Programs

The Roper Greyell student experience

We offer both a 2L Summer Student and Articling Student program.

Under each, students get hands-on experience and work alongside our dynamic team of workplace lawyers while gaining exposure to our diverse client base. Our clients are at the heart of everything we do and range from small businesses to top-tier employers representing every sector of the Canadian economy.

Workplace law is a wide and varied practice, involving both advisory and advocacy work. This mix means our students assist with advising on employee policies, legislative amendments, privacy-related matters, and collective agreement negotiations; they also work with our lawyers to prepare for union grievance hearings, employment litigation, human rights complaints, workplace investigations, and health and safety matters. Each student experience is different and dependent on the issues our clients face.

Roper Greyell is committed to providing our students with the best experience, with the goal of fully preparing them for the practice of law. Our students are given the opportunity to engage and grow their substantive and practical legal knowledge, and practice management, advisory, and advocacy skills. They conduct research, draft client documents, participate in client meetings and advice, and prepare for and attend at a wide range of dispute resolution forums (mediations, arbitrations, tribunals, and court) to see their work in action.

Roper Greyell students receive ongoing support via our professional development and mentorship programs; we’ve been told they also have a lot of fun.

See what we have to offer

We do not have “student work”. Our students work directly with our lawyers and clients. From day one, our students are involved in meaningful client work.

Our students do not have formal rotations – rather, they are encouraged to work with all of our lawyers to gain valuable experience in the many different practice areas that comprise workplace law.

Our student onboarding and professional development program has been designed to provide our students with the foundation they will need to thrive as workplace law lawyers. In addition, students participate in our internal lawyer and firm-wide training and external professional development opportunities.

Mentorship is an important element of life at Roper Greyell. We have an open-door policy that we truly embrace, and each team member our students meet should be viewed as a potential mentor as they learn what it is like to work in a law firm.

In addition to this informal mentorship, Roper Greyell has a formal mentorship program whereby each student is assigned both a Principal (partner or senior lawyer who provides mentorship, discusses work, shares lessons learned, and provides guidance on practice management) and Associate Mentor (junior lawyer to facilitate each student’s introduction to the firm and provide the perspective of a peer who has recently gone through the student experience).

The Student Committee Co-Chairs also provide regular one-on-one mentorship, guidance, and support to our students.

Our students receive both ad-hoc and formal feedback.

We encourage students to take ownership of their professional development. This means speaking to any of our lawyers about any of our practice areas, or to an instructing lawyer with whom they are working.

We also have a formal self-evaluation and feedback process, wherein students reflect on their skills development in core competencies, and through which the lawyers with whom they work the most provide feedback. This shared self-evaluation and feedback process helps each student and their Principal work together to identify and achieve future goals.

Community is one of Roper Greyell’s core values. All firm members, including students, are encouraged to actively contribute to and support our local and legal communities. Examples include providing pro-bono legal services, volunteering, and supporting and celebrating organizations who work directly on community initiatives. See the News section of our website for some recent examples of our community involvement.

Specific to law students, Roper Greyell supports law schools and student groups via teaching and coaching; group and event sponsorships; and scholarships, bursaries, and course prizes.

At Roper Greyell, we work to create an environment where our team members are valued for who they are and can show up as their full, authentic selves. We have an EDI Committee, made up of representatives from across the firm (partners, associates, business specialists, staff) who help guide the firm’s EDI strategy and commitments, both internally and externally. We provide training and resources to support the firm’s EDI initiatives.

We take our work seriously, but not ourselves. We have a relaxed work atmosphere and genuinely feel that Roper Greyell is a fun place to work. Our students are fully integrated in firm culture and invited to attend all of our firm social events, including our summer and winter socials, annual lawyer retreat, softball games, associate events, and much, much more!

Student salary and benefits are market competitive and reviewed annually. Summer students who return to article with the firm receive a tuition and book bonus. Roper Greyell pays our students’ LSBC summer, articling, and PLTC fees, as well as articling student salary during PLTC.