Students
We have ideas about your future
Meeting clients. Being part of a team that handles challenging files, but still has fun. Working at an innovative law firm that is a leader in emerging industries.
In our humble opinion, it’s patently obvious we have what you’re looking for. There’s no disputing it, we’re the poster child for excellence in IP. Working with our highly respected lawyers and agents will help you make your mark in the industry in no time. At Bereskin & Parr, students aren’t just part of a big machine, we invest in each of our students and consider them key team members. Come join us.
Intellectual property is our passion
Bereskin & Parr is recognized around the globe as a leading Canadian intellectual property firm. Our professionals, include more than 80 lawyers and patent and trademark agents, many of whom are recognized as leading practitioners in their specialized fields. We are consistently ranked as the benchmark for intellectual property law in Canada.
Our main practice areas are patent prosecution, trademarks, litigation, copyright, and regulatory/privacy law, but we’re always evolving to meet the needs of our clients. Our professionals work at the forefront of both law and technology across a wide range of practice areas involving longstanding and emerging fields such as Artificial Intelligence, Cannabis and FinTech.
Choose your own path
Summer and Articling students at B&P are encouraged to work with lawyers and agents across several of our main practice areas so they can get the experience they need to make informed decisions about their future. Many students that walk through our doors haven’t decided whether they want to prosecute patents and trademarks or litigate them. And that’s okay. We can help you decide between prosecution and litigation — or set you on a path where you can do both.
It is a requirement that all patent prosecutors have an engineering or advanced science background, but don’t let that scare you. This is not a requirement for lawyers and agents in our other practice groups. We have lawyers and agents from all backgrounds; they each bring their unique perspective to client work.
Join us and do real work for real clients
Our clients include many of the world’s largest companies and brands as well as incubators, start-ups, and first-time inventors.
As students, you will be directly involved in client work and project teams. For example, patent prosecution students regularly meet with inventors and work with our associates and partners from the very start to put together the first drafts of patent applications. Trademark students conduct investigations to identify infringing and counterfeit products. Litigation students go to discoveries, motions, trials, and appeals. All of our students meet and work directly with our clients.
Students receive work assignments from various lawyers throughout the firm, which is a great opportunity to connect with some of Canada’s top IP practitioners. We have three offices in Ontario and one in Quebec and our students have the opportunity to work with and learn from lawyers and agents in all of our offices. While students are hired into a practice group (copyright, trademarks, patent prosecution, litigation), they receive work assignments from lawyers across the different practice groups and are encouraged to take on work from other practice groups if they are interested in doing so.
Become part of our international practice
Intellectual property law is nation-based but organized globally. We work with law firms and IP attorneys around the world to implement brand, patent, and commercialization strategies for emerging technology and companies.
Our privacy practitioners specialize in cross-border data transfer matters. Students involved on these files can expect to work regularly with colleagues in Europe, the US and everywhere else data flows.
Grow with us
We take pride in the career development of our students and associates. Starting with formal and informal training programs that begin on your first day as a student, we support our students and professionals throughout their career by providing internal learning opportunities and promoting attendance at external continuing legal education sessions.
We encourage all of our patent prosecutors to become registered Canadian and US patent agents. We offer specialized training to help you accomplish these goals.
We have dedicated trademark training programs to support trademark practitioners throughout their career.
There is more to B&P than billable hours
At Bereskin & Parr, we do much more than just sit in our offices conducting legal research and responding to office actions. We actually like hanging out with each other! Each practice group regularly gets together for team building and social activities. We go axe throwing, to musicals, to sporting events, and much more. But don’t worry – we know you have other friends and a life outside of work. We encourage our people to take time for their personal lives and interests to ensure a healthy work-life balance.
Compensation and Benefits
The compensation and benefits we offer our students is competitive with other Bay Street law firms. We have no billable hour targets for our summer or articling students. Our targets for associates are notably lower than other firms on Bay Street (more proof that we want people to have a life outside of work!).
Please see our firm listing in the NALP Canadian Directory for comprehensive benefits and compensation information.