8 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8 w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m
Q U E B E C
BARREAU PRESIDENT
TACKLES OVERSUPPLY
OF LAWYERS
T
he head of the Barreau
du Québec says he
wants to stir up a debate
over the record numbers of
lawyers in the province and
the possible economic and
regulatory impacts that may
be having on the legal pro-
fession.
"I can't ignore this issue;
I intend to tackle it," says
bâtonnier Paul-Matthieu
Grondin. "It's reasonable
and responsible to have a
debate about this in Quebec
now."
According to Grondin,
nothing has been done to
address the issues that were
raised and the recommen-
dations that were made in
a 2016 report by the Young
Bar of Montreal on the
deteriorating job market
and dismal employment
prospects for Quebec law
students.
Entitled "Employment
and Young Lawyers in Que-
bec," the 56-page report
ascertained from a survey
of more than 1,300 lawyers
with 10 years or less of
experience that the number
of unpaid articling positions
in the province had doubled
in a decade and salaries of
those who were paid were in
decline.
Nearly 20 per cent of stu-
dents who found positions
reported difficulties in find-
ing permanent jobs once
called to the bar — also
double the number from a
decade earlier.
The report, which Gron-
din himself commissioned
in 2014 when he became the
YBM's president, suggested
the root problem is an over-
supply of lawyers in Quebec
— a record 326 per 100,000
residents, the second-highest
ratio in Canada behind
Ontario.
It blamed the glut on the
lack of job-creating innov-
ation in the legal profession
and its inability to meet the
evolving needs and means of
clients.
"There have never been so
many lawyers in Quebec, but
never have there been more
people representing them-
selves in court," says Caroline
Larouche, a Crown attorney
in Montreal who was presi-
dent of the YBM when the
report was released.
In addition to recom-
mending business admin-
istration training for law
students and more realistic
information about job pros-
pects and pay for prospective
law students, the report pro-
posed the École du Barreau,
which administers bar exams
and imposes quotas to reduce
the per-capita number by 19
per cent to 275 lawyers per
100,000 residents.
The report also called on
law schools, bar associations
and the ministry of justice
to work together to develop
common strategies.
According to Larouche,
a roundtable meeting with
the deans of Quebec's five
law schools in 2017 failed to
produce any results.
"Our premise was that
since so many lawyers will
need to be self-employed,
we need to give them the
tools they need. But they
said that wasn't their job,"
says Larouche.
The report received a
similar cool reception, she
adds, from officials with the
Barreau.
"They didn't see the
need for more courses or a
reform of the École du Bar-
reau, let alone quotas," says
Larouche.
That's not the case with
Grondin. Now in the final
year of a two-year term as
president (though he recently
stated his intention to seek a
second and final term under
a new provincial law that
caps the terms of presidents
R E G I O N A L W R A P
"I can't ignore this issue, I intend to tackle
it. It's reasonable and responsible to have
a debate about this in Quebec now."
Paul-Matthieu Grondin,
Barreau du Québec bâtonnier
ntitled-4 1 2018-10-25 5:52 PM
