Q. What is NALP?
A. NALP is a nonprofit educational association established in 1971 to meet the needs of the participants in the legal employment process — legal employers, law schools, and law students and graduates — for information, coordination, and standards. NALP is the industry-wide home for legal career professionals. NALP brings together both law schools and legal employers to share information, research, and professional development opportunities. NALP's institutional members include over 1,100 legal employers and law schools throughout the United States and Canada. NALP's individual members include professionals involved in all aspects of the legal employment process.
Q. What is the NALP Canadian Directory of Legal Employers?
A. For more than twenty-five years, NALP has helped US employers, law students, and lawyers find each other efficiently through the NALP Directory of Legal Employers, available online at www.nalpdirectory.com.
The NALP Canadian Directory of Legal Employers (CDLE) provides Canadian law schools, lawyers, and students with a comprehensive searchable directory of Canadian legal employers with summer student, articling and associate positions. The CDLE was developed in consultation with Canadian law schools and legal employers, and provides a new user-friendly online resource that will allow all Canadian law students to easily access up-to-date information about employers across the country. It is the most important source for information on legal employers, and is intended to be the primary resource for the publication of information on summer and articling recruitment in each jurisdiction.
Q. Does the NALP Canadian Directory of Legal Employers replace the other databases and directories that were previously used or referred by Canadian Law Schools?
A. Prior to the CDLE, there was no online resource with this sophisticated level of searching capability with a focus on giving students quick and easy access to comprehensive information about Canadian employers with summer student, articling and associate positions. The CDLE is promoted to law students by the Career Services/Development Offices as the most important source for information on legal employers, and is intended to provide the primary resource for the publication of information on summer and articling recruitment in each jurisdiction.
Q. Where does the information in the NALP Directory come from?
A. The NALP Directory is a compilation of organizations' NALP Forms. The information on each NALP Form is provided only by authorized personnel from the organization completing the form.
Q. When and how is the NALP Directory updated?
A. NALP begins the annual data collection cycle in December, when each employer updates the employer profile for the coming year. The information is published online in early spring of each year. However, employers may update their annual profile at any time throughout the year.
Q. How can I list my organization in the NALP Directory?
A. The CDLE is an online searchable database that will be accessible to every law student in Canada and for which employers pay an annual listing fee on a sliding scale according to the number of lawyers in the organization. Employers can go directly to the Data Collection System to complete their forms at www.nalpcanada.com/empl. Employers that register with the CDLE and submit their forms will have their online profiles included in the searchable database. Employers will be contacted on an annual basis to update their profile information; however, they will have access to their online form at any time and can make revisions as necessary.
Q. Why is the form in English but the answers appear in French (or vice versa)? Why are some employers' profiles only available in French?
A. Employers have the option of entering their responses in English or French. End users of the NALP Directory have the ability to view the questions in English or in French, but the employer responses remain static. Some employers may choose to publish one form in English and a separate form in French.
Q. What if the employer that I am looking for does not appear in the NALP Canadian Directory of Legal Employers?
A. Not all employers will choose to publish their information in the online directory, for a variety of reasons. If an employer you are searching for does not appear in the NALP Directory, you may be able to view that employer's NALP Form in your law school career services office or by contacting the employer directly to request it.
Q. What is 'My List' for?
A. The My List feature allows users to create and save a custom list of employers for up to two weeks at a time. This allows you to maintain a list of employers based on your interests and allows you to narrow the list as you refine your job search.
Q. How can the CDLE help me find a summer or articling position?
A. The CDLE is designed to provide you with information about the summer and articling student hiring process for Canadian legal employers. You can search for these positions based on a series of search parameters (e.g. geographical location, practice area, etc.). This information can be used to assemble job applications for positions as well as conduct research about firms you would like to contact directly about potential opportunities.
Q. How can the CDLE help me find an associate or other legal position?
A. The CDLE also has an associate hiring section which Canadian legal employers will be able to utilize to post positions they are actively seeking to fill. This section will list legal positions as entered by employers. You can search for these positions based on a range of search parameters (e.g. geographical location, practice area, etc.) Please remember to check the associate hiring section frequently as postings may be updated regularly by employers.
Q. How does the associate hiring section of the CDLE website work?
A. The associate hiring section of the website is designed to allow Canadian legal employers to post positions they are actively seeking to fill within their organizations. Employers who are registered (paid) members of the CDLE will be able to post positions in the associate hiring section of the CDLE. The postings listed within this section are controlled and maintained by employers. As such, if you are a candidate please contact employers with any questions that you may have and if you are an employer please remember to update and or remove postings as they become dated or cancelled.
If you are an employer who is not a registered (paid) member of the CDLE please register in order to be able to utilize the associate hiring function of the CDLE. You may register by clicking on the submit button during your NALP Form editing session.
Q: Definition of terms
A: Abbreviations used throughout the NALP Directory are:
Y = yes
N = no
NA = not applicable
CBC = case by case
TBD = to be determined
NC = not collected
UNK = unknown
Multi-Office Forms
The NALP Canadian Directory of Legal Employers offers employers an opportunity to submit a form for a single office or to combine several offices on a Multi-Office Form. In the print edition of the NALP Directory, Multi-Office Forms are placed according to the geographic location of the primary contact information listed on the forms; they are clearly labeled “Multi-Office Forms” to help you distinguish them from single-office forms. Some employers choose to submit a Multi-Office Form in addition to submitting forms for their individual offices; in this case, the Multi-Office Form will provide you with a better overall profile of the firm. Employers that centralize recruiting may submit only a Multi-Office Form, while others will choose to submit only single-office forms.
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