feedback and constructive criticism from the lawyers you work with. In return, any comments and criticisms you have with respect to your work here and the Articling program are equally encouraged. Feel free to speak to us, and in particular the Articling Committee members, at any time. YOUR FIRST DAY Your first day will begin with an orientation with members of the firm. These are the matters which will be discussed at the meeting: 1. The Articling Program (i.e. this information) 2. Who's who - Partners, Associates, Staff 3. Office Administration and Support - who does what for whom - who will do your administrative work - who has the answers to the really important questions, like how to send faxes, how to work the phones, etc. 4. Time Billing - how it works, getting file numbers from lawyers, etc. 5. Salary and Benefits 6. Our Expectations and Yours. After this brief orientation, you'll be introduced to everyone here and shown everything in the office. The office tour gives you a chance to familiarize yourself with the faces of your co-workers and the location of key pieces of equipment, like the coffee makers! Following the office tour, a member of the Articling Committee will bring you on the Downtown Tour: all the places that you'll become familiar with while working at O'Dea Earle, including the Provincial Courts, Small Claims Court, Law Society Library, Supreme Court Registry, Applications Registry and Court of Appeal. If possible, we'll get to the Unified Family Court and the Registry of Deeds and Companies as well. That should take care of your first morning. After that, you'll be up and running. AFTER HOURS At O'Dea, Earle we believe that an active social life is part and parcel of a successful legal career. While we maintain high work expectations, and are certain we'll meet yours as you begin your legal career, the firm maintains an active social schedule. In addition to our weekly sporting activities, our Social Committee plans many regular events, including the summer barbeque and softball tournament, the spring bowling party, the firm Christmas Party, the lawyers Brigus retreat and numerous "spontaneous socials". IN CLOSING Articling is a vital part of your education as a Lawyer in Training. Upon completion of Articles and the Bar Admission Course, you will be ready to be enrolled as a Barrister and Solicitor and begin your profession in earnest. At O'Dea Earle, we strive to give you the most comprehensive exposure to the law that our practice and the Articling period allows. With everyone working towards that goal, we are confident that your Articling experience will be instructive and enjoyable. To get the particulars of the requirements of the Law Society of Newfoundland & Labrador for Articled Clerks, please visit the Law Society at www.lawsociety.nf.ca. SUMMERING AT O'DEA EARLE You're just getting settled into your first semester at Law School, and people are talking job interviews already! As the demand for qualified students has increased, to maintain a competitive edge it has become the practice for many firms to recruit law students from first year classes. So, while you are scrambling to wrap your head around the difference between duty of care and standard of care, your Placement Committee is barraging you with interview scheduling and tips on resume writing. At this stage, you know just a little about the law but firms will be asking you to commit to a favorite subject or practice area. Before you go home for the holidays, you'll likely have met with dozens of lawyers and sat through more than enough interviews. While you might think its all a bit premature, the choice of your first law firm and your first job as a legal professional often happens before you take the plastic wrap off the recommended reading for Constitutional Law. How are you supposed to decide where you want to work when you've only been law student for a couple of weeks? We feel that the only way to make that decision is to learn about your prospective employers, and then follow your instincts. First, each law firm is engaged in certain areas of legal practice. Some firms limit their practice areas to cater to an established or identified target group of clientele. Others offer a wide range of legal services to the public at large. Often, it becomes a balance of the two that allows for a successful legal practice. The kind of work a firm does can often be a good indicator of whether you will find that requisite "fit" between yourself and your employer. Second, a law firm is defined by its lawyers and staff. After all, a firm is simply a collection of individuals with a shared view of the practice of law. Beyond the identity of the firm by its practice areas, the lawyers within the firm often have become identified as practitioners of specific areas of practice. But beyond the work, the personal lives and backgrounds of the individuals within the firm come together to establish the firm culture. Looking to the individuals will give you a truer sense of whether that "fit" will be present. To learn about O'Dea Earle, have a look at the rest of the information on our website. We feel that there are many reasons why you should apply to summer at O'Dea Earle. We hire excellent people. Priding ourselves on our standards for accepting new members of our firm, we value excellent academic performance, strong initiative and self motivation, and are looking for independent thinkers with a collective attitude towards setting and achieving goals. We do excellent work. Our lawyers represent a varied clientele, from corporations and associations operating in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, to first time home buyers. What is important is that we represent the entire spectrum of clients with the same dedication to client service and satisfaction. We reward hard work. Besides the rewards you will receive from being exposed to a very diverse legal practice early in your career, we reward you with the ability to cultivate and develop a practice limited only by your own drive and industry. And we maintain a competitive salary position within the local marketplace. We believe in life outside of the office. The legal profession will place demands on your time that you may not experience in other occupations, and you will receive the benefits commensurate with those demands with hard work and dedication. But what you do for a living is not who you are, and our expectations are reflective of a belief in the value of family, friends, and a social life beyond the walls of our offices. Finally, it continues to be the philosophy of O'Dea Earle to grow from the ground up. That is, every student hired is a prospective associate. As a general rule we do not look to hire practicing members of the bar, but choose instead to exclusively recruit law students as firm members. The goal of that approach is to turn every summer student into an articled clerk, and every clerk into an associate. As a consequence, we are very selective in hiring students and, in fact, assess each candidate as a potential lawyer from day one. Have we peaked your interest? Our Summer Program Summering at O'Dea Earle differs from the articling program in a number of ways. First, as you have not yet signed your Articles of Clerkship, you are not required to be exposed to the particular areas of practice as mandated by the Law Society Act. The result is that we generally assign a summer student to a particular lawyer, who then has the responsibility for scheduling your weekly activities in a more structured way. In the past, the lawyer - student relationship has turned into a Principal - Articled Clerk relationship following the return after second year of law school and the commencement of Articles. However, we make a concerted effort to give you practical experience of the lawyer as advocate by having you attend administrative tribunal hearings, discovery proceedings, criminal and civil trials, and appeals in the Court of Appeal as an assistant to counsel. "Your" lawyer will be one of the partners, who have differing practice areas, as a review of the "Lawyers" web page will disclose. While you will be primarily responsible to your lawyer, and he or she will have the responsibility of assigning regular tasks, do not be surprised if you receive many and varied secondments during the summer on special projects of pressing urgency. As you will come to learn, that is often the nature of the practice of law, and we feel this early exposure to high demand - quick return projects can only serve to better you as you continue on with your Articles of Clerkship. We invite you to consider our offices for the commencement of your legal career. If you are interested in learning more, please direct your inquiries to Tom Johnson tjohnson@odeaearle.nf.ca.
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