Osgoode overtakes U of T in positions secured
This year, Ultra Vires reached out to 71 employers who participated in the official Toronto Summer 2024 2L Recruit, a slight increase compared to the 66 in the previous year.
For the first time in recent years, Osgoode Hall Law School had the highest number of students employed with 83 students. U of T came in second with 74 students securing positions. Despite this shift, U of T continued to be the school that had the highest proportion of its class hired, with approximately 35.2% of U of T’s 2L class ending up with a summer position through this year’s recruit.
Most of the large full service Bay Street firms did not significantly change the size of their summer classes, with the notable exceptions being Aird & Berlis and Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes) who each hired an additional four students (12 and 36 in 2023, 16 and 40 in 2024, respectively), and Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP (Fasken) and Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG) who each hired five and seven fewer students, respectively (Fasken hired 21 in 2023, 16 in 2024; BLG hired 28 in 2023, 21 in 2024).
Among the firms that responded to our survey, Blakes hired the highest number of students (40). Second place was shared by Bennett Jones LLP, Cassels Brock &
Blackwell LLP, and Stikeman Elliott LLP, each hiring 23 students. Blakes hired the highest number of U of T students (13).
Similar to last year, UV asked for the number of applications each employer received, as well as the number of on-campus interviews (OCIs) and in-firm interviews each employer conducted. While this data can be used to provide meaningful insights, it can also be misconstrued in ways that can elevate anxiety. We have outlined some of the limitations of this data and variables not accounted for in the table, to avoid misleading conclusions:
- It is common for employers to offer more OCIs and in-firms relative to final offers because employers are aware that students interview with many prospective employers.
- Firms also tend to interview more candidates than positions available in anticipation that some students will decline their offers.
- The number of students interviewed varies by law school. The table includes the total number of OCI and in-firm interviews conducted for the entire recruit process. While the total number of OCIs a firm conducts may give the impression of high competition, a student’s chance of converting their application to an OCI is also dependent on the number of students a firm decides to interview at their particular school. For example, OCIs run for two days at U of T and Osgoode Hall Law School, as opposed to other schools. The variance in the number of OCIs conducted at each school may impact the chances of students proceeding into the in-firm stage as well.
- Some of the OCI and in-firm numbers in the table are approximations (as indicated by the symbol “~”).
- Just because a firm did not hire anyone from a given school does not mean that the firm did not extend an offer to students from that school. Students who received offers may have declined that firm’s offer over another offer.
Notes:
- At the time of publication, there was a 60.6% response rate from the firms.
- The net total number of students hired in the recruit was 339 (the total number of hires minus the returning 1Ls).
- In calculating the percentage of 2Ls hired per school, we used the approximate class sizes of Ontario law schools from the Ontario Law School Application Service. We acknowledge there may be variations of this data provided by the Law School Admission Council, which was used for out-of-Ontario schools.
Editor’s Note: At the time of publication, some major employers who participated in the survey in past years had not yet provided their data, which may skew comparative results. We will update our online spreadsheet at ultravires.ca to reflect any further information provided from employers after the time of publication.
