Student
Program

Set Your Career in Motion

Brazeau Seller Law (“BSL”) is the ideal place to further your education as a law student and launch your career as a legal professional.

Our summer clerkship and student articling programs are an integral part of our recruitment. Recognizing that students are our single best source for future associates and partners, we strive to give recruits a rewarding and valuable learning experience. We know that your success as a lawyer—and our success as a firm—starts with a shared commitment to excellence.

Recruitment Tips and Tools

When preparing your application package for BSL, please be sure to include a cover letter, resume, your undergraduate and law school transcripts, and a list of your third-year courses. Although not required, you may also include letters of reference.
To ensure fairness in the recruiting process, you may not be able to change the information in your application materials after the application deadline has passed. If we cannot accommodate requests to change your application, we will write to you to advise of the reasons for our decision.

Interviews
For the summer student recruitment process, we will typically meet with 30 students for the first round of interviews, and then conduct second interviews with our top choices. If you live outside of Ottawa, we will do our best to accommodate your travel schedule. We can also conduct interviews via video conference. If you have been selected for an interview, we will contact you to schedule the meeting.

Call Day
The day on which law firms in a recruitment area can make offers of summer or articling positions is referred to as “call day.”

During the interview weeks, our recruitment team will be meeting regularly to discuss students we think might be the best fit for our team, but you should also be thinking about which firm would be the best fit for you. Consider the practice areas that interest you, the culture of the firm(s) where you interviewed and how they fit with your personality and goals , and the overall experience you are seeking as a summer and/or articling student. We recommend that you list in order of preference the firms that you have interviewed and have this list close by on call day.

Most firms in Ottawa have agreed among themselves that offers for summer student positions will not be made before 8:00 a.m. on call day. These Ottawa employers have also agreed to leave offers made between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. open until noon on the same day. Offers made after 10:00 a.m. will be open for two hours.

If you receive an offer on call day that is not from your first-choice firm, we recommend that you thank the employer for the offer, confirm how long the offer will remain open, and indicate that you will get back to them. Then call the contact person at your first-choice firm. If it appears that you will not receive an offer from that firm, go to your second choice and repeat this process. After working your way through your list, you should reach a decision regarding the original offer that was made to you.

Call day can be stressful for students and employers. When everyone helps move the process along, you and your fellow students may be saved a great deal of anxiety and stress.

Ottawa Law Student Recruitment Ethics Protocol

BSL, along with many firms here in Ottawa, has signed on to the Ottawa Legal Market Employer Agreement. This Agreement establishes guidelines and timelines for various components of the recruitment processes including application deadlines, on-campus interviews, designated interview periods and offer dates. As a signatory to this Agreement, BSL is committed to ensuring a fair and ethical recruitment period that promotes fair dealings, transparency, and clear guidelines between students and employers, and among employers. Under this Agreement, participating law firms have agreed they will not:

  • advise students prior to 8:00 a.m. on call day that they intend to make the student an offer (or use similar language);
  • ask students to disclose where they or any other firm ranks in the student’s order of preference;; or
  • advise students that their chances of securing an offer are increased if they indicate that the firm is first or near the top of their preference list.

Recruitment Schedule and Positions

The recruitment process for second-year summer students occurs early in the new year.

Dates for the 2025 recruitment schedule will be posted as they become available.

Contact Information

For student recruitment inquiries, please contact:

David Reid, Partner

613-907-8147

Human Resources Manager

613-237-4000 x 237

To speak with one of our current students, please contact David Reid above.