Life skills and career tips for Canada's lawyers in training
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50715
Hundreds of students graduate from law school every year, yet many can't fi nd the articling positions needed in order to qualify. The profession needs to do something to address this growing problem. ahead, with the University of Ottawa's law school spitting out 100 additional graduates starting next year. An- other fl ood of licensing candidates will soon descend on the profession from new law schools at Th ompson Riv- ers University in Kamloops, B.C., Lakehead University in Th under Bay, Ont., and the University of Montreal. All of this is to say that, for many budding lawyers in Canada, articling — that mandatory bridge be- tween law school and actually practising law — has now become a barrier rather than a stepping-stone to a career. But at the same time, recent law grads who've been leſt in the lurch may take heart knowing senior members of the bar have heard their cries. In May, the LSUC announced plans to create an articling task force to tackle the issue, much like it did in A 2008, when the task force on licensing and accreditation balked at the idea of abolishing the articling process aſt er an overwhelming response from the profession. "For some years, the law society has been concerned with issues relating to articling and, in particular, the growing number of unplaced candidates," LSUC Treasurer Laurie Pawlitza told law society benchers in announcing the new study. "Th is is a discussion that will overtake Convocation for some months." University of Ottawa law professor and former LSUC treasurer Vern Krishna, who led the 2008 study and will be part of the new articling task force, agrees the situation is now as dire as ever. "Th e supply of students seeking entry into the profession is increasing, and the demand for articling students had not kept pace. So we've got a problem," says Krishna. He points out that a further complication comes from the fact that the vast majority of articling positions in Ontario are concentrated in Toronto and Ottawa, with smaller fi rms in outlying areas un- able to make a business case for the addition of students. Th is is despite the fact that the law society created the concept of joint articles, which allows two or more law fi rms to share the burden of taking on a student for the 10-month articling term. Aside from the expense, some suggest lawyers in smaller centres are reluctant to take on students for fear that, once fully licensed, they will proceed to set up shop across the street and poach clients. But there's also the fact students are drawn to the perceived glitz and glamour of Bay Street. "Th ere are some places, like Th under Bay, which want articling students, but nobody wants to go there," says Krishna. "So it's not C ANADIAN Lawyer 4STUDENTS F all 2011 17 BY ROBERT TODD growing shortage of articling positions has leſt hundreds of law grads saddled with the prospect of having run up massive student debts for a shot at a profession that has no room leſt at the inn. Th e problem — pri- marily concentrated in Ontario, although British Columbia appears to be experiencing a minor shortage as well — has a simple explanation. More prospective lawyers than ever before are seeking entry to the legal profes- sion, especially practitioners trained outside Canada. Stats show that in 2006, the Law Society of Upper Canada accepted 1,400 registrants to its licensing program. Th at number spiked to 1,750 in 2010. Meanwhile, in 2008, 5.8 per cent of applicants failed to secure an articling position within their fi rst year of eligibility. Th at number rose to 12.1 per cent in 2011. More alarming is the fact the shortage threatens to grow in the years SARA TYSON