New Year’s Resolutions?
As the new year (and a new decade!) approaches many of us find ourselves thinking about goals for the year ahead. If you are in the NCA process, one of your goals may be to complete and pass all your assigned exams. NCA Tutor™️ is here to support you with this goal!
If 2020 will mark the close of your NCA studies, you should be looking toward the next steps in your legal career. Here’s a list of 2020 goals for those of you entering the next phase of your legal studies:
1) Fix-up your Resume
The first half of the year is a great time to review your existing resume and clean it up. In addition to ensuring all your relevant work experience and education is captured, you should also assess any gaps in your experience and consider how you can address it before summer job applications come around. For instance, a lack of legal experience can be rectified with pro-bono or other volunteer work.
Even if you have extensive legal experience in your home-jurisdiction, you should be looking for ways to augment that experience with Canadian experience to demonstrate a dedication to and capability for working in your new jurisdiction. Finding organizations to volunteer with in a legal capacity, or a lawyer who is willing to let you shadow them can really set you apart from other internationally trained candidates and put you more on par with other Canadian-trained law students.
2) Build your Network
Another good use of time during the first half of 2020 is attending legal events or contacting lawyers in your practice area for informational interviews. This is a great way to learn about firms and narrow down your interests. While the lawyers you meet may not be in positions to offer you a job, they can provide valuable information and insight that will help you down the road. Who knows, they may even let you shadow them and gain practical experience!
Chatting with the student recruitment HR contacts at firms that interest you is also a great use of time. These contacts can provide valuable insight around what firms look for in their summer and articling students and how to improve your applications. The earlier you do this the better as you may need some time to implement some of their suggestions.
3) Prepare for Articling / Summer Associate Applications
In addition to the first two steps, you should also do some independent research on law firms in your area and their practice areas. The more you know about a firm and its work, the more you can tailor your cover letter and application to them over the summer.
4) Get Ready for the Bar Exam
Of course, the NCAs are not the end of your time as a student. Once you receive your NCA certificate you will be eligible to write the Bar in your province (if applicable). To officially register for an exam date, you will need to register with your local law society and obtain the official study materials. You may also want to invest in some additional materials to help you study and write the bar such as the NCA Tutor™️ Indices (Ontario).
There are certainly a lot of things to juggle over the next few months. But the value in starting early and using the first half of the year to get a head start will pay off by the time summer rolls around, trust me! Watch this space for more tips and tricks on navigating the Canadian legal job market.
Happy Studying & Happy New Year!
Tiffany
Tiffany is an LLM candidate at NYU Law. and a regular blogger for NCA Tutor™.