Osler: student program and recruit guide

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt is a national business law firm with a large Toronto student program. It publishes more detail than most about its rotations and its interview week, which makes it easier to prepare. Here is what to know.

At a glance

The summer program

Osler summer students choose two practice areas and spend half the summer in each, or join the Litigation Intensive stream instead (Osler). The firm lists 13 rotation options, from Corporate and Litigation to Tax, Real Estate, and Research. Later in the summer, students can join the Summer Public Interest Advocacy Program, working with groups focused on issues affecting minority communities.

Support is layered: an advisor from the Students Committee, an associate buddy in each principal rotation, the option to job-shadow a senior partner, a career development officer, and a director of student programs.

Articling and hireback

Articling runs 10 months with up to four rotations, and students can take an external client secondment. Osler says it is not taking applications for its 2027 to 2028 articling class, which it expects to fill with returning summer students (Osler).

In Precedent's 2026 Bay Street hireback ranking, Osler had 29 articling students, hired back 23, and had 4 opt-outs, for a hireback rate of 92% (Precedent). Precedent removes students who chose not to stay before it calculates the rate, so a lower number is not always a sign that the firm turned people away.

Interview week at Osler

Osler is specific about its in-firm format: first interviews run 90 minutes and later ones about 60 minutes, and each candidate gets a dedicated associate host. Applications must go through its online portal; applications sent any other way are not reviewed.

Recruit dates for summer 2027

The Law Society of Ontario's procedures set the same dates for Osler and every other firm in the Toronto 2L recruit.

Use our free call day planner to rank your firms and book slots without clashes.

Pay

Osler does not publish its student or associate pay. The Globe and Mail reported in 2025 that first-year associates at top-tier Bay Street firms earn about $135,000 before bonuses, and named Osler among the firms that raised associate base pay (The Globe and Mail). For students, the median weekly pay at Toronto firms was $1,900 in NALP's 2025 Canadian survey (NALP). See our student salary guide and Bay Street salary scale.

Questions worth asking at Osler

Good questions show you read about the firm and want to know how the work really runs. These come straight from how the firm describes its own program:

• How do students decide between two rotations and the Litigation Intensive stream?
• What does the role of the associate host look like during interview week and after?
• Who gets external client secondments during articling, and how are they chosen?

For more, read our guides to questions to ask law firms, in-firm interviews, and in-firm week etiquette.

Compare with the other Seven Sisters profiles: Blakes, Davies, Goodmans, McCarthy Tétrault, Stikeman Elliott, Torys, or see all seven side by side.

This profile uses the firm's own student pages and the public sources linked below. Lateral Law Report is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any firm. Programs change from year to year, so confirm details with the firm's student programs team before you rely on them.