62 AUGUST 2018 C A N A D I A N L a w y e r 4STUDENTS
the doors for people traditionally shut out of law schools because the
programs were designed to be taken around work schedules.
"I think there is a huge untapped reservoir of people who would
be able to financially manage law school or legal education if they
didn't have to give up work or it didn't have to replace the care [for
family] that they weren't able to provide," says Sossin. However, Sos-
sin says Osgoode's working group on flex-time JDs identified some
challenges with offering the program. Now, rather than fully offer-
ing a flex-time JD, Osgoode has two evening sessions of the first-year
program as a "first step" toward flexibility.
Andrew Hills, who graduated from Queen's this year, is tightening
up his finances to pay back about $100,000 in loans. "Basically, I'm
living with either one other or two other people in Toronto," he says.
"We're going to get a pretty shitty apartment for a year at least." He
wants to put anything he isn't spending on food or accommodation
toward his loans. And that's with a job at a good firm that is covering
his licensing fees. Not everyone is so lucky.
e research by Ben-Ishai, Schwartz and Werk shows that some
law students assume they will get jobs that pay well enough to pay off
these loans. Students "seemed to believe — rightly or wrongly — that
their earnings from the jobs the degree would make available to them
would be sufficient to repay the accumulated loans without undue
hardship," wrote the three researchers.
e U of T Faculty of Law's student newspaper, Ultra Vires, releases
a yearly report that includes hiring data for 54 law firms and govern-
ment agencies. In 2018, 428 students from across Canada were hired
for summer positions. In the last 10 years, according to Ultra Vires'
data, hiring has ranged between a low of 351 people in 2013 and a
high of 444 people in 2010.
ere are far more law school graduates than there are paid po-
sitions for them. While programs such as the Law Practice Pro-
gram, introduced by the Law Society of Upper Canada in 2014,
have tried to address this issue, there will inevitably be law students
who won't get high-paying jobs and will be le unable to pay their
student loan debt.
Debt carries a high mental and social burden. e Just or Bust re-
MANAGING CYBERSECURITY RISK
Course Leaders:
Lisa R. Lifshitz & Peter V. Nguyen
Toronto & Webinar | September 27
REGISTER BEFORE AUGUST 24 AND SAVE UP TO $300*
*Discount applies to in-class only
Register online at www.lexpert.ca/legal-programs
For questions and group rates, please contact:
• Direct: 416-609-5868 • Email: cpd.centre@thomsonreuters.com
Untitled-7 1 2018-07-18 12:18 PM
