Canadian Lawyer 4Students

C A N A D I A N L a w y e r 4 s t u d e n t s F a l l 2 0 1 4 17 and then jumping in to help with the next task. Especially near the end it was around the clock and that gives you an apprecia- tion of the hours it takes to make deals like this happen. "You learn things by osmosis," says Ful- ton. "You're around other lawyers and in discussions with opposing counsel and you pick things up without really noticing and incorporate them into your own habits and that's one of the main benefits of being on a deal for this long — you see how lawyers correspond with each other and the kind of deadlines they're working with and how they interact with clients. A lot of it was learning by seeing everyone else doing it and picking things up that way." ose late nights and long hours are common for most articling students but especially so on big cases. As much as working on a case headed for the Supreme Court may seem glamorous, Akbarali notes there is "drudgery" that goes with it too. "I had a student before on a Supreme Court case who was great on the meaty is- sues — strong analytical skills, eager to be participating — but when it came down to making sure the citations were right, he learned the hard way. He underestimated the time needed and ended up being at the office for about 36 hours straight," she says. "You need someone who is not going to be shy about putting in the time and at- tention to the details." Lauren Posloski was an articling student at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP in 2011-12 when she had the opportunity to work on R. v. N.S. At issue was whether a sexual as- sault complainant had the right to wear her Niqab on the witness stand at the prelimi- nary inquiry and trial. It was a Charter bat- tle over freedom of religion versus the ac- cused's fair trial rights requiring she remove her veil to testify. Posloski says working on the pro bono file gave her the chance to get "deeply in- volved in a case that had real-world conse- quences for Charter rights jurisprudence." It also gave her the chance to do high- level work. She met with the client, the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, researched the issues, and helped with draing submissions that were eventually made at the SCC. "I was always interested in public law and Charter litigation when I was in law school, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to do public advocacy work exclu- sively," says Posloski. Her mentor knew she was interested and was willing to bring her on board N.S. because she had made it known she was keen on Charter litigation. "If people don't know you are interested and engaged they won't try and involve you so my advice would be let your interests be known and speak to as many people who are doing the kind of law you like to do as possible," she says. Yermakova agrees building relation- ships with lawyers who will "pay you back" with the kind of work you want to do is important to having a good articling experience. "e way I was brought on the file was because of the relationships I had built at the firm and that involves do- ing good work for everyone all the time," she says. "And oen you don't know who that's going to be — who is going to get that Supreme Court file that just came through the door. You have to hedge your bets and make sure you're doing your 100-per-cent work for everyone." ■ ntitled-1 1 14-07-17 1:59 PM

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