What are you looking for in your Articling experience?
At Nelligan Law , we believe that the articling experience sets the tone of your professional life, and defines the path that your legal career will follow.
Our Ottawa-based firm offers you a challenging and rewarding articling program, with a focus on your career and professional development as you work towards becoming a new lawyer. We have a unique articling program to ensure that our students learn as many practical skills as possible in preparation for their Call to the Bar.
Deciding where you want to article is one of the most significant decisions you will make in your career. It is important to consider not only your long-term career objectives, but also the quality of life you would like to enjoy. Profiles of our current articling students can be found here.
Nelligan Law is an innovative and progressive firm that prides itself on being open and informal. This means that although we are a leading full-service law firm, our students and lawyers work on a wide range of high-profile matters for a diverse client base, and we maintain the qualities and family atmosphere of a smaller firm.
Nelligan Law is considered one of Ottawa’s premier law firms. The firm was established in 1963 and has grown from two to over 40 lawyers. Approximately 48% of our lawyers are female. We are located on the 3rd floor of 50 O’Connor Street, at the corner of O’Connor and Albert streets in Ottawa. From its inception, Nelligan Law has always strived for excellence, and has earned the respect of our clients, the community, and the legal profession. The growth of the firm can be attributed to the quality of our work and our clients’ satisfaction. Nelligan Law lawyers are identified as individuals who know the law, and are prompt and approachable. Our clients have rewarded this dedication by giving us more work and by encouraging others to seek our services. Nelligan Law is an integral part of the Ottawa community, providing innovative, client-oriented solutions to a diverse local and national client base. Our client list includes individuals, small and medium size businesses, entrepreneurs, professional organizations, insurance companies, financial institutions, condominium corporations, and local and national labour unions and associations. Our goal at Nelligan Law is to provide all of our clients, regardless of their size, with the highest quality professional standards in every aspect of our business.
If you are a student, and have any questions about the articling or summer student program, please do not hesitate to contact Pamela El-Feghaly by email at pamela.el-feghaly@nelliganlaw.ca or telephone at: 613-231-8230
If you wish to contact any of our current articling students, please call us at 613-238-8080 or feel free to email us. We recruit students who, in addition to having performed well academically, have demonstrated leadership qualities and community involvement. We look for individuals who are dynamic, highly motivated, and who have developed exceptional interpersonal and communications skills.
Our students, although diverse in background and experience, tend to be cohesive as a group, and often assist each other in completing their respective tasks. Extensive time and planning goes into ensuring that the focus of the program is on the professional development of the student. Although our students are expected to contribute to the firm by conducting research, we ensure that each student has a broad exposure to all facets of law practice.
We have a unique program to ensure that our students learn as many practical skills as possible during their articling year. These include participating in and conducting interviews with clients and witnesses, preparing witness statements, arguing express motions, attending settlement conferences, or attending examinations for discovery.
We also make a concerted effort to involve students in substantive, meaningful work. As a student of Nelligan Law, you are considered a capable professional and will be given significant responsibility on files. We encourage our students to take an active role and to find pragmatic solutions to our clients’ needs. We believe that a hands-on approach is essential to learning and understanding the practice of law, and will assist our students in making informed decisions about the direction of their legal careers.
At Nelligan Law, we recognize that the legal world can be demanding. We strive to maintain an atmosphere predicated on work-life balance and a great social atmosphere for all our staff and students. Our students are given a budget to host an office social on the last Friday of every month. Nelligan Law also participates in many charitable and social activities throughout the year, emphasizing early on in our students’ legal career the importance of staying active in the community. Students have their own workstations, equipped with two screens and adjustable sit-stand desks.
Student Coordinator
One of the most important support services provided to articling students at Nelligan Law is the assistance of our Student Coordinator.
The current Student Coordinator coordinates all aspects of our student programs and provides our students with the support, supervision and resources they need to succeed at articling.
When a lawyer requires research on a file, it is usually referred through the Student Coordinator. They select the most appropriate articling student for the project, based on factors such as workload and areas of interest. Student Coordinator’s strong research skills, expertise, and guidance help our students find the right information quickly and efficiently. The Student Coordinator coordinates the student program and provides research support to our students and lawyers by assisting with challenging research tasks.
Library
Nelligan Law maintains its own library, which contains extensive materials covering our areas of practice, and has an in-house librarian. We maintain subscriptions to many online legal research resources. In addition, the Courthouse Library is only five minutes away, for any reference materials that may be unavailable in our on-site library .To help students determine their preferred area(s) of practice, the firm strives to provide our students with a basic overview of each primary area of practice.
We rotate our articling students through four rotations: 1) litigation, 2) labour and employment, 3) family, and 4) a combined IP/corporate/real estate rotation. Each rotation lasts two months, with an opportunity to engage in hands-on opportunities unique to that practice area. These opportunities can include running a small claims trial, representing clients at settlement conferences, observing examinations for discovery, participating in mediations, among many others. The rotations are not rigid, however, and our Student Coordinator ensure that each student can work in practice areas where they have an interest.
Summer students do not participate in rotations, given the time constraints, but will still be exposed to each area of law practiced at Nelligan Law, and be given hands-on experiences based on the files they engage in.
Each year the firm develops a seminar series designed to introduce the students to the general practice of law, as well as to the firm’s particular areas of expertise. Lawyers from different practice areas speak to the students in an informal environment, offering advice and information about their practices and law in general.
Students are also invited to attend the group meetings in the various practice areas. These meetings are intended to be educational – recent developments in the law will be discussed, difficult legal questions canvassed, and ethical issues raised for discussion.
Our students are also given funding to attend educational experiences outside of the firm, such as Ontario Bar Association events and the Advocacy Boot Camp.
Nelligan Law has also developed an in-house mentoring program, where partners or senior associates volunteer to be teamed up with an articling student. In addition to organized social outings, mentor and mentees also meet informally on a regular basis to discuss student progress and any concerns, either work-related or personal, that the students may have during their year.
To further our commitment to work-life balance, our students are also given paid vacation and personal leave.
The firm also pays all expenses associated with enrollment in the Law Society of Ontario’s Lawyer Licensing Process.
Here are some of the things our past students had to say:
“From what I have heard from friends, the articling experience at Nelligan Law is unparalleled. Students get all the benefits of articling at a large firm (legal research tools, varied work assignments and a rich educational program) while enjoying the culture and feel of a much smaller firm (work/life balance, a friendly, collegial atmosphere and a true “open-door” policy from the most junior associates to the most senior partners). The program focuses on providing practical experience and exposure, and on developing students to become good lawyers.”
“Articling at Nelligan Law allows you to achieve the best of all possible worlds – great legal experience and a balanced lifestyle. It doesn’t get better than that. Most importantly, the atmosphere and the people at the firm are incredible.”
“My articling experience at Nelligan Law has been invaluable. I have gained significant practical experience and insight into what the practice of law in the private sector is all about. My work has been challenging and interesting throughout the year. I am quite appreciative of the considerable responsibilities I was entrusted with as well as the independence which I was afforded in carrying out my duties.”
“I was impressed by the amount of trust and respect given to students and the fact that we are involved in some very high profile and important matters. The work has all been very interesting and challenging and the year has flown by really quickly. I do think I had one of the best experiences an articling student could ask for.”
“An excellent experience all-around.”
“The articling experience at Nelligan’s is comparable to no other. A lot of time and effort is put into the program to ensure that the students get a good articling experience. Nelligan’s really tries to provide the students with the basic tools necessary to practice law whether here or elsewhere. This is very appreciated.”
“Nelligan’s is also very good at thanking the students for their work and making them feel like a valued member of the team which makes all the difference in the world!”
“I am so happy I chose to do my articles with Nelligan’s. The legal and professional mentorship I received was more than I could have hoped for. I was given the opportunity to work on projects from so many different areas of law and to work with a wonderful group of supportive lawyers, staff and fellow articling students.”