Life skills and career tips for Canada's lawyers in training
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50906
BY JEFFREY H. WAUGH anxiety alley SUMMER AND ARTICLING STUDENTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY CAN'T HELP BUT WORRY AS THE ECONOMIC STORM POUNDS THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE. e've been hearing all around us that these are challenging times. Layoffs are coming down in full force. Law fi rm associates, and even sometimes part- ners, are being axed in unprecedented numbers in the U.S. and the U.K. legal markets. Insiders say Canada's legal market is nowhere close to that point, but there is still evidence of fi rms quietly getting rid of some lawyers. In February, Statistics Canada reported that 129,000 people had lost their jobs over the course of the previous month. Hardest hit was Ontario, with 71,000 positions vanishing. While most of those were cut from the manufactur- ing sector, there's no doubt the legal profession is facing some tough times. Doom and gloom stories are plentiful, but what's the real story for anyone working their way through law school? If you're just starting the path to entering the profession, is it time to start getting concerned? Guy Joubert, president of the Canadian Bar Association, says there may be some worry for current articling students looking to make the transi- tion into an associate position. "I think that it [is] a realistic assessment," he says. "If law fi rms are focusing on trying to keep their associates and sta- bilizing their staff and lawyer compliment, they may not necessarily take on as many students to start off with, and they may not necessarily keep on as many students as they have in the past." As anyone in the legal fi eld will tell you, anxiety is a normal part of any law student's life. It's fi lled with exams, with applications, with interviews. But the economic conditions are adding another layer, and extending that fear into the lives of articling students who in the past may have felt quite secure in being offered an associate position. "I certainly think that there's a sense of concern amongst our articling student group," says Michelle Gage, director of student and associate programs in Ontario for Ogilvy Renault LLP. The fi rm hasn't yet announced its hire-back decisions — that will happen in the spring — so she says she can understand the feelings students may be experiencing. "Having said that, articling students always experience anxiety around hire-back decisions," she adds. 4STUDENTS SPRING 2009 13