Canadian Lawyer 4Students

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. Donna Greschner, University of Victoria Faculty of Law dean Advancement of Teaching's report, many law schools there are seeing the benefits of practical training and have been ramping up their experiential education programs as a result. There are several licensing routes in England and Wales, but all candidates are required to complete a two-year legal practice course, which includes a professional skills course. "If you look at each of these jurisdictions objectively, you can't say that one system produces superior lawyers over another system because there's never actually been significant research or study to determine whether one system is better than the other," says the LSUC's Conway. "That's actually what we're trying to do in this pilot project in our own way is to see what are the most effective techniques for providing practical training for lawyers." But Cameron says there is some evidence a two-tiered system does exist in Australia. "My experience was — at least to some extent — yes, there were some people who perceived the better option to be articling and the legal practice course as something one did if one could not get articles." The Windsor law dean worries Ontario's program could also create two tiers of graduates, a concern also expressed by a vocal minority of the LSUC articling task force. "We're concerned that [the LPP] group is going to be stigmatized by the profession," Toronto lawyer Peter Wardle told 4Students shortly after the final report was released last October. "We don't like the idea of having what is essentially a two-tiered system." However, Stuesser, who has been a law professor at Bond University in Australia since July 2008, calls the two-tier argument a "red herring." He says Ontario already has a two-tiered system: students who article on Bay Street and everybody else. "When [students are] finished their articling, the tiers disappear, don't they? They're all lawyers. Then what happens is that you're going to have good lawyers and you're going to have bad lawyers, and quite frankly you can have bad Bay Street lawyers and you can have bad small-firm lawyers. So this notion of two-tiered, you don't have it in Australia. In certain areas the majority of the people go through this process because firms quite like the fact that their students are getting consistent training offered through various providers." But some Ontario law students aren't convinced. Thomas Wilson, a 3L at Osgoode and chairman of its student caucus, says the law practice program threatens 18 Spring 2013 CANADIAN L a w y e r 4 students

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