Student Program: Toronto
Articling Program
Our articling program offers you the greatest flexibility to explore areas of practice that may be of interest to you.
As with our summer program, we have no formal rotation system. You will be able to work with all lawyers at the firm and do not spend a specific predetermined amount of time in any one practice area.
Before you start, we ask you for your primary area(s) of interest (which you are free to change over the course of articles). All articling students meet weekly as a group with the workload coordinators who are associates in our Corporate and Capital Markets Practice and our Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice.
During the meetings, you have the opportunity to talk about what you are doing and what you might like to be doing more of. The workload coordinators direct work to articling students on the basis of their stated interests. You are also encouraged to begin to manage your own workload – that way, you will get exposure to a wide variety of work in a number of different areas. Throughout your articles, we encourage you to talk to Deborah Dalfen, the Director, Student Affairs, the workload coordinators and your mentors should any issues or concerns arise around workload coordination.
The weekly meetings give the workload coordinators a general sense of the students’ level of activity to ensure students are getting a variety of work and give them an overview of what is happening at the firm and the type of work students are doing.
We have an online workload coordination system whereby you can go online at any time and update your status and what you are working on. With this system, when a workload coordinator (or a practice representative in a smaller practice group) is asked to find a student to assist lawyers, he or she can go online to find a student with the capacity and interest in the particular type of work to recommend to the lawyers. In addition, you should also feel free to approach any lawyer in any practice and at any time to ask if there are opportunities to work with them.
As a student, you will change your office location three times over the course of articles to give you an opportunity to meet and interact with different groups of lawyers and staff. Using location, we can also provide opportunities to students with clearly stated interests to work in their preferred areas. For example, if you are interested in IP, you would be placed on the IP floor for a third of your articles.
We believe you are in the best position to design your articling experience the way that suits you.
Compensation and Benefits
Your compensation will be competitive with that of students at other large Toronto firms. You will be offered two weeks of paid vacation, an extended healthcare plan, a dental plan, life insurance and a subsidized fitness club membership. We will pay your Licensing Process fees and your salary during the Skills and Professional Responsibility Program and self-study periods.
Our Practice
Torys has expertise in the following ten broad areas of practice, and our pro bono work is integrated into each area:
In all areas of practice, we treat each new client matter as unique, creating client teams with the collective skills best suited to meet each client’s particular needs. Increasingly, our client teams include our colleagues on both sides of the border. As a student, you will play an integral role on these teams.
Corporate and Capital Markets
Our Corporate and Capital Markets Practice includes
As more of our Canada-based clients expand their operations abroad, so our work for them in both Canada and the United States continues to grow significantly. We are also frequently involved in international transactions in Mexico, Cuba and other Latin American countries, as well as in Europe and Asia.
As a student at Torys your exposure to a broad variety of corporate and capital markets matters will include attending client meetings where transactions are negotiated; helping to draft agreements and other commercial documents; preparing documents for public financings; conducting due diligence investigations; researching and writing legal memoranda; assisting in the preparation of legal opinions; and preparing for and participating in the closing of corporate and capital markets transactions.
Litigation and Dispute Resolution
Our Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice handles a wide variety of business litigation, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution matters, including many complex and high-profile cases. We are involved in litigation arising out of corporate restructurings, proxy fights, shareholder disputes, mergers and acquisitions, shareholder oppression claims and securities matters. We have a strong and rapidly growing Intellectual Property Litigation Practice, especially in the pharmaceuticals industry.
Other litigation matters we handle include
We are regularly involved in cross-border and other international litigation and arbitration. We also have one of the most active constitutional law practices in Canada.
During your litigation rotation, you will have the opportunity to participate in many aspects of the litigation process, including meeting with clients and opposing counsel; researching and assessing legal and factual issues; preparing legal opinions; developing litigation strategies; preparing pleadings and other court documents; interviewing witnesses; attending settlement negotiations and mediations; and preparing for and attending examinations for discovery, motions, trials, appeals and other hearings.
Restructuring and Insolvency
The lawyers in our Restructuring and Insolvency Practice have extensive experience in financial restructurings, reorganizations and workouts, receiverships, bankruptcies and security enforcements. They represent financial institutions, other lenders, creditors, borrowers, receivers and trustees in bankruptcy. These lawyers frequently act on major insolvencies, often in teams that include members of other practice areas in the firm. Increasingly, large corporate restructuring and insolvencies are cross-border transactions.
Tax
Our Tax lawyers provide advice on the tax implications of domestic and international transactions, both directly to clients and to other lawyers within our firm. We engage in sophisticated tax planning relating to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged buyouts, real estate and infrastructure, corporate finance transactions, and restructuring and insolvency matters. Our tax lawyers in both our Toronto and New York offices represent clients in matters regarding their investments, cross-border transactions and tax disputes. Our lawyers also assist clients with executive compensation plans.
Intellectual Property and Food and Drug Regulatory
Torys’ Intellectual Property and Food and Drug Regulatory Practices are diverse and include advising clients on all matters relating to patents, trademarks, copyright, domain names, industrial designs, trade secrets, confidential information, plant breeders’ rights, food and drug regulatory matters, and packaging and labelling.
We represent clients in a wide range of industries, although we have a particularly well-developed reputation in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, healthcare, agricultural and business information fields. We also offer advice on the strategic management of IP assets. Our services often integrate with the Litigation and Dispute Resolution; Competition and Antitrust; Corporate and Capital Markets; Securities; Mergers and Acquisitions; Tax; and Restructuring and Insolvency Practices. Torys’ expertise in cross-border issues is an increasingly important aspect of our IP and Food and Drug Regulatory Practices.
Real Estate
Our Real Estate lawyers represent Canadian, U.S. and international clients in all types and aspects of real estate transactions, including cross-border matters. We represent developers, both institutional and private; real estate investment trusts; property managers; strategic investors; financial institutions; pension funds and investment bankers.
Infrastructure and Energy
Our Infrastructure and Energy lawyers are increasingly at the forefront of significant and diverse infrastructure undertakings. The lawyers practising in these areas work closely with our financial institutions, securities and tax groups. Members of the group often cross over and work directly in these related areas of discipline as well.
Pension and Employment
Our Pension and Employment lawyers have broad expertise in all aspects of pension plans, including windups, use of surplus and plan conversions; employee benefits; employment matters; and executive compensation, including incentive plans, executive agreements, compensation disclosure and compensation governance. We provide sophisticated cross-border advice regarding mergers, acquisitions, financings and arrangements. We work as an integral part of the corporate transaction team, providing advice to boards, compensation committees, companies and executives.
Environmental, Health and Safety
The work of our Environmental, Health and Safety lawyers includes cross-border commercial matters such as acquisitions and financings; litigation matters such as regulatory hearings and the defence of prosecutions; and ongoing compliance matters. We also regularly assist companies in developing and implementing proactive environmental management programs and obtaining environmental approvals. We coordinate and conduct environmental site assessments and compliance reviews, both for our clients’ ongoing operations and for acquisitions and financings. We are actively involved in government policy issues.
Technology and Communications
Torys’ Technology and Communications Group represents a wide variety of domestic and multinational new-economy and traditional enterprises in their creation, acquisition, use and commercial exploitation of a multitude of technologies. The group handles a range of corporate and litigation work, including public-private partnerships; strategic alliances, partnerships and joint ventures; stockholder and employment matters; international business structures; stock exchange listings; mergers and acquisitions; systems,
e-commerce and Internet matters; business and technology sourcing; and privacy matters. With access to the resources of all lawyers in the firm, the Group serves the whole spectrum of clients in the technology sector, including start-up and later-stage enterprises, venture capital and other investors, technology-oriented investment dealers and technology lenders.
The technology business is increasingly international. We are uniquely positioned through our Toronto and New York offices to provide seamless advice on Canadian and U.S. domestic issues, and on cross-border and international matters.
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