Former appellate lawyer
Elena spent her career in public-interest and appellate work, and she has a soft spot for the underrated corners of the profession. She writes clear, careful guides for people making big decisions about where to practise.
50 articles
The law that governs ships, planes, and freight is one of the most specialized corners of the profession. Here is what the work actually looks like and how to break in.
Leaving a large firm for a smaller one is rarely about burnout alone. Here is what actually drives experienced lawyers to downshift, and what they gain and give up.
Entertainment and media law looks glamorous from the outside and reads like accounting from the inside. Here is what the work actually involves and how to break in.
Passing the NCA exams gets you a licence, not a place to belong. Here is how newcomer lawyers build community, find mentors, and gain real footing in Canadian practice.
Call to the bar is run by each province, not the country. Here is how the final step to becoming a lawyer generally works, with a jump-off point for every jurisdiction.
A secondment lets you live inside a practice setting for a few months before you commit to it. Here is how to use one to test a direction, not just fill a gap.
Requalifying in Canada can take years, and the hardest part is not the exams. Here is how to protect your momentum, your identity, and your sanity across the long middle.
Privacy work has quietly become one of the busiest corners of Canadian law. Here is why the field is booming and what the day-to-day practice actually looks like.
Articling is not one national process. Licensing, alternatives, and Quebec's civil-law route all differ by province. Here is a clear, high-level map before you plan or relocate.
Canada has thirteen legal jurisdictions, not one. Here are the provincial differences that will actually shape where you article, what you earn, and how fast you qualify.
Research assistant work is the quietest lever in law school. Here is how to land an RA role and what it does for your writing, your judgment, and your network.
The move from private practice to in-house is less about escaping billables and more about timing, positioning, and knowing what a business actually wants from its first lawyer in the room.
You argued appeals in one country and now you must article like a fresh graduate. How the accreditation route actually unfolds, told through one journey.
Every firm has invisible currents of power, credit, and loyalty. Here is how to read them clearly and move through them without becoming someone you don't recognize.
Health law is not one job, it is a dozen. From hospital boardrooms to privacy files to discipline hearings, here is what the practice actually covers and who thrives in it.
Legal operations went from a back-office afterthought to a genuine career track. Here is how it happened, what the work actually looks like, and how to get in.
Before you book a flight, do the homework. A practical guide to reading the Canadian legal market from another country, so you land already knowing where you fit.
Good mentors are rarely assigned. They show up through small, honest interactions you can start today. Here is where they actually come from and how to keep the relationship alive.
Lawyers in Canada are governed province by province, not by Ottawa. Here is who actually holds your licence, why it works that way, and what it means for your career.
In-house roles are some of the most sought-after jobs in law and some of the most misunderstood. Here is what the work actually involves and how people really get there.
Before you hang out a shingle, run the numbers. Here are the money questions that decide whether a solo practice survives its first eighteen months.
Nearly every good lawyer quietly believes they are one memo away from being found out. Here is why the feeling is so common, and how to work with it instead of against it.
Worried your accent or your English will hold you back in interviews? Here is what actually matters to Canadian legal employers, and how to walk in sounding like yourself.
A legal academic career is less about grades and more about ideas you can defend for a decade. Here is how it actually starts and what the road looks like.
Good character is not a personality test, and admission is not a formality. Here is what the law society is really asking, and how to answer it honestly and well.
A clerkship can be one of the best years of a legal career, or a costly detour, depending on what you want. Here is a balanced guide to what clerking is and who it suits.
Environmental law is broader, messier, and more consequential than most students imagine. Here is what the work actually involves and how to build toward it.
Your international CV is not broken, but it is speaking the wrong dialect. Here is how to translate a foreign legal career into a resume that Canadian firms actually read.
A resume line is not a network. Here is how to pick law school groups that actually build your skills, your judgment, and the relationships that carry into practice.
The money habits you build in your first few years quietly decide how much freedom you have later. Here is what compounds, and what to start now.
Balance in law is not a myth, but it is not a flat promise either. Here is what it actually looks like at each career stage, and how to protect it without stalling.
A law degree is a licence to think, not a life sentence at a firm. Here are the careers it opens beyond practice, and how to move toward one without wasting the training.
A plain-language tour of the accreditation subjects most NCA candidates face, what each one really tests, and how to study each so the exams feel less like a maze.
Licensing and daily practice in Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut work differently than in the south. Here is what the North asks of a lawyer.
Government legal careers are steadier, broader, and more interesting than their reputation suggests. A look at the roles, the culture, the pay tradeoffs, and how people get in.
Legal pay is shaped by more than your firm's letterhead. Here is an honest look at the levers that move a lawyer's income across thirty years of practice.
Advocacy is adversarial by design, but rudeness is a choice. Here is how to stay principled and civil when the work invites you to be neither.
Employment law has two chairs at the table, and the work looks different from each one. Here is what the plaintiff and management sides actually involve, and how to choose.
Requalifying in Canada leaves a stretch of time that looks empty on paper. Here is how to frame it honestly, so employers see a lawyer building toward a licence, not a gap.
You cannot do everything in law school, and pretending otherwise is how good students burn out. Here is how to choose the one or two commitments that actually move your career.
Running your own practice means you answer to no partner and every client at once. Here is what solo practice really demands, and what it quietly gives back.
Quebec runs on civil law and a two-part legal profession, so the path to practice looks nothing like the rest of Canada. Here is how it actually works.
Arriving in Canada with no professional contacts is not a dead end. Here is how to build a legal network from zero, one honest conversation at a time.
What it actually costs to run a small firm, where the money really comes from, and the quiet financial habits that keep the doors open past year three.
Difficult clients are usually frightened clients. Here is how to hold your composure, set honest boundaries, and protect your judgment without losing your humanity.
Immigration law is fast, human, and unforgiving of sloppiness. Here is what the practice actually demands, and who tends to thrive in it.
In-house legal careers rarely follow a straight line. Here is what each rung actually involves, from your first counsel role to the seat where you report to the CEO.
You do not need a licence to start building a Canadian legal record. Here are concrete, credible ways to gain local experience while you requalify, and how to make each one count.
The second-year recruit moves fast and rewards students who understand its rhythm. Here is what actually happens, week by week, and how to be ready before it starts.
From law school to your first day with a licence, here is how becoming a lawyer in Ontario actually works, including the steps nobody explains until you are already in them.