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Society of Manitoba, says it is also curious to learn the details of Ontario's law practice program. Although law students in that province currently have no problem finding articling positions, the law society is taking precautions by establishing an articling task force subcommittee to follow the changes in Ontario and re-examine its current articling system. Cram admits that Manitoba could face the same articling dilemma someday. "We do anticipate we could very well have a problem in the future due to a number of reasons, one of which is the Ontario problem could very well be exported to Manitoba [with] students attempting to find placements here in our province. And the other concern is that there are several new law schools coming online." Alan Treleaven, director of the Law Society of British Columbia's Professional Legal Training Course, says there isn't a lack of articling positions in B.C. "As best we can tell there's no significant shortage of articling positions; there will always be a few students who have Move from the classroom to the courtroom. Untitled-1 1 a challenge finding a position," he says. For now, the greatest problem lies in Ontario, but other jurisdictions recognize it could have implications in their backyards. University of Calgary Faculty of Law dean Ian Holloway says, "What Ontario has done is going to have national implications. . . . Whether we want to or not, the law societies outside of [Ontario] are going to have to grapple with this issue sometime in the next few years." Greschner agrees that Ontario's actions could affect the rest of the country. "If [the LPP] is successful in Ontario and it becomes no longer a pilot project but an accepted method of entering the bar, then I think any reasonable observer will predict that there will be consequences for articling requirements across the country," she says. "Ontario is the largest province, and if they try something out and it's successful, why wouldn't other law societies also look at this and say, 'Does this help address some of our needs and our concerns?'" Conway hopes the law practice program will become not only an accepted path to licensing, but a better one. "I hope we're able to implement this program successfully and that it will, over time, persuade the profession and students that it is indeed a preferable route for many graduates coming out of law school," he says. "If we can get innovative providers and interesting and relevant programs, I'm quite optimistic that students will find this to be a really good alternative." So what is this new program going to look like? Where are these co-op placements going to come from? At this point it's still hard to know. The law society will assess each proposal it receives and plans to announce the chosen provider(s) in the fall, says Conway. Once the program is established, he says the next steps for the law society will be to enhance the articling process, design and implement the final assessment, and then evaluate the pilot project. Many changes are on the horizon. ■ If you've set your sights on a career in litigation, you want to apply all that you've learned so far where it really counts – in court. At Lenczner Slaght, you'll spend more time preparing and presenting cases, guided by highly respected lawyers who can help you develop and polish your advocacy skills. As Canada's leading litigation practice, we don't just offer you more firsthand courtroom experience – we insist on it. C A N A D I A N Law yer 4 students S p r i n13-01-29 37:44 AM g 201 21

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