Numbers continue to come in for Precedent’s 2012 Hireback Watch. There are a few firms that still haven’t announced (like Osler and Faskens), but many articling students in Toronto already know whether they are sticking around at their firms.
Last week, Torys announced a 90% hireback rate with 18 out of 20 students set to return as associates this fall. Meanwhile, BLG is squeaking in at a 48% hireback rate with 10 out of 21 students landing associate positions. Other new reports on the chart are from McMillan (9/19), McCarthys (18/26) and Blakes (19/26). Overall, the numbers are pretty consistent with last year. Still too early to tell whether there has been an overall improvement in the market this year. We will continue to watch and learn.
Ahhh late spring. Days are longer, brighter and warmer, with summer just around the corner. Maybe you’ve left your coat at home a few days in a row, walking to work or hopping on the subway in your blazer. Maybe you’ve just booked your first weekend trip to a friend’s cottage, or decided where to go for summer vacation.
And if you’re anything like me, readers, you’re making a list of summer clothes to purchase — not that you’re going to have many places to wear them, with all the days you spend in the office!
Sigh. Reality check. When it comes to summer clothes, what’s a young lawyer to do when she spends her days in a sea of conference calls and paper? The answer is simple. Why spend money on clothes that end up being worn twice, when you can save oodles of money just buying summer accessories?
An often-forgotten aspect of style, accessories can change the look of that black dress and make your grey pinstriped suit wearable five days a week without anyone being the wiser. Here are three types of accessories you can dig those manicured hands into, while saving money and indulging that yearning for new things to match this new, summery mood of yours.
After the jump: Accessorizing with watches, necklaces and (gasp) earrings that dangle — you can do this!
Famous for plush velour and a decadent interior, Little Anthony’s on the corner of Richmond and York has undergone a makeover. Gone are the brocade and half-round booths, gone are the linen tablecloths and impeccably turned out waitstaff. Banished along with them is the name — Little Anthony’s Italian Ristorante — in favour of the hipper, cooler Little Anthony’s Italian + Bar (or, hipper still, L.A.).
Yes, it is open concept. Yes, it is tastefully decorated. Yes, it has a new menu. But it’s a bit like that senior partner in the corner office — you know the guy — the one with the comb-over, the fast car, and the Converse All-Stars. Sure, all the trappings are there – except that when he opens his mouth, he talks about “the Google” and refers to his assistant as his “secretary”.
Little Anthony’s new look, however, is not to be dismissed — the open concept works and the bank of 12-foot high windows on the west side lets in light, something the previous incarnation of Little Anthony’s hadn’t seen in decades. The downside of the floor-to-ceiling windows and open concept is that you are on display — to other diners, to passers-by, even to drivers in their BMWs waiting for the light to change. This is not the place to dine if you are having an affair, retaining criminal counsel, or discussing defection from your firm.
The menu, previously a multi-page affair with significant heft, has been pared down to a single sheet. So too the wine list; while the by-the-bottle choices are okay, the by-the-glass selection is somewhat limited.
After the jump: New chef Aaron Foster's execution is solidly average and never really soars
While CLA is known as a charity that uses law to improve the lives of those in developing nations around the world, this year's event highlighted the organization's decision to look inward and focus on Canada's north.
Phil Fontaine, the evening's special guest speaker and former chief of the National Assembly of First Nations (pictured above), addressed the difficulties Canada's Aboriginal people face, telling the crowd that children from the north rarely aspire to become doctors, teachers or lawyers. He emphasized the importance of CLA's new Dare to Dream program, which pairs Aboriginal students with lawyers and law students who mentor them and help them reach their potential.
Also in attendance was the mayor of Iqaluit, Madeleine Redfern, the first Inuk to serve a clerkship at the Supreme Court of Canada. She joked about how Toronto's traffic is far more frustrating than the cold weather she endures in the north. On a more serious note, Redfern spoke about the difference it makes for the youth of Nunavut to see CLA's law students setting an example by volunteering in the community. There is only one private practice law firm in Iqaluit and it consists of a single lawyer, she noted.
The 2012 Precedent Hireback Watch continues, with recent updates from Goodmans, Bennett Jones and Sherrard Kuzz.
Hireback Watch launched on Monday with reports from Affleck Greene McMurtry; Bereskin & Parr; Gowlings; Cassels Brock; Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti; FMC; Fogler; Minden Gross; Heenan Blaikie; Paliare Roland; Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark; and Thorsteinssons.
So far the numbers look promising, with more positions for associates at the big firms than in previous years. Cassels has hired 15 students this year compared with 10 students hired in each of the past two years; FMC has hired 11 of its 12 students; Heenan Blaikie has hired 13 of its 19 students; and Goodmans has remained steady, with 12 of its 15 students hired in 2012, the same number as in 2011.
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I abhor teaming crowds. I always take the road less travelled. I would rather climb a mountain than read a book. I prefer wildlife to girls gone wild. I am a traveller, not a tourist. In short, I am not a cruise person.
So why am I giggling like a school girl on a surfboard simulator in the middle of the Caribbean Sea aboard a floating city with 6,000 passengers and crew? I am loath to admit it: I might be a cruise person.
I took my first cruise about 10 years ago and have interspersed other diversionary sailings between adventure trips to Costa Rica, Israel and the Galapagos.
I used to regularly give a pretentious sniff when someone asked me about cruising as a travel destination. While it is true that a cruise can only give you a very superficial taste of its destination ports, I’ve come to learn that the taste is delicious. As I reflect on the breadth of experiences I’ve had while cruising, it boggles the mind just how much can be offered in a few short days.
After the jump: I no longer stare down my nose at obese, camera-toting, Hawaiian shirt-wearing passengers waddling off the gangway at ports around the world
Ahhh late spring. Days are longer, brighter and warmer, with summer just around the corner. Maybe you’ve left your coat at home a few days in a row, walking to work or hopping on the subway in your blazer. Maybe you’ve just booked your first weekend trip to a friend’s cottage, or decided where to go for summer vacation. 
Canadian Lawyers Abroad held its annual
