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Student Program
For information contact Ari Kaplan About our Firm We are a downtown, mid-sized firm. Our practice is composed of the following four areas:
It is our objective to provide high quality and efficient service to our clients while maintaining a friendly and informal office environment. We attempt to involve our articling students extensively in the practice and in the development of the areas of the law in which we are involved. Students assist in providing research for cases before courts and administrative tribunals and are urged to attend with the lawyers at the hearings and trials. Students are encouraged to attend OBA and CBA activities and other educational programmes or to assist lawyers who are preparing papers for such programmes. Labour Relations Our labour relations practice includes all facets of labour relations at both the provincial and federal levels and in the private and public sectors. Our lawyers, on behalf of trade unions, appear before the Ontario Labour Relations Board, the Canada Industrial Relations Board, the Grievance Settlement Board, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal and the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, as well as before Arbitrators. Our labour relations work encompasses the following fields:
Our labour relations activity takes us all over Ontario and to various different provinces where we have advised on labour relations matters on behalf of trade unions. In addition to appearing before boards and tribunals, we become involved in labour relations issues that are litigated in the courts, including judicial review of labour tribunals, lawsuits involving trade unions and union constitutions, labour injunctions and other labour-related litigation. Another facet of our labour practice is devoted to preparing submissions and making representations on issues of interest to working people, to federal and provincial government bodies such as legislative committees, royal commissions and task forces. We have drafted extensive submissions on behalf of unions and trade union federations and councils across Canada on such matters as labour legislation and reform, pension legislation, employment insurance, political rights of civil servants, job training, and income tax reform. We keep our clients updated on current issues through a newsletter entitled Talking Union, and seminars offered on particular topics to particular groups. Our lawyers and students are often engaged in researching these policy issues and ensuring that our clients make effective representations and receive informed comment on relevant matters. Class Actions A class action allows one person, often called the representative plaintiff or class plaintiff, to commence a legal proceeding in the courts on behalf of himself or herself, as well as all of the other people who fit into the proposed class. For example, the class may be made up of employees, pensioners, shareholders, purchasers of a product, consumers or residents of a certain town or city. This means that a single person or small group of persons can start a class action on behalf of hundreds, thousands or hundreds of thousands of people who are similarly situated. Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and Saskatchewan have class action legislation. Other provinces will be bringing in such legislation shortly. Cases can be brought on behalf of people living across Canada, or even outside of Canada. Class actions allow for large numbers of people to have access to the courts in situations where the case would be too expensive or too complex for one person to sue on their own. Our firm is experienced in handling complex class actions. Lawyers at the firm are recognized by Lexpert as being leading practitioners in the area and in related areas of law. Koskie Minsky and its lawyers have been involved in class actions involving Indian residential schools, environmental claims, securities and shareholder misrepresentation, product liability, consumer protection, and many other types of cases, some of which were the first of their kind in Canada. We have achieved recoveries for class members in many of these cases. We also act as consulting counsel for plaintiffs and defendants in class actions. Students assist in all aspects of the class proceedings practice, including research, assisting in drafting in materials for court and attending with counsel at certification hearings and appeals. For more information on some of out class actions, please click here. Civil Litigation Our civil litigation practice encompasses the following major areas:
Our lawyers, articling students and clerks are equipped to handle all aspects of complex litigation, particularly in cases where extensive productions and large amounts of documentation must be reviewed, catalogued and presented. Our litigation lawyers handle cases throughout Ontario at all levels, including trial and appellate work, as well as appearing before all levels of the Federal Court system across Canada. Members of the firm also assist on cases outside the province. Our articling students assist in all aspects of our litigation practice. In particular, our students attend and manage motions, examinations for discovery, and some small claims court and landlord/tenant matters, under the direction of the firm's lawyers. Pension and Employee Benefits Our firm was one of the first in the country to provide advice in the field of pension and employee benefits law; we are now in the forefront of employee representation in those matters. The pensions and employee benefits field is still a developing area and is increasingly in the public eye. Over the years, our firm has been a central player in major litigation involving employee interests in pension plans (e.g. the Dominion Stores, Gainers, Ontario Hospital, and NHL cases), and in making representations to government bodies regarding newly-implemented pension reforms. We advise on the impact of trust and income tax laws on collective agreements and/or employment contracts, employee benefit plans, and employee rights in respect of pensions, surpluses and other benefits. The roles played by members of our firm on the Executive of the pension section of the Canadian Bar Association, the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and the Ontario Federation of Labour Special Committee on Pensions provide us with an excellent opportunity to advise clients on new developments in this rapidly changing field. Students assist in all areas of this practice, from drafting material for court and assisting in the preparation of a case before the Financial Services Commission (formerly Pension Commission), to researching and drafting legal opinions. Professional and Community Service Our firm encourages the involvement of our lawyers and staff in professional, community and academic endeavours. Members of the firm are extensively involved both as Chairpersons and as participants in programmes sponsored by the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Canadian Bar Association; we deliver lectures and papers on a regular basis and present seminars for clients in the labour relations and insurance fields. We currently sponsor the insurance law prize at Osgoode Hall Law School, the Jacob Finkelman prize in labour law at the University of Toronto Law School, and the Koskie Minsky Prize in labour arbitration at the University of Windsor. Members of our firm deliver lectures and teach courses at law schools and the Bar Admission Course and have been involved in numerous other law school activities. We also sponsor the annual Koskie Minsky University lecture in Labour Law held at the University of Western Ontario. We encourage community activity; our lawyers serve on the Board of Directors of different legal agencies and the firm assumes some meritorious files on a pro bono basis. Larry Banack, a member of the litigation department, also serves as a bencher for the Law Society. Articling Student Programme Koskie Minsky employs students at two levels: summer students and articling students. We hire two law students for the summer months (May-August). Summer students typically provide assistance in one of our four areas of practice though that is flexible. Our articling programme currently provides for employment for four students during the year. There is a rotation system, whereby each student spends equal portions of the articling term in the civil litigation, labour, pension benefits, and class actions departments. Some overlap is permitted if a student has been extensively involved in a particular case while in a prior rotation. Students regularly assist in preparing research and drafting materials, including written submissions and facta for courts, administrative tribunals, and arbitrations. Students are encouraged to attend all hearings and court dates for the cases in which they have assisted. Students are also involved in drafting legal opinions and memoranda, and in attending and assisting client interviews. Students in the litigation rotation appear at motions before Masters, and may be given Small Claims Court or Provincial Court matters to handle on their own under the supervision of a lawyer. In the labour field, students may find themselves presenting a simple arbitration case, if the supervising lawyer is satisfied that the student can handle the matter and the client is in agreement. As well, students are involved in the management of our Workplace Safety and Insurance practice, working closely with a supervising lawyer, injured workers and union representatives. Candidates for summer student and articling student positions are expected to have good academic grades and an interest in the fields of labour relations and general civil litigation. An interest or experience in pension and benefits law is also welcome. Applicants should submit copies of their most recent grades, any letters of reference which they may have and a writing sample. We also place great weight on our personal interviews with applicants for summer and articling student positions. Our articling positions are unionized with C.U.P.E., Local 1281. We believe that our firm provides students with the unique opportunity to obtain experience in both labour law, representing trade unions, and in general civil litigation, thus providing a broad perspective to those who seek an advocacy-oriented legal career. As well, we offer students exposure to the developing and exciting field of pensions and employment benefits. Thank you for your interest in our firm. |
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Copyright © Koskie Minsky LLP, 2008 |