Corporate Counsel Externship

Kay Johnson is currently serving as the interim general counsel at Flair Airlines and graduated from the University of Calgary Faculty of Law. She is excited to have a law student work at Flair as part of the Externship, with Flair being one of the participating companies. Before transitioning in-house, she articled and practiced at Bennett Jones in Calgary for three years, then practiced at Baker McKenzie in London, UK for an additional three years.

Byron Tse is currently the general counsel at Passion Dental Group and will also be hosting a law student as part of the Externship program. He graduated from the University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law. Before moving in-house, Byron articled at Export Development Canada, practiced at Norton Rose Fulbright in Ottawa for three years, and spent four years at Bennett Jones in Calgary.

One of the key responsibilities of course instructors is to ensure that both supervisors and students have a valuable experience during the Externship. For students, this is achieved through regular check-ins throughout the semester, which include two written reflections and verbal check-ins to confirm that their supervisors are providing appropriate work in terms of both quality and quantity. In addition, the instructors conduct check-ins with the supervisors via email and a final feedback survey, offering any necessary administrative support for participating companies. As this is a new program at UCalgary Law, feedback is welcome at any time as the Externship continues to be refined.

Upper-year JD students at UCalgary Law will be placed with each of the participating companies this semester for course credit. Students will apply to the Externship through the clinical posting instructions at UCalgary Law, and the course instructors will shortlist the strongest candidates, matching them with companies based on the companies' needs as communicated in their completed Questionnaire, as well as the student’s skill set and interests outlined in their application. The course instructors will share each student’s application with their matched company, and the company may accept or reject the student based on that application. The instructors fully respect the company’s decision if they choose to reject a student, but the company should be aware that there may not be another student available for placement through the Externship that semester.

The Externship allows the supervisor to determine the appropriate balance of remote versus in-person work for the student. However, it is a teaching principle of the Externship that in-person interactions are valuable to the student’s educational experience. For this reason, the program is currently only accepting companies or supervisors with a presence in Calgary. Supervisors are expected to organize some in-person interactions, which could include a tour of the company’s operations (if applicable), working in the company’s office, or occasional in-person meetings or coffees with the student. The frequency of these in-person interactions is left to the discretion of the supervisor.

The student may (and are encouraged to) work with multiple lawyers, but one lawyer will be designated the supervisor. The course instructor will be checking in with only the supervisor, and it is up to the supervisor to respond to the course instructor, and oversee at a high level the work that their student is doing with other lawyers.

The supervising in-house lawyer:

• Must be qualified to practice in a jurisdiction of Canada, with a minimum of four years of legal work experience; and
• The lawyer will act as supervisor for the student, identifying tasks appropriate for the student, meeting with the student regularly to provide guidance and feedback, and providing feedback to program director to help evaluate student on a pass/fail basis.

Preference will be given to lawyers who are physically located in Calgary, however, the portion of student work done in office/virtually is at the discretion of the lawyer.

The student will be awarded 3 credits (equivalent to one course) upon successful completion of the Externship. The student will not and should not receive any monetary payment from the company or the Externship.

Tasks assigned to the student should broadly fit into one of the three following categories:

• Work that deepens the student’s knowledge in a substantive area of law;
• Work that gives the student an opportunity to interact with a business unit; and
• Work that exposes the student to how an in-house legal department runs.

Examples of such tasks could involve:

• Prepare and deliver training presentations to business units on relevant legal subject matters;
• Prepare research memo on relevant legal subject matters;
• Update template agreements;
• Review and update internal or external policies;
• Update contracts and precedents repositories; and/or
• Research legal technology solutions to enhance legal department efficiency.

For the final classroom session of the Externship, students will be required to present on some of the work they did during their Externship (stripping out any confidential or business-sensitive information). In this regard, it may be advantageous for the student if one of the tasks assigned by the supervisor is a presentation of some sort.