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"The critical test is not, 'Articling or not articling.' The critical test is, 'How can we ensure the competence of those who are licensed and qualified as lawyers to render services to the public?'" Vern Krishna, University of Ottawa thing to take into account — that articling is not necessarily a uniform experience," he says. "In some regard, it's a bit of a limousine model of training. It's costly; it requires a considerable investment by the firm in training an articling student. It's an expensive model to train legal profession- als, and it can have excellent outcomes, but I guess the question is, has it become too expensive? Can we afford to provide the number of articling spots that we need? And are we providing a pretty good, uniform experience as articles? Those are really questions I know the law society is committed to examining." Michael Johnston, a Brockville, Ont., lawyer who represents many of Ontario's small-town lawyers as president of the County & District Law Presidents' Association, says it would be ideal for each law firm to take on at least one articling student each year. He applauds the LSUC for creating the joint articling program, which helps small firms and sole practitioners address the affordability and mentoring issues. He also says many older lawyers in small centres are eager to attract articling students as potential suc- cessors when they wind down their prac- tices. "Unless there are the young lawyers, who have to go through the articling process, there may be greater challenges in the future," says Johnston. "Possibly, the larger centres, the larger firms, may have a certain appeal to students, and part of that may be the mentoring, part of that may be the type of work that they're going to be exposed to. That's not to say that they wouldn't be exposed to the same thing in a smaller community, but it's more dif- ficult for firms in smaller communities to take on articling positions, and part of that is a question of affordability. You can only bill what the market will bear." Stephanie Sugar, president of the University of Western Ontario's Student Legal Society, agrees that law students may need to "expand our scope a lit- tle" and consider opportunities beyond Toronto and Ottawa, even if they're few ntitled-4 1 and far between. "I don't know that stu- dents necessarily give those other options enough consideration," she says. At the same time, Sugar is reluctant to suggest that articling should be discarded because of the current shortage of positions. She points to the lack of practical, hands-on experience afforded by law schools. "Many students would agree that to lose articling altogether is a real disservice," she says. "I don't know that students would feel confident going out and practising and being licensed without having some kind of experience. So however it is that we need to work it out, I think it's important to keep the articling." Yet Flanagan believes it's essential for the profession to take a serious look at the consequences of failing to probe alterna- tives. "If we don't, what we're really saying is we're now placing an artificial cap on the number of people who gain admission to the profession. A cap that is really unre- lated to anything other than the availability of articling positions, which doesn't really relate to the need for legal services. It's just a question of which firms can afford to hire articling students, and I don't think that's the best way to determine entry to the profession." It will be encouraging for law stu- dents to hear that Flanagan believes there is something different about this round of LSUC investigations into the future of articling. "My sense is that the law society is very serious about it this time," he says. "They want there to be fair and equal access to the profession for all who are qualified. That means we need to rethink articling." WHEN DOES COMPETENCY BECOME A FACTOR IN MARRIAGE? CAPACITY TO MARRY AND THE ESTATE PLAN KIMBERLY WHALEY, DR. MICHEL SILBERFELD, THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE HEATHER McGEE AND HELENA LIKWORNIK Get an expert examination of the validity of marriages in the context of estate administration, planning and litigation. This comprehensive resource explores the requisite capacity to contract marriage and with it testamentary capacity, capacity to manage property and the person, with a focus on predatory marriages. Offering legal and medical perspectives, the authors analyze the legislation, case law and societal issues. You get the critical information that will help you advise your clients effectively. Get clear, comprehensive coverage of: • The legal considerations regarding the capacity to contract marriage • Clinical capacity from a medical-legal perspective • Legislative considerations – marriage revokes a will – how does that affect the estate plan of those lacking testamentary capacity? • Family law and the interaction and development of property rights and concepts of alienation, undue influence, exploitation and changing demographics • Capacity assessments, factors and considerations CANADA LAW BOOK® www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com A U GUST 2011 47 7/18/11 11:16:00 AM ORDER # 804500-63387 $78 Hardcover approx. 154 pages February 2010 978-0-88804-500-3 AVAILABLE RISK-FREE FOR 30 DAYS Order online at www.canadalawbook.ca Call Toll-Free: 1-800-565-6967 In Toronto: 905-726-5419 Shipping and handling are extra. Price subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes.