Canadian Salaries?

[Montana0]

What are the top big law firms paying in Canada? (what do they pay for articling year and what do they pay for first year?) There's so much transparency for U.S. law firms, but can't find the same for Canada. Is there a difference between Vancouver salaries and Toronto salaries?

[CanSti]

I dont' want to be quoting numbers that are off, so I'll suggest looking lawbuzz.  There are several threads with specific info about salaries (articling, first year, etc.)

[Astro]

Hold on, I had this saved somewhere.  This is research from almost a year ago, mind you.


::digs through old files::



From what I remember, there is a difference between Vancouver and Toronto.  BigLaw in the latter pays close to US market value, whereas it's much more difficult to hit that in Vancouver.  That said, both markets considerably outdo the rest of Canada (except for Montreal, maybe, since I didn't have any information for Habstown).

[papercranes]

I'm going to guess that vancouver salaries are >>>>>> than montreal just because there is so little big business in Montreal since the language laws came into play.

[MorningStar]

There's a fair bit of big business in Montreal.  I've heard from several sources that the legal market in Vancouver is really weak, however anecdotal that may be.

[rizz]

Standard summer/articling salary in toronto is 1450 a week, 95-100k first year with bonus up to 20%. Davies and BennettJones pay slightly more at 1600/1700. There are still some bay street firms stuck at 1300 which was the market rate up to last year. In Vancouver you can expect 45-50k articling, 75-80 first year.

Toronto is the market leader in Canada, followed closely by Calgary, then Vancouver and Montreal. The market in Vancouver is not weak, it is just saturated with students because of the two lawschools there and because everyone wants to live in Vancouver. Vancouver's economy is not as strong as Calgary/Toronto, it is mostly based on real estate and lumber.

[Astro]

Standard summer/articling salary in toronto is 1450 a week, 95-100k first year with bonus up to 20%. Davies and BennettJones pay slightly more at 1600/1700. There are still some bay street firms stuck at 1300 which was the market rate up to last year. In Vancouver you can expect 45-50k articling, 75-80 first year.

Toronto is the market leader in Canada, followed closely by Calgary, then Vancouver and Montreal. The market in Vancouver is not weak, it is just saturated with students because of the two lawschools there and because everyone wants to live in Vancouver. Vancouver's economy is not as strong as Calgary/Toronto, it is mostly based on real estate and lumber.

Yeah, this all makes sense.  My info was about 2-3 years old last year.  Calgary's been the fastest growing white collar market in the country for the last 5 years, so their strength in the legal market isn't too surprising. 

Not that I want to go back to Calgary...

[Montana0]

Thanks! Wow, I never would have guessed that Calgary was stronger than Vancouver. I always assumed it was Toronto followed by Vancouver, with Montreal having its own niche with the whole language/Quebec law thing. Interesting!

[Lojack]

I really do not think there is any Canadian market that compares to NYC, BigLaw in the Big Apple pay starting associates $160,000 currently and summer students can make upwards of 3,000 a week, most firms prorate their starting associates rate for summer students.

[meggo]

No, but the cost of living is a lot less. Of course, in Cowtown, Vancity and Toronto you are paying a premium for real estate and also gas, your other costs can be less (ie healthcare, insurance, eating out) besides the fact that you are probably coming out of Canadian law school with half the student debt of an American so even if you are making less  in real terms it's not necessarily so.

My cousin is just in her third year at U of C Law and loves it. Another friend of mine from Queen's is going there next year as well over some other top schools. My cousin also said that a lot of American firms came up to their job fair/articling fair (I have no idea what exactly it was) to recruit U of C students and they have, of course, just upgraded their facilities. This of course all hearsay, I have no idea what the American firms were looking for or if they were big names or not. I really think Big law in Calgary is only going to get bigger and bigger though.

This besides the fact that Western Canada is far superior to Eastern Canada and living at the base of the Rockies is the place to be