The Practise of Law at The City of Calgary
With 50 lawyers, The City of Calgary Law Department is headed by City Solicitor, Paul Tolley, and includes an array of paralegal, secretarial and administrative staff. The Law Department essentially functions as a full service legal firm for a corporation with an annual budget of $1.6 billion and a workforce in excess of 15,000 municipal employees. Very little of the legal work is referred to outside counsel. As a result, the variety of the work undertaken in the Law Department is extensive. The work often relates to high-profile matters of considerable public importance.
The Law Department has a full-service library managed by a full-time professional librarian. In addition to the basic texts and law reporters, the library contains several thousand memoranda and legal opinions which are indexed in our internal computerized research database. The Library subscribes to various commercial research databases, including Quicklaw and WestlawCanada, which are available from desktops. In addition, the Law Department has a full time research lawyer.
There are three Divisions in the Law Department: the Legal Division, the Risk Management and Claims Division, and the Corporate Security Division. In total there are 135 employees in the Law Department.
There are six sections within the Legal Division:
Corporate Services
- contract drafting and review
- assessment and taxation services
- freedom of information and privacy issues
- parks and recreation matters
- legal opinions
Litigation
Represents the City before all levels of court, administrative tribunals, boards of arbitration and mediation. It provides legal representation in various areas including:
- labour relations and human rights
- environmental matters
- actions by and against The City with respect to personal injury, real property, construction law, emergency vehicles, damage to property, and other matters
- fatality inquiries
Planning & Environment
Provides legal services to Council and its committees, Calgary Planning Commission, Sub-Division and Development Appeal Board, and Land Committee with respect to:
- land use, planning and development issues
- environmental issues
- legal opinions
- the reviewing and drafting of contracts
- the formulation of corporate policy in conjunction with client groups
Prosecutions, Research & Administration
- bylaw Prosecutions and related legal opinions
- bylaw drafting and review
- legal research
Real Estate & Expropriation
Provides legal services to Council, Management Real Estate Review Committee and Land and Asset Strategy Committee with respect to:
- acquisitions of land
- disposition of land, leases and licences
- expropriations
- legal opinions
Regulatory Affairs & Special Projects
- litigation with respect to expropriated properties
- special projects
- regulatory matters conducted before legislative and regulatory bodies
Articling and summer student program
The City currently rotates articling students through the Litigation, Corporate Services and Real Estate & Expropriation sections. As well, in order to provide the students with as wide an exposure as possible, there is the opportunity to do planning, environmental and regulatory work. The lawyers from The City's Law Department also advise various commissions such as the Boxing and Wrestling Commission and the Taxi Commission. Students are encouraged to attend the meetings of these commissions.
The City typically hires three articling students. The current articling salary for the City is $50,000 annually, subject to an annual review by the City.
Students are entitled to participate in the City's benefits immediately upon starting employment. This includes extended health and dental, short-term and long-term disability, and group life insurance.
The City pays for the students' Canadian Bar Association and Calgary Bar Association memberships. The students are reimbursed for the cost of bar admission courses (CPLED) and are paid their salary while attending CPLED.
Articling students, like the other members of the Law Department, get every third Friday off. In the event that a student is unable to take a particular Friday off because of work commitments (something that is bound to happen occasionally), that day can be banked and used at a more convenient time. Students also are given three weeks of vacation at the conclusion of their articles.
When we take on articling students, we are looking for people who will be assets to the Department over the long term. However, because of the municipal budget process, the Law Department cannot make any commitments that the articling students will have positions at the end of their articling year. This is, of course, similar to any firm as hire-back decisions are based on firm need and financial resources. Having said that, it is worth noting that approximately 35% of the lawyers presently in the Department articled here.
Articling at any firm is often an exercise in doing extensive research. When you article with The City of Calgary Law Department, you can be assured that you will be exposed to a great variety of legal issues and given considerable responsibility. You will also be appearing in various levels of court more often than the typical articling student and because of that, you will improve on your skills as a potential future litigator much faster than students articling in private practice. You will also find that lawyers in the Department have an open door policy and are willing to spend time with the students to assist and direct them when necessary.
Articling Students at The City have their work more or less evenly divided among four areas:
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Bylaw prosecutions – acting as the Crown, you will have conduct of an entire court docket relating to bylaw infractions. Out of 10 to 15 items on the docket, you can expect about four or five trials. You will be in court on bylaw matters about one day per week. You will appear in Provincial Court Traffic Division, Provincial Court Criminal Division and Court of Queen's Bench.
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Litigation Files – you will have conduct of several Small Claims litigation files which can be worth as much as $25,000.00. Your handling of these files will be largely autonomous. You are likely to do several Small Claims trials in the course of your articling year as well as appear in Court of Queen's Bench on applications and to speak to the list in the Court of Appeal.
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Legal research on a wide variety of issues.
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Miscellaneous items – you are likely to have involvement in the drafting of contracts, preparing pleadings, drafting real estate documents, attending examinations for discovery and meeting with clients.
Although the workload is variable, a typical work day is from 8:00- 4:30pm, Monday through Friday with every third Friday off. Because of the City's commitment to work/life balance, students will be able to spend time with family and friends and enjoy the wonderful aspects and amenities that Calgary has to offer. For further information on The City itself, please go to www.calgary.ca.
Articling students from previous years have been very pleased with the quality of the articling experience they received with The City. We encourage you to visit our website at www.calgary.ca/law and read some of the biographies of our current lawyers at the City and contact them to discuss their experiences if necessary.
We believe that we provide a first-class environment not only for articling students, but also for lawyers who want interesting and challenging work in a setting where they can concentrate solely on the practice of law, free from the constraints of private practice such as the need to solicit work and bill clients. No hourly targets, challenging work and a reasonable schedule continue to attract outstanding candidates year after year. The Law Department is a place where lawyers can develop to their full potential and have a true balance in their lives that may be difficult to achieve in private practice.
Applying for an Articling Position
The City is not enrolled in the match program. The City welcomes applications from all interested second or third year law school students for the following articling year. Applications shall consist of a cover letter, resume, undergraduate and updated law school transcripts, and no more than two references. Please do not include any writing samples.
Applications are to be received no later than May 14, 2010, via courier, mail, fax or email with interviews being conducted during the first two weeks in June.
Resumes should be forwarded to:
The City of Calgary Law Department (#8053)
Calgary Municipal Building
12th Floor, 800 Macleod Trail S.E.
Calgary, Alberta T2G 2M3
Attention: June Wall, Office Administrator
Or via email to june.wall@calgary.ca
Or by fax to 403-268-4634
Summer Students
In addition to our Articling Program, the Law Department also has a Summer Student Program for students currently enrolled in law school. The City typically hires one or two students every summer. Summer students do not participate in a rotation system but are assigned to specific projects. The program is partially funded by Federal (SCP) and Provincial (STEP) programs. Once we know what projects we have, we then decide if the project requires a first or second year student and post the position accordingly.
Positions for summer students are posted on the City's Human Resources Job Postings website during the last week of March.
