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 16 years and sort by the hireback data in each column. If you click on the name of a firm, you’ll see its numbers from over the years. See below the chart to find out how we calculate the data and how we have handled law-firm mergers over the years.

The 2024 Hireback Watch is now complete.

Scroll
Firm Articling
Students
Students
Hired Back
Number of
opt outs*
Start Date Notes
Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb 2 2 0 July and September
Koskie Minsky 5 3 0 September
Keyser Mason Ball 3 3 0 July
Dickinson Wright 3 2 1 September
Teplitsky 2 1 0 TBD
Sherrard Kuzz 3 3 0 September
Hicks Morley 13 8 1 September
Bell Temple 4 3 0 July
Bereskin & Parr 4 4 0 September
Blaney McMurtry 6 4 0 September
Baker & McKenzie 5 4 1 September
WeirFoulds 8 3 0 September
Fogler, Rubinoff 6 3 1 September
Lenczner Slaght 8 6 0 September
Cassels Brock & Blackwell 23 23 0 September
Lerners 4 3 0 Varies
Torkin Manes 7 5 1 September
Torys 17 17 0 September
Paliare Roland 5 3 2 September
Wildeboer Dellelce 7 4 0 February 2025
Norton Rose Fulbright 15 11 1 September
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg 18 14 1 September
Department of Justice 10 10 0 June
Dentons 11 8 0 September
Stikeman Elliott 24 22 0 September
Goodmans 15 13 0 September
Aird & Berlis 16 10 3 September
Blake, Cassels & Graydon 30 28 0 September
McMillan 12 10 0 September
Gowling WLG 14 11 2 September
McCarthy Tétrault 29 21 3 September
Miller Thomson 17 13 2 September
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt 31 29 2 September
Beard Winter 4 3 0 September
Fasken 21 13 1 September
Bennett Jones 25 19 1 September
Borden Ladner Gervais 30 24 2 September
McLeish Orlando 2 1 0 August
Polley Faith 3 3 0 July and September
Robins Appleby 3 2 0 September
Thornton Grout Finnigan 3 3 0 September
Goldblatt Partners 6 3 0 Varies
Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti 5 3 1 September and October
DLA Piper 8 4 1 September
Smart & Biggar 2 1 0 September
McCague Borlack 6 6 0 September
Loopstra Nixon 6 4 0 August

*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.