Student Program

Our Practice Areas

When it comes to litigation, we don’t do one-size-fits-all—we are industry leaders in 27 areas of law. We have a deep understanding of what makes each sector unique, allowing us to specialize our services and achieve the best results possible. For a closer look at our different practice areas, visit our expertise page.

Tours & Events

Whitelaw Twining participates in various events and tours throughout the year to give prospective summer and articling students the opportunity to meet with our team members, visit our offices, and learn more about us. While we mainly participate in events at local law schools in BC and Alberta, we hire students from law schools all across Canada. The events that we participate in are university career fairs, firm hops, and On Campus Interviews (OCIs). We participate in these events through the following universities:

• University of British Columbia
• University of Victoria
• Thompson Rivers University
• University of Alberta
• University of Calgary
• And more

Details of these events are made available through your law school.

Additionally, our team is always happy to host students on an informal basis to allow you to learn more about the firm by meeting and speaking with our Directors, Associates, and Students. Please feel free to contact coffee@wt.ca to set up a firm tour and/or meeting with one of our team members.

Summer Articles

At Whitelaw Twining, our strength is our people, and therefore we have decided that the best way to grow our firm is from the roots up. As such, we prefer to hire summer students so that we can start building our relationship with them early, in hopes that they will return for regular Articles, and eventually as Associates.

As a summer student, we know that you are new to working at a law firm, and therefore your summer is focused on learning and getting to know our firm. We encourage this learning by providing you with interesting assignments, projects and opportunities to meet with your Principal and Mentor on a regular basis.

Our goal is to provide you with challenging work that will allow you to develop new skills through hands- on experience. Summer students can expect to handle tasks such as conducting research, drafting pleadings, preparing reporting letters, and attending court hearings with our experienced lawyers. Summer students are also included in our various summer-time social events, such as softball, our annual summer party, and Friday socials.

Additional Information:

• Whitelaw Twining will generally hire four to five summer students to join the firm between May and August annually.

Regular Articles

As an articled student, you are able to quickly get involved in more complex files and assignments, including maintaining your own small claims files under the supervision of your Principal. We support our articling students in pursuing the areas of law that are of most interest to them and as such, seek to provide students with work that is aligned with their career goals.

As an articled student at Whitelaw Twining, you can expect to handle tasks that will help further develop your skills and knowledge, including attending examinations for discovery, trials, chambers applications, meetings with clients, mediations, and other court appearances alongside our senior lawyers. Through this added responsibility, you will be fully prepared to take on a full case load of your own by the time you are called to the bar and are practicing as a lawyer. Of course, as articles students you will also be encouraged to have fun and participate in the firm’s events, including our annual lawyer retreat.

Additional Information:

• Articling students receive a paid salary during PLTC.
• Whitelaw Twining will generally hire four to five articling students from May to May each year.

The Principal & the Mentor

At Whitelaw Twining, we provide students with a two tiered mentorship program. Each student is paired with both a Principal and a Mentor. This set up ensures that students are able to foster relationships with partners and associates alike.

Your Principal will be a Partner, and will oversee your progress at the firm, to ensure that Law Society’s requirements are being met.

Your Mentor will be an Associate, and your regular point of contact throughout articles. Your Mentor is there to field your questions, and provide a friendly and helpful resource for you throughout your articles. Your Mentor will also regularly check in with you to ensure that your experience at the firm is a positive one, and that you have an interesting and manageable workload, and are receiving challenging opportunities.

Student Program Rotations

All students will participate in rotations. The purpose of the rotations is to provide students with exposure to Whitelaw Twining’s key practice areas. It is important to us that you receive a variety of good quality work throughout your articles. The rotation system also allows you to work with a greater cross section of associates and partners, and ensures that you get to know everyone at the firm.

The Rotations

There are five rotations. Articled students will complete four of the five rotations (approximately 2.5 months each), and summer students will complete two rotations (approximately 6 weeks per rotation). Students’ preferences will be taken into consideration when rotations are assigned. The rotations consist of the following:

• Bodily Injury
• Professional Liability/Regulatory
• Property & Recovery
• Commercial
• Construction

Students who are interested in practice areas that are not formally part of the rotation program are encouraged to discuss this with their Principal and Mentor.

Orientation & Training

Whitelaw Twining provides students with an orientation program for both summer and regular articles. Besides legal and systems training, there is a social aspect to the orientation program allowing students to get to know each other and their Principals and Mentors, and providing an opportunity for students to meet as many people as possible at the firm. Broadly, the orientation and training program will consist of the following:

A welcome to the firm with a tour and introductions

• Systems Training
• Human Resources
• IT Training
• Accounting & Timekeeping Training
• Library training

Professional Development Seminars

• Whitelaw Twining: the firm’s practice areas and our role in the insurance industry
• Insurance Law 101 – Training Session
• Quantum Assessments – How to Prepare a WT Style Quantum Assessment
• Pleadings Primer – Pleadings 101 Training Session
• Chambers Basics – Chambers Applications 101 Training Session
• Interviewing Witnesses – How to Properly Interview a Witness
• Opinion & Reporting Letters – How to Draft a WT Style Opinion/Reporting Letter
• Lists of Documents – How to Prepare a List of Documents
• Monthly Lunch Seminars: members of each of our 27 Practice Groups will lead lunch seminars focusing on their areas of practice.

Social

• Welcome Activities: welcome lunch for student group, mentor lunches and a special Friday welcome gathering in the Firm’s Bistro.
• Lawyers Dinners, Associates BBQ and other social gatherings
• Summer Party, Student Party, Associate Party and others
• Firm-wide sports teams and activities (e.g. Softball, Hooplaw, Dodgeball, Exercise Classes).

The Nitty Gritty

Salary

We offer competitive salaries to ensure we maintain our position as a leader within the market. Students earn a monthly gross salary of $6,250 (based on an annual salary of $75,000.00 per year)

Law Society Fees

Whitelaw Twining will pay for all fees related to applications for temporary and/or regular articles, including payment of LSAP and PLTC fees.

Benefits

Benefits are extended to Articling Students only (due to the short summer articling period, benefits are not extended to Summer Students). Benefits provided to our Articling students include:

• Extended health benefits which includes vision care, dental, and travel out-of-country coverage
• Life insurance
• Long-term disability coverage

Vacation Time

Articling Students receive up to 10 days of vacation over the term of their articles, which may be taken as work permits.

Work With Us

Whitelaw Twining conducts recruitment of both summer and articling students in accordance with the guidelines set by the Vancouver Bar Association.

Applications containing your cover letter, resume, and copies of official transcripts for all legal and undergraduate studies can be submitted to the attention of Danna Marks, Litigation Counsel & Manager, Associate and Student Affairs. You may wish to include copies of reference letters with your application, however, this is not required.

Applications are accepted by email at careers@wt.ca and through vilawportal.com

Applying for Summer Articles

We anticipate hiring four to six 2L 2024 Summer Articling students in Vancouver and two 2L 2024 Summer Articling students in Calgary. Applications are accepted by email at careers@wt.ca and through vilawportal.com. Whitelaw Twining adheres to the Vancouver Bar Association Recruitment Guidelines and the Calgary Firm Summer 2024 Summer 2L Recruitment Protocol.

Applying for Regular Articles

We have completed all of our hiring for the 2024/2025 articling period in both our Vancouver and Calgary offices. Please check back in 2024 for updates on our hiring status for 2025-2026 and further information.