The Legal Excellence Program - Vancouver

Articling Opportunities Across Canada

British Columbia Regional Office (BCRO)

A career at the BC Regional Office of the Department of Justice means working alongside experienced lawyers doing groundbreaking, important work on a variety of interesting cases. Our Vancouver office engages in a diverse array of litigation, appearing at all levels of court from the BC Provincial Court to the Supreme Court of Canada, as well as the Federal Courts, Tax Court and various administrative tribunals.

Litigation at the BCRO includes many precedent setting cases of national importance involving the Charter on a multitude of issues, such as:

Physician-assisted suicide (Carter)
Polygamy (Bountiful)
Prostitution Reference
Aboriginal rights and title (Roger Williams, Delgamuuk)
Pornography (Little Sisters 2)
Immigration and refugee litigation and enforcement (Chinese Migrant Smuggling cases)
Extraditions
International tax (Antle)
Coroners inquests and Inquiries (Missing Women Inquiry, Cohen Commission, Braidwood)
Organized crime prosecutions

Although a clear emphasis on litigation exists, challenging and interesting advisory work is also conducted. We provide legal advice on a wide range of property and commercial transactions to all federal departments including innovative multi-million dollar economic developments projects on Indian reserves such as destination resorts, golf course development and wineries and we are deeply involved in issues of Aboriginal consultation and accommodation.

UPCOMING RECRUITING EVENTS

The BC Regional Office will be hosting its annual Open House on June 6, 2013 from 2:00-4:00. If you wish to attend, please RSVP via e-mail to Kristy Foreman Gear.

General articling information

Our Legal Excellence Program (LEP) is a unique three year program of professional and career development. Throughout the two years subsequent to being called to the bar, LEP lawyers are provided with a mentor and extensive in-house training, including: Starting Out: Practical Tips for New Lawyers; Time Management; Negotiation & Mediation; and our Written and Oral Advocacy Skills series.

During the articling year, students will complete the Professional Legal Training Course and five 6-11 week rotations – four at DOJ: Tax; Public Safety, Defence and Immigration; Business and Regulatory; Aboriginal; and one rotation in the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. Although PPSC was created as a separate, federal department in December 2006, PPSC remains an integral part of our student programs. Students may also do an optional 4 week rotation in our International Assistance Group.

Clerks have the opportunity to do abbreviated articles, usually allowing for three rotations of approximately 6 weeks each.

Professional development

Professional development forms a large component of the articling year, where students receive training in many areas, including Federal Court Practice, an introduction to Crown law, ethics and written and oral advocacy. In addition to their principals, students will have assigned mentors (lawyers 2-5 years call) to provide professional guidance and support.

Salary and benefits

Articling Student Salary - $52,877

First Year counsel salary - $71,734.00 effective May 10, 2013
Salary paid during PLTC; PLTC fees paid by DOJ.
Students may be eligible for reimbursement of pre-approved relocation expenses.

Summer Students at Justice

Summer students spend the duration of the summer in one of our five practice areas: Tax Law Services, Public Prosecution Service of Canada, Business & Regulatory Section; Public Safety, Defence and Immigration Section; and Aboriginal Law Group. Summer students do a range of work very similar to that of our articling students, with a significant emphasis on the practical aspects of litigation and solicitors’ work including, wherever possible, appearances in courts and before tribunals.

Summer students who apply to our office for articles the following year are given priority interviews, as permitted by the VBA guidelines.

Summer students will participate in a variety of professional development sessions, including Advanced Legal Research, Introduction to Crown Law, Ethics and a field trip to Drug Court.

Summer Student Salary: Based on annual salary of $41,032.00

How to apply

This posting is open to persons residing in Canada and Canadian citizens residing abroad.

2014-2015 Articling Application Deadlines

The deadline for applications for 2014-2015 articling positions is Friday, June 28, 2013. The interview call date is July 12, 2013 at 8:00 a.m. PST. Interview week will take place August 12-16, 2013. The offer call date is Thursday, August 15, 2013. All of these deadlines are set by the Vancouver Bar Association.

2014 Summer Application Deadlines

The deadline for applications for 2014 summer positions is Wednesday, September 4, 2013. The interview call date is Tuesday, October 8, 2013 at 8:00 a.m. PST. Interview week will take place October 21-25, 2013. The offer call date is Thursday, October 24, 2013. All of these deadlines are set by the Vancouver Bar Association.

We are looking for students in their second year of law school with solid academic records who have an interest and aptitude for litigation and are motivated by a career in public law. We are committed to Employment Equity and a workforce representative of the Canadian people. We encourage applications from Aboriginal peoples, visible minorities, persons with disabilities, and women and we encourage applicants to self-identify as members of these designated groups.

Applications must include: a cover letter, resume, and law school transcript. Reference letters are encouraged. Names and contact information for at least two references are required. For further information about applications, articling, summer positions or our Legal Excellence Program, please see below for contact information. Please send applications for articling and summer positions to:

Kristy Foreman Gear
Counsel and Co-ordinator, Law Practice Management Group
Telephone: (604) 666-7488
Facsimile: (604) 666-1585
E-mail: kristy.foremangear@justice.gc.ca

Mail: Department of Justice
900-840 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 2S9

For more information on the Department of Justice and the Legal Excellence Program generally, please click on the following links:

For more information on the Legal Excellence Program and the other legal sections in the BC Regional Office, please click on the following link:

Legal Excellence Program Vancouver

Our areas of practice

The British Columbia Regional Office has approximately 130 legal assistants and 35 paralegals. There is a thorough support network to assist students during their articling year and beyond. Our comprehensive library has six staff members, including four library technicians and two librarians. The library's online research facilities include CD-ROM databases, in-house databases (ie. library catalogue, Charter index, SCC case citations to name a few) Quicklaw and Quickfind - all of which are accessible from each desktop computer in the office. Of course, the library also has more traditional holdings including 20,000 printed volumes. Most major Canadian law reports are held in the library.

Other support services include Human Resources, information technology support (with access to computer support fifteen hours per day), financial services. Each articling student will also have a mentor assigned to assist with the transition from student to junior counsel.

We are committed to providing our lawyers and staff with the best experience possible and offer a myriad of different training opportunities to meet this goal. Our Legal Excellence Program, provides a continuum of training over several years, often starting with summer student employment through articling and the junior lawyer phase. The training is designed to develop the essential knowledge, skills and experience for practicing law. Training includes sessions on substantive law, legal skills, ethics and law practice management.

Public Prosecution Service of Canada

The Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) is responsible for all prosecutions in British Columbia that arise out of federal statutes (with the exception of the Criminal Code). While a significant amount of the work is in relation to drug offences, the PPSC also prosecutes a broad range of regulatory offences on behalf of federal departments such as Fisheries and Oceans, Environment Canada, Canada Border Services Agency and the Canada Revenue Agency. Counsel prosecute a wide-variety of cases and may work as part of a specialized practice group, including:

Organized Crime Prosecutions
Drug Treatment Court of Vancouver
Regulatory, Environmental and Economic Crimes
Integrated Proceeds of Crime Unit
Appeals Group

Many high profile Supreme Court of Canada decisions relating to Charter, organized crime and search and seizure issues were originally litigated by PPSC counsel. As examples, Federal Crown counsel were involved in the R. v. Caine and Malmo-Levine case (constitutionality of Parliament’s prohibition on marijuana possession) and R. v. Sharpe (constitutionality of the child pornography provisions of the Criminal Code).

Student Work

Students who article with the Department of Justice are given an 8 to 10-week rotation in the PPSC. During this rotation, students have conduct of a variety of criminal matters, with extensive courtroom responsibilities including assisting in remand court, conducting summary conviction trials and sentencing and bail hearings in the B.C. Provincial Court. Students may also assist counsel on cases in B.C. Supreme Court.

Criminal Law and International Assistance

The Criminal Law and International Assistance section of the Vancouver Department of Justice (CLIA) is responsible for all international extradition requests and mutual legal assistance requests in British Columbia. These requests flow from Canada's international obligations pursuant to numerous bi-lateral extradition and mutual legal assistance treaties. The treaty requests are executed pursuant to the Extradition Act, and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act. In addition to handling actions under these statutes the members of CLIA work on other departmental files that involve criminal law or Charter issues.

CLIA is a small section with only six counsel but they are involved in many complex and high media profile cases such as the United States of America v. Burns and Rafay and the United States of America v. Emery. CLIA counsel practice in both the B.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.

Student Work

Students who article with the Department of Justice may choose a rotation through the CLIA section. The single student rotations last anywhere from 6-10 weeks. During this rotation students are given access to as many different matters as possible. Students work on the preparation of mutual legal assistance requests, drafting submissions for extradition hearings, legal research and assist counsel on cases in both B.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.

Business & Regulatory Law

Our Section

The Business and Regulatory Law Section is dedicated to a broad spectrum of government legal affairs which do not fall within the specific framework of operations covered by other sections. The Business and Regulatory Law section is split between two groups: Advisory Services & Litigation Services.

Advisory Services

Solicitors in the Advisory Services group provide legal advice on a wide range of issues with a focus on property and commercial transactions to most federal government departments. Much of our work is devoted to Fisheries and Oceans, National Defence, Parks Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada, Transport Canada, and Western Economic Diversification.

The scope of work is broad and challenging. To name a few initiatives, the solicitors in the section work on:

aboriginal consultations
aboriginal fishing rights
fisheries and aquaculture management
litigation support (civil and criminal (regulatory) matters)
Species At Risk Act issues
airport, harbour and port divestitures
economic diversification projects such as the Prince Rupert Port Authority
national park acquisitions such as the Gulf Islands
public-private partnerships
2010 Olympic issues

Counsel in Advisory Services possess expertise in aboriginal law, administrative law, commercial law, contract law, construction law, Crown law, environmental law, fisheries law, maritime law, regulatory law and real property law.

Student Work

Students and junior lawyers in our section are provided with an opportunity to work independently on files, as well as with senior counsel on more complex matters. The work involves a variety of tasks, such as conducting legal research, statutory interpretation, drafting affidavits, drafting agreements and leases, drafting land title documents and litigation support.

Litigation Services

The Business and Regulatory Law Litigation Section offers the opportunity to develop a practice litigating significant and high profile legal and policy issues on behalf of multiple federal government departments across a wide variety of areas. Some of the high profile cases our counsel have litigated include:

Same-Sex Marriage
Henry v. AGC (Elections Act Challenge)
Legal Aid Challenge
Hepatitis C/Tainted Blood Class Action

Our litigation team provides legal services to government departments whose mandates have in common a strong regulatory, public safety or business law component, such as Agriculture Canada, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Environment Canada, Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Health Canada, Human Resources Development Canada, Industry Canada, Parks Canada Agency, Public Works and Government Services Canada, Transport Canada and Veterans Affairs. Our counsel conduct general civil litigation in these and other areas of law:

administrative law
admiralty and maritime law, e.g. pollution issues, maritime safety
aeronautics
agriculture, animals and contagious diseases
bankruptcy and insolvency
collections
commercial law
constitutional law, including Charter claims
contracts
intellectual property
labour and employment law
privacy
employment and labour law
environmental law
fisheries
health and food safety
human rights
injunctions
tort law

Student Work

Junior lawyers in our section have the opportunity to balance work with more senior counsel in a team environment on mega files in order to develop their litigation skills, and taking the lead on their own interesting and meaningful files.

Students have the opportunity to work with more senior counsel to assist in a variety of tasks including: appearing as the Crown’s representative at employment insurance hearings, drafting pleadings and other court documents, drafting affidavits, preparing damage assessments, conducting legal research and drafting memoranda.

Public Safety, Defence & Immigration (PSDI)

Our Section

The practice of the Public Safety, Defence & Immigration (PSDI) law section is at the centre of developments in administrative, constitutional and human rights law in Canada.

It is also at the leading edge of some of the most intellectually stimulating and challenging legal issues of the day, including terrorism, national security, privacy, civil liberties, refugee matters, war crimes and international human rights law.

Counsel in this section provide litigation and advisory services on policing, corrections, parole, national defence, firearms, customs, immigration and citizenship matters to several federal departments and agencies, including:

Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Correctional Service of Canada
National Parole Board
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Canada Border Services Agency
Department of National Defence
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Department of Public Safety and Canada Firearms Centre

PSDI counsel appear frequently in the British Columbia Supreme Court and the Federal Court. They also have conduct of challenging cases at the appellate level including cases in the British Columbia Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.

The section is built upon national consultation, and this allows counsel to provide input on national litigation strategy and policy development. Counsel work as a cohesive team dedicated to strong mentoring and collegial relationships.

Student Work

Students working in this section will be able to develop their litigation skills by drafting submissions and participating as team members with counsel on cases at all levels of court. Working closely with counsel, students will prepare for and attend with counsel at examinations, mediations and court hearings. Students may also observe hearings before various administrative tribunals.

Tax Law Services

Our Section

The Tax Law Services section of the BC Regional Office provides the Canada Revenue Agency with a complete range of litigation services and selected advisory and policy development services. This includes recent significant high-profile matters in the areas of international taxation (Antle), tax avoidance (McKay) and class actions (Smith).

Our regional team represents the Minister of National Revenue in all proceedings. We defend appeals of assessments raised by Canada Revenue Agency auditors, handle Employment Insurance cases such as investigations into farm worker EI fraud and represent the Minister in priority disputes, bankruptcy, collections enforcement and civil matters.

The legal work that we do is multidisciplinary, cutting across all areas of the law from corporate commercial and aboriginal to wills and estates and family law. The facts and issues that we deal with often give an interesting glimpse into the business world and present an opportunity to learn about a variety of industries including forestry, mining, technology, farming, real estate development, manufacturing and securities. Some matters also involve cross-border transactions and the interpretation of international tax treaties.

Student Work

Students in the Tax Law Services section have an opportunity to actively participate in the work that we do by:

preparing and presenting cases in the Tax Court of Canada;
preparing and offering opinions on income tax, employment insurance, GST, Canada Pension Plan and a wide variety of procedural matters;
attending and participating in section meetings and national conference calls;
assisting in the preparation of pleadings, motions and factums before all levels of provincial and federal courts;
working closely with counsel in preparing for and attending examinations for discovery, meetings with Canada Revenue Agency officials, settlement conferences and hearings;
Preparing security documents such as mortgages, guarantees and letters of credit; and
Providing opinions on a wide variety of debtor creditor and insolvency issues.

Aboriginal Law

Our Section

The Aboriginal Law Section provides legal advisory, litigation and resolution services to the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC). To respond to the needs of its clients, the section is organized into two groups: Advisory Services (AS) and Aboriginal Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group (ALDRG)

Aboriginal Law Section (Advisory Services)

Innovative multi-million dollar economic development projects. Self-governance initiatives. Rapidly evolving law and policy affecting Aboriginal people in Canada. The challenges and opportunities provided within this legal environment make ALS(AS) a dynamic arena within which to practise law.

ALS(AS) is co-located with our AANDC client. Our practice combines traditional areas of property and commercial law, contract, torts, environmental law, estates law, constitutional law, employment law, and information and privacy law with the dynamic and ever-evolving area of Aboriginal law. The challenge for legal counsel here is to ensure AANDC fulfills its legal obligations to First Nations in B.C. while recognizing and respecting First Nations’ desires to become more self-sufficient and self-governing, and at the same time, balancing the public interest.

Counsel in this unit will develop a broad expertise in facilitating on-reserve economic developments for shopping mall complexes, wineries, golf courses, casinos, eco-tourism, resort destinations, and more. Some recent issues ALS(AS) counsel have dealt with include environmental impacts on First Nation communities caused by mountain pine beetle infestations, and electrical power generation through run-of-the-river operations and wind farms.

Student Work

Students working in our section will attend meetings/negotiations and liaise with clients, outside counsel, First Nation, municipal and provincial representatives. Students may also have conduct of land transaction files i.e. acquisition of fee simple lands, land use instruments. Students will also attend hearings and mediations.

Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group

Litigation and Dispute Resolution Services conducts litigation and dispute resolution processes that are complex and highly significant to the Government of Canada. LDRS counsel conduct cases involving constitutional law, aboriginal law, administrative law, property law, public law, commercial law and dispute resolution processes. Our work frequently involves novel questions of law such as aboriginal rights and title, and sensitive issues that frequently affect multiple government departments.

The BC Regional office has always been a fixture at the cutting edge of aboriginal litigation. Counsel from this group worked on Delgamuukw, Guerin, Sparrow, Van der Peet, Haida/Taku River, Blackwater, E.B., McIvor, and other high profile cases. Our counsel currently work on major aboriginal rights and title litigation, including Tsilhqot’in and Haida, and cases involving commercial fishing rights in Lax Kw’alaams and Ahousaht.

In addition, we provide opportunities for counsel to work on cases affecting modern and historic treaties, the reserve creation process, the Crown’s fiduciary obligations, the duty to consult, federal/provincial division of powers, taxation exemptions, administrative, fisheries, immigration, constitutional law issues and specialized dispute resolution processes to resolve outstanding Indian residential schools claims.

Student Work

Prepare legal memoranda on complex legal issues
Attend court hearings and settlement meetings
Draft motion materials, including affidavits
Draft pleadings (e.g., Statement of Claim, Statement of Defence, Reply, Counterclaim, as applicable)
Attend/observe an examination for discovery (including, client preparation, review of documents, and summarizing of transcripts, as applicable)

Contact Information

For more information about articles in the Vancouver Office, please contact:

Kristy Foreman Gear
Counsel and Co-ordinator, Law Practice Management

Telephone: 604-666-7488
Facsimile : 604-666-1585

Email: Kristy.ForemanGear@justice.gc.ca

Amber Walker
Administrative Assistant to Legal Excellence Program and Law Practice Management

Telephone: 604-666-0095
Facsimile: 604-666-1585

Email: amber.walker@justice.gc.ca

Mail:
Robson Court
900-840 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 2S9