Practice Areas8 min read
Estate Litigation: When Families Go to Court
Contested estates are less about wills and more about grief, money, and old wounds. Here is what the work actually looks like, and who thrives in it.
Maya Rombout
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Maya Rombout
Former articling principal
Maya has spent years hiring, training, and mentoring articling students, and she writes about what actually helps people get hired. She is a firm believer that a good cover letter is just clear thinking on a page.
41 articles
Job Search4 min read
Where to Look for Legal Jobs in Canada: A Guide to the Boards
Legal roles are scattered across general job sites, law society boards, recruiters, and specialist boards. Here is where to look, and how to look well.
Maya Rombout
Job Search7 min read
How to Prepare for a Panel Interview
A panel interview is a room, not a quiz. Here is how to read the people across the table, answer three sets of ears at once, and leave with everyone quietly on your side.
Maya Rombout
Articling7 min read
Articling Interprovincially: Making a Move Count
Articling in a province where you did not study can widen your options and reshape your career. Here is what to weigh before you pack, and how to make the move pay off.
Maya Rombout
Articling6 min read
12 Questions Worth Asking in Your Articling Interview
The questions you ask reveal as much as the ones you answer. Here are 12 that show judgment, plus what good and worrying answers actually sound like.
Maya Rombout
Practice Areas7 min read
Insurance Law: The Business of Risk and Claims
Insurance work splits into two worlds: deciding what a policy covers, and defending the claim once it lands. Here is what each side actually does day to day.
Maya Rombout
Law School7 min read
Switching Career Direction Midway Through Law School
Your goals shifted halfway through law school and now the plan feels wrong. Here is how to pivot with intention instead of panic, without torching the work you already did.
Maya Rombout
Job Search7 min read
9 Resume Mistakes That Quietly Sink Legal Applications
Most legal resumes are not rejected for being bad. They are set aside for small, fixable mistakes. Here are the nine that cost people interviews, and the fix for each.
Maya Rombout
Job Search7 min read
Job Searching While Still Employed: Discretion and Tactics
Looking for your next legal role while keeping your current one takes a quiet, deliberate hand. Here is how to run a real search without lighting a fire behind you.
Maya Rombout
Articling6 min read
How to Actually Land an Articling Position in Canada
The articling search rewards preparation more than pedigree. Here is a practical, no-nonsense playbook for finding a position, from where to look to how to follow up without being annoying.
Maya Rombout
Articling7 min read
Articling With a Sole Practitioner: What to Expect
Articling for a solo lawyer means more responsibility, more variety, and less scaffolding than a big firm. Here is an honest look at the trade-offs before you say yes.
Maya Rombout
Job Search8 min read
How to Stand Out When Everyone Has Similar Grades
By the time you are applying, your transcript is mostly fixed. Here is how to become the memorable candidate when a dozen applicants look identical on paper.
Maya Rombout
Practice Areas8 min read
Criminal Law: Crown and Defence, Two Sides of a Coin
Crown and defence work look adversarial from the gallery, but the day-to-day skills, pressures, and rewards differ more than most students expect. Here is what each side actually demands.
Maya Rombout
Law School7 min read
What Employers Really Read on a Law Student Transcript
Grades matter, but not the way most law students fear. Here is what employers actually look for on a transcript, and everything they weigh alongside it.
Maya Rombout
Articling7 min read
Building Good Relationships With Support Staff During Articling
Assistants, clerks, and law clerks quietly run the firm. Here is how to work well with the people who can make or break your articling year.
Maya Rombout
Provincial Guides6 min read
The Complete Guide to Articling Recruitment Cycles
Formal articling recruits run on fixed calendars that quietly decide your options. Here is how the cycles work, when they move, and how to plan a year ahead.
Maya Rombout
Job Search7 min read
How to Research a Firm Before You Apply
Most applicants read the About page and stop. Here is how to find the real signal about a firm's work, culture, and hiring needs before you write a word of your cover letter.
Maya Rombout
Articling8 min read
What to Do When You Make a Mistake as an Articling Student
Everyone gets something wrong during articling. What sets students apart is how they own it, fix it, and turn a bad afternoon into the reason people trust them.
Maya Rombout
Provincial Guides7 min read
Continuing Professional Development: What's Required
Your CPD obligation follows you for your whole career, but almost nobody explains how it actually works. Here is the plain-language shape of it, minus the panic.
Maya Rombout
Practice Areas7 min read
Bankruptcy and Insolvency: Law for Hard Times
Insolvency work is where finance, litigation, and human crisis collide. Here is what the practice actually involves, and why it stays busy when everything else slows down.
Maya Rombout
Law School7 min read
Managing Money as a Law Student on a Tight Budget
Law school runs on borrowed money and thin margins. Here is how to build a budget that survives the lean years without letting the debt run the show.
Maya Rombout
Job Search6 min read
How to Write a Cover Letter a Hiring Partner Will Actually Read
Most legal cover letters get skimmed in ten seconds and forgotten. Here is how to write one that earns a real read, from the crucial first line to the right length and tone.
Maya Rombout
Money & the Business of Law7 min read
How Firms Set Their Rates and What Clients Pay For
An hourly rate is not a random number, and a client's bill is not just your time. Here is what actually sits behind the figure, from a former principal who signed the invoices.
Maya Rombout
Job Search6 min read
What to Wear to a Legal Interview and Why It Still Matters
The law is quietly conservative about clothes, and interviews are where that shows. Here is how to dress the part without overthinking it, spending a fortune, or losing yourself.
Maya Rombout
Articling7 min read
Articling Off-Cycle: Finding Positions Outside the Formal Recruit
Most articling jobs never touch a structured recruit. Here is how to find, approach, and win positions that get filled quietly, on their own timeline.
Maya Rombout
Provincial Guides8 min read
How to Transfer Your Licence Between Provinces
Already called to the bar in one province and eyeing another? Here is how lawyer mobility actually works in Canada, what the transfer costs you in time and paperwork, and where people get tripped up.
Maya Rombout
Money & the Business of Law7 min read
How Bonuses and Profit-Sharing Work at Law Firms
Base salary is only half the story. Here is how the variable parts of legal pay actually work, from articling bonuses to partner draws, and what to ask before you sign.
Maya Rombout
Practice Areas7 min read
Tax Law: Not as Dry as You Think
Tax is where the real stakes live: how deals get structured, how families pass on wealth, how governments draw the line. Here is why the driest looking practice area is quietly one of the most powerful.
Maya Rombout
Law School7 min read
How to Write a Law School Exam Answer That Scores
Law exams reward structure and issue-spotting more than raw memory. Here is how to organize an answer that earns marks instead of just sounding smart.
Maya Rombout
Job Search7 min read
The Informational Interview: Your Secret Weapon
Most articling jobs never get posted. Informational interviews are how you reach them: here is how to ask, run the meeting, and follow up so it actually leads somewhere.
Maya Rombout
Articling7 min read
How to Make a Strong First Impression in Your First Week of Articling
The first week of articling sets a tone that lingers all year. Here are concrete, low-drama moves that make people want to work with you, from someone who supervised dozens of students.
Maya Rombout
Provincial Guides7 min read
Becoming a Lawyer in Manitoba and Saskatchewan
A plain-language guide to qualifying on the Prairies, from law school and the NCA route through articling and call to the bar in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Maya Rombout
Money & the Business of Law7 min read
How to Manage Student Debt on an Articling Salary
Articling pay rarely matches your loan balance, and that is normal. Here is a grounded, no-shame plan for handling law school debt through the lean early years.
Maya Rombout
Job Search7 min read
Following Up After an Interview Without Being Pushy
The follow-up after an interview is easy to overthink. Here is the cadence, the wording, and the judgment calls that keep you memorable without ever feeling like a pest.
Maya Rombout
Practice Areas7 min read
Real Estate Law: The Underrated Workhorse of the Profession
Real estate practice gets dismissed as paperwork, but it is one of the steadiest, most transferable, and quietly lucrative corners of law. Here is the honest case for it.
Maya Rombout
Law School7 min read
Moot Court: Is It Worth Your Time?
Mooting eats your weekends and teaches you things no exam will. Here is an honest look at what it actually builds, and how to tell if it fits the career you want.
Maya Rombout
Articling8 min read
Articling at a Boutique Firm: The Case for Going Small
Boutique firms hand you real files early, real feedback often, and a front-row seat to how a practice actually runs. Here is what you gain, what you give up, and who thrives.
Maya Rombout
Provincial Guides7 min read
Becoming a Lawyer in Alberta: The Path Explained
From law degree to called-to-the-bar, here is the honest, plain-language map of what it takes to qualify as a lawyer in Alberta, and where people get tripped up.
Maya Rombout
Money & the Business of Law7 min read
Understanding Your First Legal Paycheque and Deductions
Your first articling paycheque will be smaller than the number on your offer letter. Here is how to read a pay stub, plan around take-home pay, and avoid a nasty April surprise.
Maya Rombout
Job Search8 min read
How to Network Your Way to a Legal Job
Most legal jobs are filled before they are ever posted. Here is how to turn ordinary conversations into real offers, without pretending to be someone you are not.
Maya Rombout
Articling7 min read
What Articling Principals Actually Look For in a Candidate
I hired and supervised articling students for years. The signals that made me want to keep someone were rarely the ones students spent their energy polishing.
Maya Rombout