Calgary Firm Protocol, Recruitment for Summer 2016 (Second Year Students)
The following is the Protocol agreed to by a number of Calgary law firms:
The following rules apply to the recruitment of second year students by Calgary law firms for
summer positions in the City of Calgary. The intention of these rules is to ensure all firms have
reasonable access to qualified candidates and to ensure students are provided adequate
opportunity to assess the various firms and options available to them.
Each firm agrees to follow both the spirit and letter of the Summer Student 2L Recruitment
Protocol which is as follows:
1. Recruitment activity, as that term is defined by the Rules of the Law Society of Alberta, shall
commence no earlier than September 1st for positions the following summer (with the exception
that unsolicited inquiries from students can be responded to);
2. Each firm may conduct on-campus interviews of second years where permitted;
3. Any firm wishing to conduct interviews on campus or in Calgary prior to the Offer Date is free to
do so while taking into consideration the on-campus interview schedule (i.e. not requesting a
student from an individual school that has on-campus interviews occurring on the same date to
interview at firm’s office on the same date);
4. No offers, intention to offer, or solicitation of students’ intention to accept an offer with any
given firm shall be communicated to any student prior to the Offer Date.
5. The Summer Student offer date ("Offer Date") shall coincide with the Vancouver Summer offer
date of October 22, 2015 at 9 a.m. MST.
6. Offers may be extended to second year students on the Offer Date and will remain open for 24
hours.
7. Following the Offer Date, firms are free to schedule interviews and extend offers for summer
student positions as they see fit.
In addition, there was a general consensus that firms would abide by the definition of “recruitment
activity” as it stood in past years under the Law Society of Alberta Rules: 49.1(1) (f) “recruitment
activity” means any activity the primary objective of which is to place a particular student with an
employer, and includes the conduct of interviews; the offer or provision of gifts, meals or
entertainment on an exclusive or selective basis; and the making or solicitation of offers of
employment but does not include the scheduling of interviews or the participation in scholarship
and prize programs, career fairs, seminars hosted by law schools or similar activities where the
primary intent is not to recruit a particular student or students.
It was also agreed that dinners, that are to take place after September 1 st, would be allowed to be
scheduled before September 1st.
April 15, 2015