OPINION
6 Obiter Dicta
Career Week
Preparing Tomorrow’s Lawyers Today
abigail cheung › contributor
L
ast december, I had lunch with a group
of friends who I hadn’t seen since I started
law school. So much had happened since
the last time we were all together, making
us eager to catch up and share what we’d been up
to. Naturally, we all took turns sharing stories about
our lives, but something shifted when it was my
turn to speak. Faced with questions about whether
I was liking Toronto, loving law school and pursuing
my dreams, my mouth grew dry, not because these
were provocative or difficult questions, but because I
wasn’t sure I could tell the whole truth.
What I wanted to say was that I wasn’t sure I could
survive too many Toronto winters, I sometimes felt
like I didn’t fit in at Osgoode, and, after a year of law
school, I wasn’t sure this profession was for me. At
the time, I wasn’t sure how to explain my strained
relationship with the law and law school, and so I
smiled and reassured my friends that it was challenging, but that I would figure it out. Like any good
friends, they accepted my response in good faith.
Before coming to law school, I was committed to
using my legal education to assist refugees and influence immigration policy. But as I learned more about
the general limits of the law, and the reality of running a refugee practice, my confidence in this dream
began to fade. I knew I needed to explore other areas
of law, but was at a loss for where to start.
Despite my efforts to land a law job for the
summer after 1L, I hadn’t secured a position by the
time April rolled around. I worried that without legal
experience, or a job, I might fall behind. So, when
I got back home to Vancouver, I applied to a range
of jobs - to be a research assistant, to work in retail,
to waitress, to work at a grocery store - I even coldcalled about 30 employers listed under the “Law”
section in the phone book. Eventually, I stitched
together a couple opportunities that I felt might help
me figure out my future. It was a bit of a haphazard
approach, but my summer experience felt varied and
rich. I worked in one of Vancouver’s skyscrapers for
half the summer, and at low-income legal clinics in
East Vancouver and the Downtown Eastside for the
other half. I worked as a research assistant for a professor whose work I admired. I learned about construction, immigration and poverty law. I also got
to explore my passion for politics, and spend quality
time reconnecting with family and friends.
As the summer went by, the buzz abo ut
On-Campus Interviews (OCIs) intensified and
so I decided to sign up for firm tours hosted in
Vancouver’s prestigious downtown business district.
I attended eight back-to-back firm tours over the
span of two days, perused countless websites, met
with summer students who shared their experiences
with me, crafted many thank you letters, and, eventually, drafted applications. While I learned a lot and
ultimately opted to go through the OCI process, the
logistics of attending the firms tours, navigating this
new world and feeling uncertain about whether this
would lead me to finding a challenging and fulfilling
job overwhelmed me.
When I reflect on my trajectory so far, I wish I had
spent more time finding professionals who used their
Be who you are.
Law is what we do, but it doesn’t define us. We’re looking for
individuals who are passionate about everything in life, including
being a lawyer. If this sounds like you, please check us out at
www.torys.com to learn more about us.
JDs in unconventional, dynamic, and provocative
ways. While I enjoyed spending my summer after
2L working at a large national firm, I continue to be
interested in law as a tool for reform and change. The
more I talked to friends about finding jobs either in
2L or 3L, the more I wished that Osgoode had a coordinated, supportive, non-OCI focused approach so
that I could explore a wider variety of jobs.
This past summer, myself and three other
Osgoode students — Justin Amaral, Angelica Buggie,
and Lisa-Marie Williams — as well as a few members of Student Caucus and Kim Bonnar from the
Career Development Office (CDO) got together to
discuss how Osgoode could reframe the job search
for students, particularly for 2Ls and 3Ls for whom
pressures to find the “right” or “dream” job can be
particularly intense. As a collective, we have three
goals:
To shift the place that non-OCI jobs currently
occupy at Osgoode. Non-OCI jobs are not “alternative” fringe positions that only students who fail to
secure OCI jobs apply for — they run the gamut and
may be the only types of jobs some Osgoode students
are interested in. We want to highlight the diversity of legal positions available to students who want
international careers, careers that combine law and
technology, or careers where JDs are an advantage,
even if they are used by graduates working outside
of black letter law. The demands on lawyers in the
future will be different than the demands on lawyers today; we want to draw attention to areas
where legal opportunities may be growing or rapidly changing so Osgoode students can remain at the
forefront of innovative, ethical, and sustainable legal
practice.
To host a Career Week in early February. We will,
in collaboration with anyone who is interested, put
together a series of events over the span of five days
– ranging from a resume workshopping session with
career coaches who are experienced with helping
students looking for non-traditional jobs, to a meet
and greet mixer with recent Osgoode alumni who
are passionately pushing the boundaries of professional practice.
To host a monthly feature in the Obiter. Between
now and the beginning of Career Week, we would
like to introduce you to a group of talented and
interesting JDs who we would like you to meet at our
Career Week sessions.
When I arrived at Osgoode, I was most excited
about how the diversity of my cohort would contribute to a fulfilling and enriched learning experience.
I’m excited to be part of Career Week, which I hope
will offer additional support for students interested
in exploring a range of possibilities that go beyond
the OCI process and work to prepare tomorrow’s
lawyers today. u