Recognized as one of Greater Toronto's Top Employers (2025):
Mediacorp Canada Inc. staff editors (Dec 2, 2024)
Here are some of the reasons why McCarthy Tétrault LLP was selected as one of Greater Toronto's Top Employers (2025):
- McCarthy Tétrault maintains a national onboarding program to help set new hires up for success and offers a variety of internal opportunities for professional development, including an extensive mentoring initiative, leadership development programs, and a dedicated career advancement officer for lawyers
- McCarthy Tétrault celebrates its employees with a formal Employee Appreciation Week, complete with a pancake breakfast (served by its lawyers), on-site chair massages, and social events to help bring employees together -- last year, a new "passport/bingo card" was distributed to employees, encouraging them to introduce themselves and connect with colleagues (completed cards offered the bonus of winning prizes)
- In addition to providing generous maternity leave top-up payments, McCarthy Tétrault supports its lawyers who have returned from leave (and are still nursing) but are required to travel -- the firm covers travel expenses, food and hotel accommodation for a secondary caregiver, including a spouse, partner, nanny or other family member

Philippe Dubuc, manager, information technology at McCarthy Tétrault receives his long service award
Highlights
Industry | Law firms |
Established in Canada | 1855 |
Major Canadian locations | Vancouver BC, Calgary AB, Toronto ON, Montréal QC, Québec QC |
Full-time employees in Canada | 1,667 |
Part-time employees in Canada | 48 |
Average age of employees in Canada | 41 years |
Longest serving employee | 46 years |
Benefits note | McCarthy Tétrault has multiple employee groups, the following programs and policies may vary by position |
Flexible work options | hybrid work option, flexible work hours, 35-hour work week (with full pay), compressed work week, telecommuting |
Long-term savings | defined-contribution (DC) pension |
Health plan premium | as part of the health plan, the employer pays up to 100% of the premiums |
Wellness spending account | up to $550 each year |
Mental health practitioner benefit | up to $2,000 each year |
Maternity top-up (mothers) | up to 100% of salary for 26 weeks |
Parental top-up (mothers) | up to 100% of salary for 26 weeks |
Parental top-up (fathers) | up to 90% of salary for 4 weeks |
Vacation allowance | new employees receive 3 weeks of paid vacation after their first year on the job |
Outside survey period | outside consultant surveys are held every 12 months |
Employee performance reviews | employees receive individual performance reviews every 12 months |
In-house training initiatives | in-house training, online training, mentoring, leadership development programs, paid internships |
Related tuition subsidies | employer covers up to 75% of tuition per year |
Annual tuition maximum | employer pays up to $2,000 in tuition subsidies for job-related courses per year |
Employee charitable involvement | employees are involved in selection of charities, employees receive paid time off to volunteer, (up to 1 paid day) |
Recognized as one of Canada's Best Diversity Employers (2024):
By Kristina Leung and Stephanie Leung, Mediacorp Canada Inc. staff editors (Mar 4, 2024)
Here are some of the reasons why McCarthy Tétrault LLP was selected as one of Canada's Best Diversity Employers (2024):
- McCarthy Tétrault added an inclusive leadership scorecard to annual performance reviews for all senior leaders in 2021 and introduced inclusive leadership competencies firm-wide in 2022 -- Inclusion Now is also a standing Board meeting agenda item and progress towards achieving goals is reported on at each meeting
- McCarthy Tétrault created the Mentorship Plus program to help associates from equity-deserving groups develop leadership skills -- developed in collaboration with Uber Canada Inc., AirBnB, and Legal Leaders for Diversity and Inclusion, the program matches employees with client mentors from multiple industries, helping to expand their professional network and offering networking, relationship building, and skills-building opportunities
- McCarthy Tétrault invests in programs to expand the pipeline of Black and Indigenous students into law school and support BIPOC lawyers -- some initiatives include partnering with Indspire to fund law student scholarships and working with Legal Leaders for Diversity and Inclusion to develop Avenue, a legal fellowship program for Black undergraduate students

McCarthy Tétrault employees in Québec honour Orange Shirt Day
I am one of the national leads of our Abilities Action Group, and the firm has made commendable strides towards mental health awareness and accessibility. On a personal note, our focus on inclusion and mental health has also helped me feel supported through my own mental health challenges. For many years I didn’t tell anyone at work about my condition (OCD), but our environment has evolved into one where I can freely discuss my struggles, knowing my colleagues are understanding and supportive. Heather Atkinson, manager, human resources
Highlights
Industry | Law firm |
Major Canadian locations | Vancouver BC, Calgary AB, Toronto ON, Montréal QC, Québec QC |
Full-time employees in Canada | 1,642 |
Management of diversity and inclusion initiatives | Inclusion Now council (chaired by the CEO and comprised of senior leaders), Inclusion Now office led by a chief inclusion officer (provides expertise, support and coordination for related initiatives), Inclusion Now action groups for pride, gender, race and abilities (chaired by a senior equity partner, action groups assist in the development of recruitment, retention, education initiatives as well as community service and pro bono activities), Inclusion Now is a standing board meeting agenda item, with progress towards goals reported on at each meeting |
Performance management and accountability | in-house demographic survey to enable deeper analysis on recruitment, advancement and compensation, introduced an inclusive leadership scorecard into performance reviews for senior leaders in 2021 and launched the scorecard firm-wide in 2022 |
Noteworthy diversity strategies and policies | developed a formal trans and gender non-binary inclusion policy in 2021 (enhanced medical benefits, created a gender-inclusive style guide, updated all legal precedents with gender inclusive language), appointed a legal and strategic advisor on Indigenous initiatives, launched a reconciliation committee in 2022 (develops strategies to recruit and retain Indigenous law students and staff), is working on increasing the representation of women and other diverse lawyers as relationship partners, with a target of 100% gender-balance |
Recruitment initiatives | unconscious bias and cultural competency training for recruitment team, interview process designed to support diverse candidates and reduce bias, diversity question added to interviews to enable applicants to share their views about diversity and inclusion, hosted an open house for Indigenous students, 1L Black and Indigenous Student Program to increase law student representation, Avenue summer program for Black undergraduate students pursuing a career in law (in partnership with Legal Leaders for Diversity and Law Firm Diversity and Inclusion Network) |
Retention and development programs | parental leave equity policy to help ensure that those who take parental leave are not adversely impacted by compensation or promotion to partnership, offers new parents career coaching, parental leave buddy program, internal "baby rooms", and emergency daycare support, nursing lawyers traveling for business are reimbursed for travel expenses of their child and a caregiver, Parenthood Groups in all offices to help parents share their experiences, learnings and resources, |
Training and awareness initiatives | The Path - Your Journey educational program (Indigenous Canada), leading a trans inclusive firm training for leaders, mandatory completion of mental health leadership certificate program for all people leaders |
Diversity highlights | Inclusion Now awards to recognize students, employees, associates, counsel and partners who advance diversity and inclusion, partners with the Martin Family Initiative for Indigenous students, a nationwide program to improve education for Indigenous children (McCarthy lawyers and staff act as mentors to Indigenous students in Grades 9 to 12, and remain with them throughout the duration of high school), audited all offices for physical accessibility (facilitated by Rick Hansen Foundation, Toronto office is certified) |
Highlights from the past year | developed Mentorship Plus in collaboration with Uber Canada Inc., AirBnB, and Legal Leaders for Diversity and Inclusion to support the development of associates from equity-deserving groups by matching them with client mentors and offering networking, relationship building, and skills-building opportunities |
The Career Directory
McCarthy Tétrault LLP has been selected for The Career Directory, our guide to entry-level recruitment for recent college and university graduates.

McCarthy Tétrault employees at Ride to Conquer Cancer
Highlights for New Grads
Industry | Law firms |
Full-time employees in Canada | 1,001 to 2,500 |
Major Canadian locations | Vancouver BC, Calgary AB, Toronto ON, Montréal QC, Québec QC |
Student opportunities | paid internships, summer jobs, co-op opportunities |
Training | subsidies for professional accreditation, orientation program, online training, in-house training, mentoring, leadership training |
Annual tuition maximum | employer pays up to $2,000 in tuition subsidies for job-related courses per year |
Work benefits | health benefits for new employees, flexible work hours, telecommuting, employees receive paid time off to volunteer, (up to 1 paid day) |
Vacation allowance | new employees receive 3 weeks of paid vacation after their first year on the job |
Academic fields recruited
-
Bachelor of Arts
- Business
- Economics
- Human Resources
- Industrial Relations
- Journalism
- Public Relations / Communications
-
Bachelor of Commerce / Business Administration
- Accounting
- Finance
- Human Resources
- Information Systems
- Marketing
-
Bachelor of Laws
- Copyright / Patent
- Corporate
- Environmental
- Labour
- Real Estate
-
Community College Diploma
- Accounting
- Advertising
- Audio/Video Technician
- Business
- Communications / Public Relations
- Computer Science
- Facility Management
- Financial Planning
- Graphic Arts / Design
- Human Resources
- Information Technology
- Journalism
- Legal Assistant / Law Clerk
- Marketing / Sales
- Office Administration
- Purchasing / Logistics
- Secretarial
-
Professional Accreditation
- Accounting (CA)
- Accounting (CGA)
- Accounting (CMA)
- Financial Planning (CFP, FMA)
- Human Resources (CHRP, CEBS)
- Purchasing Management (PMAC, CPP)
Recruits at these schools
- Dalhousie University
- McGill University
- Queen's University
- Thompson Rivers University
- Université de Montréal
- Université de Sherbrooke
- Université du Québec à Montréal
- Université Laval
- University of Alberta
- University of British Columbia
- University of Calgary
- University of Ottawa
- University of Saskatchewan
- University of Toronto
- University of Victoria
- University of Windsor
- Western University
- York University