Toronto-Wide Hireback Numbers

Since 2009, Precedent has tracked the number of articling students Toronto law firms have hired back as first-year associates—and called it the Hireback Watch.

In the interactive chart below, you can toggle between the past 17 years and sort the hireback data in each column. If you click on a specific firm, you’ll see its historical data. Below the chart, we’ve outlined how we calculate the hireback rate and how we have handled law-firm mergers over the years.

The 2025 Hireback Watch is now live. In the coming weeks, we’ll update the chart below as firms report their numbers. To make sure you stay in the know, follow us on LinkedIn and subscribe to Precedent’s flagship newsletter.

Scroll
Firm Articling
Students
Students
Hired Back
Number of
opt outs*
Start Date Notes
Aird & Berlis 12 8 1 September
Babin Bessner Spry 2 2 0 September
Baker & McKenzie 6 4 0 September
Beard Winter 4 2 0 September
Bell Temple 6 4 0 June and July
Bennett Jones 22 19 1 September
Blake, Cassels & Graydon 32 26 2 September
Blaney McMurtry 6 6 0 September
Borden Ladner Gervais 24 18 0 September
Cassels Brock & Blackwell 24 17 0 September
Chaitons 2 1 0 TBD
Chernos Flaherty Svonkin 1 1 0 September
Crawley MacKewn Brush 3 3 0 September
Daoust Vukovich 1 1 0 July
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg 17 16 0 September
Dentons 11 8 0 September
Department of Justice 12 12 0 June
Dickinson Wright 3 2 1 September
Dipchand 2 2 0 August
DLA Piper 8 7 0 September
Dutton Brock 3 1 2 September
Fasken 20 14 0 September
Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti 3 2 0 September
Fogler, Rubinoff 5 3 1 September
Gilbert’s 1 1 0 September
Goldblatt Partners 7 3 3 Various
Goodmans 11 11 0 September
Gowling WLG 13 12 0 September
Hicks Morley 10 6 1 September
Keyser Mason Ball 2 2 0 August
Kim Spencer McPhee 2 2 0 September
Koskie Minsky 5 2 0 September
Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb 3 3 0 June and September
Lenczner Slaght 6 6 0 September
Lerners 4 1 0 TBD
Loopstra Nixon 7 3 0 July and August
McCague Borlack 5 3 0 August and September
McCarthy Tétrault 23 20 1 September
McLeish Orlando 3 2 1 August
McMillan 15 12 0 September
Miller Thomson 13 11 0 September
Norton Rose Fulbright 16 11 2 September
Paliare Roland 4 2 1 September
Peterson McVicar 1 1 0 July
Polley Faith 1 1 0 October
Robins Appleby 3 1 0 September
Ross Nasseri 2 2 0 September
Rowand 1 1 0 September
Sherrard Kuzz 6 5 1 September
Shibley Righton 2 2 0 August
Smart & Biggar 11 6 3 September
Stikeman Elliott 24 20 2 September
Teplitsky 2 1 0 July
Thornton Grout Finnigan 2 1 1 TBD
Torkin Manes 6 4 0 September
Torys 25 22 0 September
WeirFoulds 6 4 0 September
Wildeboer Dellelce 6 6 0 February 2026

*Students who opted out are included in the figures for total articling students

Notes on the data

  • Our data for each year before 2012 refers to Ogilvy Renault, which merged with Norton Rose in July 2011.
  • Our data for each year before 2013 refers to the numbers for FMC, which merged with Dentons in March 2013.
  • Our data for each year before 2015 refers to Davis LLP, which merged with DLA Piper in April 2015.
  • Our data for each year before 2016 refers to Gowling Lafleur Henderson, which merged with UK-based Wragge Lawrence Graham to form Gowling WLG in February 2016.