Our Student Program
We involve our students directly in everything we do. Dive into a range of legal work, build client relationships and receive valuable mentorship from our team.
Top 10 reasons we're #wildlydifferent
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We’re good at what we do.
We are the only mid-size firm in Canada that competes consistently and effectively with the national full-service firms in our chosen practice areas.
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We offer coveted opportunities.
We have big firm work and salaries in a collegial firm environment.
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We invest in your professional development.
We do not have billable hour targets. We strive to create a supportive and cooperative environment where our professionals focus on skill development and willingly share their knowledge, expertise and time.
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We embrace a hybrid work model.
Well before the pandemic, we adopted an agile working environment so that we could work remotely up to one day per week. We now work remotely up to two days per week, which fosters the collaborative nature of the practice of law while recognizing the new realities of the world of work.
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We have a Hireback Loan Program.
We offer a $15,000 interest-free loan to those students who will join us as first year lawyers to help bridge the gap until their start date.
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We share success and growth.
We have an Equity Participation Program, which allows our lawyers to share financially in the growth of certain clients.
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We’re here to support you.
We offer competitive pregnancy and parental leave benefits, including 26 weeks top-up of EI maternity and parental leave benefits which applies to all parents.
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We offer sabbaticals for partners.
Our partners are able to take a four-month sabbatical leave after five years of partnership.
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Our office is different — in a good way.
We have our own building on Bay Street, Wildeboer DelleIce Place. Our office has its own gym and we have a pool table in our lobby.
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We know how to work and play.
We have more fun! Our team likes to do things together — from sports to holiday socials and happy hours.
Student FAQ
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We usually hire 5-7 second year summer law students through the annual Toronto second year summer law student recruitment process. We do not participate in the annual Toronto articling recruitment process unless we have a specific need for one or more additional students. We are not participating in the 2025-2026 Toronto articling recruitment process.
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We follow the Law Society of Ontario’s Toronto recruitment procedures for second year summer law student and articling student positions. We accept applications through the online viLaw Portal from students attending all law schools. For the 2025 summer recruitment process, we will attend the virtual “On- Campus” Interviews (OCI’s) at each of Osgoode, Ottawa, Queen’s, TMU, UofT, Western, Windsor, McGill and the Western Canadian law schools, and will also participate in the ITLNCA Networks OCI’s.
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While there is no single set of characteristics that will lead to a long and prosperous career at WD, successful candidates have historically exhibited, among other things, outstanding academic achievement, a strong work ethic, a willingness to take on responsibility, a commitment to life-long learning and the ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a team.
We have a comprehensive set of competencies—traits, qualities and skills—and evaluative criteria that we use to assess applicants for our summer and articling student positions. The core competencies we value and which our lawyers possess include intellectual ability and curiosity, self-directedness, strong interpersonal skills, drive and a strong work ethic, and a client service orientation. An entrepreneurial spirit is also essential for success at our firm. Additionally, because WD is a specialized firm focused on business law, a crucial criterion for our firm is a genuine and demonstrated interest in business law and working at WD.
There are a multitude of ways to demonstrate the criteria that we are looking for. It is important for candidates to emphasize the skills and experiences they would bring to WD that align with our criteria.
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While we do not have a formal rotation system for summer students or articling students, over the course of the summer and articling term, we expect students to work with all lawyers of the firm and gain exposure to our core practice areas as well as different lawyer practice styles.
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Generally, our lawyers will email all of our students as a group to request assistance with a particular matter. Our students will determine among themselves who is in the best position to assist based on how busy they are, if they have not previously worked with the requesting lawyer(s) and if the work involved is something new for them, and then the appropriate student will communicate to the requesting lawyer(s) that they will assist. Given that we have 5 to 7 students in each cohort, we find this system works for us to achieve the objectives of ensuring that our students are being exposed to a variety of work, are working with different members of the firm, and that work is being evenly distributed.
Members of our Student Committee hold weekly meetings with our students as a group to hear what everyone is currently working on and ensure that the objectives described above are being met.
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Student work includes, among other things, conducting due diligence, drafting legal documents and preparing for and running closings of transactions.
While students may be asked to perform a particular task, we encourage our students to become fully engaged in a file at an early stage. We give students an opportunity to work on many different parts of a file and to have client interaction. We view our student program as the first step in a long career at WD and encourage students to learn and understand all aspects of a file, not only a particular assignment they have been given. We value initiative.
We have no pre-conceived notions of what a student can or cannot do. Every student or lawyer will have to do something for the first time at some point in their career. We try to ensure students get a wide range of experience and take on as much responsibility as they are willing and able to handle.
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Twice a month, we gather at lunch hour for “Wildlaw U” lecture-based sessions and “Lunch & Learn” roundtable discussions or business development skills training through “Wildlaw Academy.” From time to time, we bring in external speakers to present on topics of interest and specific areas of law that are outside of, or complementary to, our core practice areas. We also offer access to external Continuing Professional Development programs. That said, there is no substitute for “learning-by-doing.”
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We strive to provide mentorship to all of our students in a meaningful and individualized manner, including by pairing each student with a mentor. We give students immediate feedback on an informal and consistent basis, and we encourage students to seek feedback from our lawyers on any tasks performed. Members of our Student Committee regularly provide summer students and articling students with formal reviews during their terms.
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We do not hire students just to do a job or fill a desk. We hire students who we expect to have a long and successful career at WD. Accordingly, although we do not guarantee hireback rates, they have historically been high. We have traditionally offered articling terms to all of our summer students before the application deadline for the annual Toronto articling recruitment process. We usually offer associate positions to most, if not all, of our articling students, depending on a variety of factors including performance, practice group needs and market conditions and subject to any opt-outs.
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Our student salary is currently $1,900 per week, which is competitive with the student salaries at the large national law firms in Toronto. For articling students, the firm covers the cost of the lawyer licensing process with the Law Society of Ontario. Articling students are also eligible to participate in the firm’s group benefits plan, entitled to two week’s paid vacation over the 10-month articling term and have access to the firm’s on-site gym.
Wilde.. what? How we say our name:
wil-de-bō-er de-lēsStudent Experience
Hear from our past students
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After I met with other firms, I just felt like this firm was the most genuine. I really value knowing everyone that I work with.
-- Articling Student -
Working as a student at Wildeboer Dellelce was truly an exceptional experience. I was given the opportunity to play an integral role on a broad range of interesting transactions, including IPOs, private placements and corporate acquisitions. It was great knowing that my colleagues valued my contribution.
-- Articling Student -
Each and every person at this firm has invested their time in developing our skills from the first day of summer, and we could not have had a summer student experience like this at any other firm on the street.
-- Summer Student
Meet our current students.
Learn more about their achievements and growing careers.
Meet our studentsOur commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Our DEI Framework honours three pillars: Representation Matters, Inclusive Practices and Celebrating Diversity. We uphold these principles throughout our day-to-day with each other, our clients and our greater community.
Learn moreHow to Apply
Ready to summer or article with us?
Submit your application of cover letter, resume, copies of law school and other post-secondary transcripts and a list of proposed upper-year courses through the online viLaw Portal.
Cover letters can be addressed to: Sanjeev Patel Chair, Student Committee Wildeboer Dellelce LLP Wildeboer Dellelce Place 365 Bay Street, Suite 800 Toronto, ON M5H 2V1
Apply in the viLaw PortalMeet our Student Committee
Our Student Committee manages the applications for summer and articling opportunities at WD — get to know them.
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Sanjeev Patel Partner
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James Brown Partner
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Jeff Hergott Partner
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Lisa Cunningham Director, Professional Development
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Nick Gray Partner
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Ragu Anantharajah Partner
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Rory Cattanach Partner