A Look into Queen’s Law: An Interview with Maclean Rivers

Liam Moore

I had the pleasure of interviewing Maclean Rivers, a second-year law student at Queen’s, to learn about his journey towards a career in law and acquire practical advice. The venture into law school is often shrouded in questions and uncertainty. This article serves to lift that veil.

Undergraduate Degree

Many students look at their undergraduate degree as a preparatory phase to maximize their chances of succeeding in law school by balancing the acquisition of necessary skills with a sufficient GPA. Other students are the inverse, where their new experiences guide them to the field of law. Rivers speaks about his experience: “I did my undergrad in Biology… it was fun, but I found it wasn’t for me… along the way, I had taken a course in environmental law. The class blew me away,” Rivers added, “He (his professor, Jamie Simpson) pointed out to me that you can combine a love for research and a passion for advocacy… law is a good direction to mix those two.” It is important to acknowledge that everyone has a different path in law. While some have always had it as their goal, others, like Rivers, discover it along their journey. Following this, Rivers highlighted the helpfulness of the reading and writing required in his degree.

Next, we spoke about the things he wishes he had known during his time as an undergraduate student. “If you know that you want to go to law school, your grades are super important. Take something you enjoy. An academic background in which you did well and learned a lot will prepare you better than anything…” Rivers emphasizes,

Set your expectations. Law school is not a marathon, but it is also not a sprint. Pace yourself but try to get there as quickly as you can… Your first year (in law school) is crucial… It’s all about the amount of work you put in and how consistent you are.

Rivers’ advice is clear, do what you love and work hard at it. Success is not determined by consistency, effort, and passion individually, but their intersection in one’s work.

Law School

After committing to the notion of attending law school, prospective students often have a rigid idea of the area in which they want to pursue. Though initially having an interest in environmental law, Rivers speaks to the common fluidity of students’ goals when they enter law school:

I had a tentative interest in environmental law when I came to school, but since I’ve been here, my path has really shifted towards criminal law… Honestly, there are so many fascinating areas in law, and people jump around all of the time. There’s nothing wrong with exploring a pathway and maybe moving somewhere else after.

Law schools have opportunities for students to find positions in the legal field through their career development offices. This allows students to gain an entry level position and establish professional connections during their three-year degree. Rivers speaks to the importance of this process:

We really have a great one. Ever since my first year, they have been preparing me for one of the most important things in law school: getting a job in my second year. Your second-year job is crucial; it sets you up for articling, which sets you up to work as an associate.

He outlines his personal experience with Queen’s career development office:

They offer tons of programs to learn about how to network, how to manage yourself in a corporate environment, how to prepare for interviews with each branch… More specifically, several people in the office, most importantly Michael Molas, have worked one on one with me… He met with me and explained my options. “If A happens you can do B. But if B happens you can do C.”

Law school is a new path. Rivers’ experience is comforting as it proves the extent to which Queen’s guidance helps students move towards their goal. He describes the position Queen’s helped him acquire:

I just signed my contract with the Crown… The interview process was crazy. It definitely will be some of the hardest interviews you will do, especially if you are going the Crown route… You have to know the Criminal Code, but you also have to know provincial offences and specific areas of the law. But I am really grateful to have the opportunity to work there this upcoming summer.”

Though Rivers did not have to go through the OCI (on campus interview) process, he offers some insight into it:

It is the second step in the formal process of getting your (second-year) job… You put in your applications and, if firms like you, they will select you for OCI. It is a screener interview, about 15-minutes, and it is brutal. In one day, I had 15 interviews. It’s a full day of interviews, one after another. After OCI, they will whittle that list down further and have interview week. So, they will bring you into the firm for a short interview, usually 30 minutes. There are usually dinners and cocktail parties. That’s your opportunity to meet people in the firms.

Personal Habits, Goals, and Advice

One of the more intimidating aspects of applying to law schools is receiving recommendation letters. Rivers gives some support here, advising that law schools are just looking to verify your experience, and that most professors will likely agree to write one, as they want to see you succeed. He also advocates to start your application process a year before applying (including time to write the LSAT).

Rivers explains that one of the most important habits he has learned is that, “You just have to accept things for the way that they are.” He expands upon this:

You are going to find yourself with hundreds of pages of readings some weeks, a memo coming up, and case files piling up. You have to have the mindset that you will get through this and see where you land. Give it your all and see where the chips lie.

He speaks about another habit as well: “No matter what, whatever you get, start it early. Even if you cannot give a lot of time to it, when it comes down to the deadline you will not be starting with a blank page.”

Next, we spoke about something more personal, his goal in the legal career. Rivers explains his goal:

It’s something I am trying to do right now… If I can help to train the generation after me and have them blow me out of the water, it would make me the happiest man on Earth. Especially for people like me, fortunate enough to be in a position where they can go to law school, you have an obligation to pass that down.

We ended our conversation with some parting advice:

It’s fairly cliché, but you just have to go in with an open mind… What you will find is that it is not one specific area of law that you will fall in love with, but it is, in part, the idea of law… If you give yourself the opportunity to try new things, you will end up way better than if you focused on a single task,

Rivers’ words are not only informative but inspiring as well. It was a pleasure to interview him and understand a student’s perspective to law school. His experience is sure to help comfort countless pre-law students.

References

Rivers, Maclean. Personal Interview. 23 October 2025