Summer program in Toronto
Our Toronto office provides law students with exceptional opportunities to work with our national and international clients across a number of industries and practice areas. Our highly-recognized professionals and award-winning practices ensure that students receive a rich and rewarding learning experience doing work that really matters.
1 First Canadian Place, 100 King Street West, Suite 1600
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5X 1G5.
Please note this office is an English work environment, where all applications must be in English.
Our summer student program offers an immersive and enriching experience for aspiring legal professionals. As a student in our office, you’ll have the opportunity to collaborate and work with our talented and experienced lawyers. You will be entrusted with real responsibilities – working on actual cases, transactions and projects that contribute directly to the firm’s success. Our program is ideal for law students who are eager to gain practical experience and develop a deeper understanding of legal practice in a dynamic and supportive environment.
Over the course of the summer term, students are able to focus on one of three broad practice areas: Business Law, Advocacy, or Intellectual Property, with the hope that students come out of their summer with a strong foundation that will prepare them for their articling term.
In Business Law you will be exposed to many areas of Business Law, including:
In Advocacy, you will gain experience in many areas of litigation including:
*Note that during most recruitment cycles Gowling WLG Toronto will hire a dedicated 2L student into Environmental Law. This environmental student will work primarily on environmental law matters within the Advocacy Department and will also gain some general litigation experience. Conversely, the general Advocacy students often also get some exposure to environmental law.
And finally, our Intellectual Property practice covers areas such as:
We encourage law students interested in Gowling WLG's Summer Program to submit their completed application package, including cover letter, résumé and both law school and undergraduate transcripts to Elissa Ferrari, Assistant Director, Student programs, in accordance with the requirements of the Law Society of Ontario's Procedures Governing the Recruitment of Students. Reference letters may be submitted, but are not required. We will accept applications through the VI Portal. Please note that should you submit your application by email, we will request that you re-submit it through the VI Portal. Following a review of applications, selected candidates are interviewed in accordance with the LSO’s Recruitment Procedures. Please visit the Law Society's website for further information on these procedures.
Gowling WLG Toronto is an equal opportunity employer. That said, our firm is dedicated to providing equitable opportunities for employment and advancement, and to creating a more inclusive workplace for all our people, as we believe that diverse professional and administrative teams make better decisions. Applicants who are Indigenous, racialized BIPOC, members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, and persons with a disability are encouraged to self-identify.
Our articling program is designed to equip law graduates with practical legal experience and professional skills through two distinct pathways – the balanced program or intensive program. The balanced program allows students to split their articling term equally and rotate between Business Law and Advocacy whereas the intensive program allows students to focus 7 months of their term in either Business or Advocacy and complete a short, 3 month off-rotation in the other department. The students hired into IP will complete an intensive rotation in for 7 months in IP and 3 months in either Business Law or Advocacy.
To provide articling students with valuable hands-on experience, we offer a number of external rotations where students are immersed within the legal department of some of Canada's leading organizations. In previous years, students were seconded to The Royal Bank of Canada, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Alectra Energy and the Ontario Power Generation.
Gowling WLG Toronto provides a rewarding and educational summer work experience. We actively develop our students through educational programs that provide insight, evaluation and hands-on experience with various areas of the law. Our comprehensive seminar program spans a wide variety of practice areas, and our constructive mentoring programs provide students with opportunities to work with – and learn from – our diverse and experienced professionals. Our students are also encouraged to define their own development, and to seek out and experience the work in which they are most interested.
Our commitment to our students includes a competitive salary, plus vacation pay. Gowling WLG also established a guideline for agile working. The goal is to ensure a balance between working in the office and working remotely.
Social programs
As part of the Gowling WLG Toronto social program, our summer students enjoy a range of activities and social events. Our summer students have enjoyed pub nights, a night at the theatre, an evening of ping pong and have participated in a number of charity events including Big Bike for Heart and Stroke and a beach volleyball tournament.