Life skills and career tips for Canada's lawyers in training
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50715
The T editor's desk Try the road less travelled his month's cover story, and really a lot of the talk of the town here in On- CONNECT WITHCONNECT WITH tario, centres on the shortage of articling spaces for all the lawyers in train- ing graduating from law school and wanting to get into the practice of law — or at least who want to get called to the bar so they can tick it off their list of accomplishments and then go on to run a successful enterprise using their law- school smarts! Th e problem appears to be that there are more law school grads than there are spots for them to get their mandatory 10 months or so of training. It's such a crisis that the Law Society of Upper Canada has struck a task force to examine the issue. But it seems to me that there are other options if students are interested in tak- ing a non-traditional route. For the last few years — and this is all across the coun- try, not just in Ontario — there have been warnings trumpeted about the greying of the bar, especially in smaller communities. In fact, we've run many stories about lawyers in towns across the country who want to retire but can't because they can't fi nd anyone to take over their practices. At the same time, there are law fi rms in places like Th under Bay, Ont., as mentioned in the article, that want articling stu- dents but can't fi nd willing candidates. Big fi rms aren't the only places to get train- ing, and those willing to take an alternate route can still fi nd success. My journalistic career is a perfect example. When I graduated, it was in the middle of a recession and there were very few jobs. In order to make myself more attractive, I travelled to Africa and did freelance work (this is before everyone did it!). I was willing to go anywhere. I got a job at the newspaper in Th under Bay, had that great experience of living there for a few years and then leveraged that into a job back in the Toronto area. I got fantastic experience, I learned to fi sh, I kayaked and skied 15 minutes from home, and I saw my country in a new way. I would hazard to say I'm fairly successful now; other journalists I worked with are now bureau chiefs for major news organizations, and managing editors at newspapers across the country. Take the chance of choosing the road less travelled. You can still end up where you want to be. — Gail J. Cohen gail.cohen@thomsonreuters.com 4STUDENTS Group Publisher: Karen Lorimer Editorial Director: Gail J. Cohen Associate Editor: Heather Gardiner Staff Writer: Robert Todd Copy Editor: Katia Caporiccio Art Director: Bill Hunter Account Co-ordinator: Catherine Giles Contributors: Michael McKiernan, Helen Burnett-Nichols, Jeremy Hainsworth. 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Cohen with your ideas at gcohen@clbmedia.ca LEGALLY BRUNETTE Lauren Berdock gives her take on life and law school in her new monthly column on the 4Students web site. Cnda Cnda aain L aain L a a we Canadian Lawyer we yr yr Cnda aain L a we yr