The Faculty of Law offers several paid fellowship programs which enable students to pursue summer opportunities in public interest law or international human rights, funded by the law school, Students' Law Society or external donors. The Faculty of Law also offers two paid business law internships which are funded by private law firms.

Public Interest Fellowships

Business Law Internships

 

New Internships Awarded in 2019

Future of Law - Blue J Legal Fellowship

The Future of Law - Blue J Legal Fellowship is an innovative new fellowship that was awarded for the first time in the summer of 2019. It is supported by the Faculty of Law and Blue J Legal.

Awarded to a pair of students, it encourages a team to work and develop a proposal in the law and innovation space.  There are two elements to the Fellowship.  First, the pair of Fellows will work at Blue J Legal for 8 weeks of the summer.  These positions are paid. Second, the pair of Fellows will receive awards from the Faculty of Law of $5,000 each to spend the final 6 weeks of the summer working to develop a business plan for a start-up. There is an expectation, but no obligation, that the students will work to create the start-up after the summer ends. 

The Fellowship team will largely work independently in the non-Blue J Legal half of the summer, with office space at Blue J Legal. The team will meet from time to time with experienced entrepreneurs to receive feedback and advice, and will present a complete business proposal to the expert panel for feedback.

This opportunity was part of the Faculty Unified Hiring Process.

Contact person is Kim Snell at kim.snell@utoronto.ca.

Lenczner Slaght Advocacy Internship

Widely recognized as one of Canada's leading litigation practices, Lenczner Slaght has successfully represented clients' interests in some of the country's most complex and high-profile cases. The firm's lawyers appear at all levels of the courts, before tribunals, and in mediation and arbitration proceedings. 

Lenczner Slaght is committed to the next generation of advocates. As part of its commitment to access to justice, social responsibility and diversity in the profession, Lenczner Slaght is proud to sponsor the Lenczner Slaght Advocacy Internship for 2019.  The successful student received $10,000 for a 15-week internship placement. This internship was available to first and second year law students interested in developing their advocacy skills and experience. Students were responsible for initiating discussions with eligible organizations and to work with the organization to design a law related project with opportunities for written and/or oral advocacy. 

The Lenczner Slaght Advocacy Internship was open to students in first and second year wishing to work at any public interest advocacy organization in Canada. The Internship was  awarded by the selection committee on the basis of:

  • the applicant's demonstrated commitment to and interest in advocacy
  • the applicant's academic achievement
  • the merit of the host organization, including the availability of legal supervision
  • the rigour of the proposal and the merit of the project, including the legal and public interest aspects of the project 
  • the benefit to the organization of the proposed project
  • financial need
  • first generation student status

This internship was part of the Faculty Unified Hiring Process.

Faculty of Engineering Summer Internship – Law Connector @ The Hatchery

For the second summer in a row, the Faculty of Law offered paid summer internships at The Hatchery, UofT’s Engineering incubator.  In partnership with The Hatchery, we hired four paid positions with the Hatchery NEST for 2019.

The summer position, titled Law Connector, is an excellent opportunity for law students to gain first-hand experience in a leadership role with startup companies.

The Hatchery NEST selects and supports teams of UofT students (from any program, any year) through the process of defining and launching their own startup companies. The NEST operates from May to August and provides the structure and support to guide teams of student entrepreneurs to create viable business models and prototypes. Those teams will ultimately compete to secure a spot at Demo Day, a pitch competition that takes place in early September with $42.5k in seed funding available.

The Law Connector is a member of the advisory boards to various Hatchery teams, along with a Business Mentor, Technical Mentor(s), and other Connectors (MBA and Masters of Management of Innovation students). The Connectors are embedded on various teams and work together to provide project management and administrative support and guidance to keep the teams on track to successfully develop their ideas and business models to ultimately secure a spot at Demo Day.

Working in partnership with the MBA and MMI Connectors, the Law Connectors:

  • Act as an advisory board member for up to seven different startup teams, leveraging their legal training and perspective.
  • Provide insight to the startups in different areas of problem solving, strategy, analytic reasoning, business, and issue identification.
  • Facilitate and schedule advisory board meetings, take meeting notes and update the Hatchery administration on the teams’ progress.
  • Manage team dynamics and ensure goals and project milestones are met.
  • Track efficacy and relay feedback from teams and mentors.
  • Track team and mentor compatibility and communicate any potential red flags.
  • Act as experts on Hatchery resources for start-up teams.
  • Provide feedback on structure and content of team pitches.
  • Attend Hatchery workshops, meetings and pitching sessions.
  • Commit to working with startups approximately 35 hours per week from May to the end of August.

**NOTE: Law Connectors will not provide legal advice or counsel to the startup teams. They will however help identify legal and other issues.

These positions were part of the Faculty Unified Hiring Process.

Contact person is Kim Snell, Manager of Experiential Education, at kim.snell@utoronto.ca.