Laura MacLean had dreamed of a career promoting human rights and social justice issues around the globe. While law school showed her that she might not be cut out for that sort of lifestyle after all, she says the CBA’s Young Lawyers International Program was made for people who, like her, have a passion for adventure and a desire to work in human rights.

Parental leave isn’t a free ticket to catching up on your reading or to improve your culinary skills. But it is an important part of family and professional planning and progressive firms are making it easier to take.

Communication and trust are the foundations of a good relationship – and never more so than with legal staff. For a new lawyer learning the ins and outs of a firm, an experienced legal assistant can be critical.

You don’t need to write like a best-selling author, but it is important that you be able to communicate clearly, with clients, colleagues and with the courts. Here are some tips.

You’re in your first job, you’re pulling in the biggest paycheque you’ve ever earned, and it still feels like you’re getting nowhere financially. Julie Sobowale has some tips to get you on the right track.

A Supreme Court hearing can be an intense experience for a lawyer. Gwenyth Stadig was in the room in January for the TWU hearings to support her spouse, and talks about what it was like.

When you’ve been freshly called to the Bar, do you have anything to leverage when negotiating the terms of your first job in a law firm? James Careless says it’s possible.

There are a lot of things to think about when you’re breaking out on your own, not least of which is the appropriate business structure for your new firm. Ann Macaulay looks at a few options here, but the people she spoke with make a case for the professional corporation.

Myths about what to expect in your first year of practice abound. You’ll work 800-hour weeks! You’ll be treated like dirt! Law school teaches you everything you need to know! Um … no. James Careless debunks these and several others.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, there are more things you can do with a law degree, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your law firm philosophy. Candice Pollack, a Young Lawyers member-at-large, gives some tips for finding a post-law-school career that you’ll love.