Allard Law’s Careers Committee

What is the Careers Committee?

The Careers Committee (CC) is an elected body of law student representatives who assist Allard Law’s Career Services Office (CSO) in the planning, organization, and execution of various activities throughout the year with the aim of helping students to plan and build a traditional, non-traditional, or public interest legal career. These events include Career Fairs (for small and large legal employers from Vancouver, elsewhere in BC, Toronto, and Calgary), Social Justice Forum, Canadian Bar Association (CBA) Mentorship Reception, panel presentations, information sessions, and on-campus interviews (OCIs). The CC also works with the CBA to match Allard law students with mentors in the legal community and assists the CSO with the annual publication of Allard Law’s Legal Careers Guide. The CC currently meets monthly on Tuesdays at lunch (12:30-1:30) during the school year.

Elections for the CC are held at the same time as those for the ALSS (early March), with the exception of the First Year and Graduate Student Representatives, who are elected in September.

Additionally, all Allard Law students are welcome to volunteer and assist the CSO and the CC. If you would like to get involved or learn more about the CSO’s activities and how the office can assist you with your job search, please visit https://allard.ubc.ca/career-services-office or email careers@allard.ubc.ca.

2023-2024 Careers Committee

Careers Committee Positions (11 total: 6 elected in March, 5 in September)

CHAIRPERSON (1 person) – The Careers Committee Chairperson is an ex-officio member of the ALSS Executive with the following duties: Chairs meetings of the Careers Committee, including drafting agendas, sending reminders in advance of the meeting, and taking meeting minutes; Ensures the organization of, oversee, and attend all Careers Committee events; Attends any meetings of the ALSS Executive, SAC, or AIC in a non-voting capacity; Represents the Careers Committee to the student body, faculty, alumni, and professional community; Liaises regularly with the CSO; and Solicits student input in developing and implementing new career-related activities, and communicate student input to the ALSS Executive, CSO, and Careers Committee.

CAREER EVENTS REPRESENTATIVE (2 Positions) – Liaises with law firms, sole practitioners, non-traditional employers, and local Bar Associations. Assists the CSO with the planning of On-Campus Interviews (September), non-traditional careers programming (Term 1), Large Employer Career Fair (January), Small & Boutique Firm Career Fair (February), and numerous associated panels and skills development events.

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND PUBLIC INTEREST REPRESENTATIVE (1 Position) – Develops and implements events/forums relating to careers in social justice and public interest law. Assists the CSO with the planning of the Social Justice Forum (January) as well as numerous public interest panels.

CANADIAN BAR ASSOCIATION REPRESENTATIVE (1 Position) – Promotes and organizes the CBA Mentorship Program and annual Reception (October) to Allard Law students. Serves on the CBA Membership Committee (monthly meetings via teleconference) and acts as the principal student liaison between the CBA, Careers Committee, and student body. The student must be available in July and August to work on the CBA Mentorship Program (if not in Vancouver, then available via regular internet access). The workload is substantial from late August to late October until the conclusion of the CBA Mentorship Reception, as the student is responsible for entering data from ~300 mentor & mentee application forms and individually matching over 150 mentor-mentee pairs. While it is possible for the student to undertake this role while also going through On-Campus Interviews and in-firm interviews for 2nd year summer positions, potential nominees should be aware of the heavy workload.

NALP LIAISON (1 Position) – Identify and connect with employers to create or update a NALPcanada.com profile to aid in students’ job search (due mid-December). Update BC employer profiles for inclusion in the annual Legal Careers Guide. Assist the CSO with various NALP matters, including attending quarterly national conference calls and working with CSO Advisors to generate content for NALP’s Bulletin and NALP’s Annual Education Conference.

GRADUTE LAW STUDENT REP (1 Position) – Elected in September. Promotes CSO events to LLM CL/LLM T students and other graduate law students, assists with CSO event planning and preparation, attends CSO events, and provides feedback to the CSO regarding events and programming, particularly with respect to how to best engage and assist Allard Law LLM CL/LLM T students (as well as Allard Law’s general graduate law student body).

FIRST YEAR REPS (4 Positions) – Elected in September. Promotes CSO events to 1L students, assists with CSO event planning and preparation, and attends CSO events.