We consider Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP to be an ideal learning environment for new lawyers. We are a Vancouver-based firm with local, national and international clients. We are a multi-service firm rather than a boutique. We are of moderate size, allowing our lawyers to gain a greater degree of diversity in their practice and the firm to maintain a more congenial environment. All of these things come to bear on our student programs.

Our student programs are premised upon the idea that experience is the best teacher in the practice of law. We also recognize the value of learning in a supportive environment.

ARTICLING PROGRAM

We generally hire eight articling students each year for our 12-month articling rotation, including returning summer students.  We will be hiring articling students for the 2024/2025 articling period.  We recruit students according to the interview guidelines established by the Vancouver Bar Association.

We strive to give our students meaningful legal work that develops their skills and knowledge, and furthers their education. Types of work include: research; drafting pleadings, agreements and other documents; preparing for and attending chambers, trials, hearings, examinations for discovery and meetings; interviewing witnesses; reviewing documents; and preparing seminar papers and other presentations on various legal issues.

To understand more about a typical day in the life of an articling student, see stage 6 of our “Student Life” series.

We have a flexible rotational structure for our articling students.

In our experience, most new lawyers are not entirely sure where their practice preferences lie until they have had an opportunity to experience life practicing in different areas of the law. Upon joining our firm as a student, you will be placed in a flexible rotational system to maximize your exposure to a diverse range of legal areas. In each rotation, we actively encourage our students to seek out work in their areas of interest and assume as much responsibility as possible under the guidance of senior lawyers.

Although we recognize that good research skills are essential to your development as a lawyer, we do our best to ensure that the articling experience is much broader than research.

During our litigation rotation, we expect that our students will:

  • Prepare pleadings
  • Accompany counsel on examinations for discovery, trials, hearings and mediations
  • Prepare legal memoranda
  • Attend meetings with clients and experts
  • Regularly appear in chambers
  • Have conduct of their own small claims files and occasionally run small claims trials

Students will also meet with our litigation lawyers to develop strategy in pending cases and prepare matters for trial.

During the rotation in our business law practice, students will likely be engaged in drafting:

  • Commercial contracts
  • Wills and trusts
  • Shareholder agreements
  • Franchise agreements
  • Licensing agreements
  • Distribution agreements
  • Development and management agreements

Students will also research and prepare legal memoranda, meet with clients, and prepare documents such as materials relating to residential and commercial real estate transactions and the purchase and sale of corporations through share or asset sales. Students may also assist in private and public financings.

Our students are well supported

Christine York, our Director of Associate + Student Programs, is a Partner of the firm and is devoted to supporting and developing our junior legal talent. Students are also assigned three mentors: a senior mentor, a junior mentor, and an “advisor” student or first year call. Additionally, students are provided with their own offices, legal administration services, access to a legal librarian and research lawyer, and office services support.

Our firm has made fostering legal talent a priority.

As part of our ASCEND ™ training program, our articling program includes an intensive orientation and a “Student Boot Camp” series of in-house seminars, designed to ensure that our students’ hands-on education is supplemented with more formal training. We also offer our students bi-weekly seminars on practical subjects, designed specifically for the student experience. Students are also welcome to attend a myriad of other in-house seminars offered regularly.

We include our articled students in all firm functions throughout the year.

This gives students an opportunity to meet with lawyers and staff on a social basis. We also sponsor functions for students alone, to build camaraderie within our student group. It is our intention that, at the end of the articling experience, our students will not only have had a thorough professional experience, but will also have established friendships which will last throughout the balance of their professional careers.

Our articling students are paid an annual salary of $80,000.

We also cover all of the typical lawyer membership expenses for our students, including the British Columbia Law Society and PLTC enrolment fees, as well as the Call and Admission fee. We also pay the cost of Canadian Bar Association and Vancouver Bar Association memberships for our students.

Many of our students clerk with the courts prior to commencing articles.

We provide clerks with the usual  articling program, even though they can usually be called after the completion of PLTC and their clerkships. Clerks will be paid as first year Associates after their call, even when they continue in their student rotations.