Life skills and career tips for Canada's lawyers in training
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50904
number of tasks. "I think the workload has to be decreased . . . from the 23 assignments . . . if we can somehow re- duce that amount then we can focus more on helping the students become good lawyers." Educating firms is just as important in ensuring a suc- cessful program. Students need to be given adequate time to complete their assignments without being overburdened by articling duties. Firms spent years having students go through a traditional program, and they have had to ad- just their policies to reflect the new way of doing things. Change within large organizations can be difficult, and it's reasonable to expect a few hurdles as employers adapt. Farbacher, in Saskatchewan, agrees there were some challenges for firms as the program got going. "During the first year of the program there was less understand- ing about how much dedicated time the students needed to work on their assignments." That's changing as time progresses, she says. Colin Feasby, a partner with Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, says they do have some concerns about the burden being placed on students by the CPLED curriculum. "We're not convinced that as much educational com- ponent is required," says Feasby, "given the fact that our students receive fairly extensive in-house training and also because of the trend in recent years in law schools towards skills training." He recently attended meetings in Calgary with the CPLED administration where pos- sible changes were discussed, and says they are keeping an open mind when it comes to the program's future. It's not perfect, but what program can be? The critical factor is CPLED administrators appear to be responding to the concerns. With proposals for new developments being prepared for the upcoming term, the fifth year of students going through the CPLED program should witness some changes. At this time, students are entering a new phase in their life, going through intense professional development, and are ready to break free from the education system. In light of that, the overarching theme of the criticism and feedback of this program is that, as part of that tran- sitional phase, and as with all transitions, there will be challenges along the way. Bruce, who recently completed the program, describes the relationship as parent-child-like, something he hopes can be avoided in the future. "I would have much pre- ferred a relationship that mirrored a colleague-to-col- league relationship, whereby each party understands its duties and works hard to ensure that the requirements are dutifully, fairly, and honestly completed." Clarke in Alberta leaves us with a few words of dedi- cation and enthusiasm towards the future: "I have to change a lot of things here. But I like this challenge. I did my homework before I took the job and realized this is the sort of issue that I was going to have to do." CORRECTION In the article "A Rose by Any Other Name" in the March 2008 issue of 4Students, a few errors occurred that have been brought to our attention. The description of the University of Windsor and University of Detroit Mercy joint LLB/JD program provided in the article was incorrect. As Jennifer J. Henderson, the director of the program, informed 4Students, students attend both univer- sities simultaneously for a period of three years. "This joint degree program has a uniquely comparative curriculum." In addition, students do not receive a combined degree but a fully accredited LLB from the University of Windsor and a fully accredited JD from the University of Detroit Mercy. It was also noted that students crossed the St. Clair River to attend classes at both universities. In fact, they cross the Detroit River to travel between the schools. 4Students apologizes for the error. 4S website ad.indd 1 C ANADIAN Lawyer 4STUDENTS S EPTEMBER 2008 23 7/24/08 3:27:29 PM THERE'S MORE WAIT! Watch the 4Students website (www.canadianlawyermag.com/4students) this fall as we expand our content to re ecting your life and the issues you face at law school. WANT TO GET INVOLVED? E-mail managing editor Jeffrey Waugh at jwaugh@clbmedia.ca with your ideas and submissions.