This year’s 1L recruit took place during the week of February 20. Toronto law firms and the Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG) offices hired fifty-five students, a decrease from the sixty-three first year law students hired in 2016.
The total number of students hired by Toronto firms remained relatively consistent; forty-three first year students were hired by Toronto law firms, compared to forty-four in 2016. Overall, an increase in hiring at some firms balanced out a decrease at other firms. Specifically, Blakes, BLG, and Sherrard Kuzz hired more 1Ls this year, with first-year hiring at Blakes more than tripling. Bereskin & Parr, Davies, and Dentons were amongst the firms whose hiring decreased, while Cassels Brock and Goodmans did not participate in the recruit at all. Aird & Berlis kept its hiring consistent with its 2016 levels, as did Bennett Jones.
Out of the fifty-five 1Ls hired overall, twenty-five were University of Toronto students—a notable decrease from the thirty hired in 2016. It should be noted that the formal 1L recruit only makes up a small fraction of first-year summer hiring; many first-year students will work as research assistants at the Faculty of Law or caseworkers at legal clinics, while others may work at law firms that did not take part in the formal recruit, or at jobs unrelated to law. Some, of course, will choose to spend their last summer of freedom nowhere near anything law-related.
