Life skills and career tips for Canada's lawyers in training
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50715
only what the fi rms want, it's what the stu- dents want, and where they want to live." All of this, says Krishna, has prompted the law society to go back to the drawing board and determine whether articling is the only viable way to ensure new lawyers are up to snuff . "Th e critical test is not, 'Articling or not articling.' Th e critical test is, 'How can we ensure the competence of those who are licensed and qualifi ed as law- yers to render services to the public?' Th at is the question that has to be answered, and articling is a means towards that end. Th e question that we have to address is, 'Is that the only means to the end?'" Krishna says he and the task force will approach the subject with an open mind. Th e law society has given it $75,000 to go about its work. A fi nal report is expected by May 2012. Alan Treleaven, director of education and practice at the Law Society of British Columbia, says it's diffi cult for the LSBC to track articling shortages due to its in- tegrated approach to admissions that sees candidates fi rst acquire an articling spot before entering the admissions stream. "We know that there's been a gradual ris- ing trend in the number of students in B.C. in the program each year," he says. "But it doesn't tell us, on the face of it, whether there's that gap that Ontario would know on the face of it." He says the law society works with the B.C. law schools to deter- mine whether they're having any signifi - cant problems placing students, "and they haven't been having them," he says. Tre- leaven adds that the LSBC doesn't want the articling requirement to serve as a barrier to entry to the profession. Luckily, it seems the issue is not a huge problem across Canada. Marie-Claude Bélanger-Richard, president of the Law Society of New Brunswick, says law grads there are not having any problems obtain- ing articling positions. "Last year, there might have [been] two students who, at fi rst, did not have an articling position, but aſt er some ads in our monthly newslet- ter, they were able to fi nd a position," she commented in an e-mail. Meanwhile, Rose Godfrey, admissions and career develop- ment director at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, says Atlantic provinces in general are not experiencing a shortage. However, students from schools in the region are fi nding it tougher to get hired in Ontario this year, says Godfrey. Treleaven says the Federation of Law Societies of Canada will be looking at alternatives to articling at a September meeting in Prince Edward Island. Th ose talks are part of a wider discussion on the creation of uniform standards for admis- sion to the profession by all Canadian law societies, to ensure full mobility of law- yers across the country. While it's unclear which alternatives might be on the table in P.E.I., the ap- proach of other Commonwealth countries will likely be featured. New Zealand, for example, has gained notoriety for its Pro- fessional Legal Studies course, which sees LLB graduates do a few months of prac- tice training on topics such as draſt ing, trial preparation, advocacy, mediation, Join a team where you'll learn how to work with others, not against them. Ogilvy Renault has joined Norton Rose Group 2600 lawyers 5 continents 1 vision thenortonrosedifference.com 18 F A L L 2011 C ANADIAN Lawy er 4STUDENTS Untitled-1 1 7/21/11 8:25:05 AM