Canadian Lawyer 4Students

C A N A D I A N L a w y e r 4STUDENTS F A L L 2 0 1 5 17 point for me," she says. "I knew if I wanted to stay within RBC I would have to check the job postings in legal." Dicker feels strongly, as a senior member of the bar who articled at a large fi rm, that the program is a good solution to help law students looking for an alternative to get the credentials they need to practise law. "I do caution this is for people who are dili- gent," says Dicker. "In this program you are not a student — you are working and you have to treat the August to December time period as work. If you don't you aren't go- ing to get through all of your assignments." e assignments include hearings or applications, closing a real estate deal, or doing an agreement of purchase and sale with tight deadlines. ey may even get an emergency client walk in at 4:45 p.m. on a Friday and need to bring an emergency injunction on a Monday. Chris Bentley, execu- tive director of Ryer- son's LPP, and direc- tor Gina Alexandris say they are evalu- ating all aspects of the program over the summer, such as doing more work on client development and the access to justice innovation chal- lenge. " ere is a lot of learning that comes by experience and what the law society has emphasized in this approach is that the keys to suc- cess are to be found in the core skills — analytical research, written and oral communica- tion, ethics and practice management. If you get those right, you can practise those at the largest of the large fi rms or at a sole practice," he says. "At Ryerson, we also say you have to be innovative and entrepre- neurial to be successful in the future." In terms of the work placement, Bent- ley says the law society chose a four- month term recognizing the candidates would have also had four months of in- tensive training to prepare them for life beyond the job placement. He says more than half the people who start at large law fi rms aren't there three years later. "It was also chosen so it would be an accessible amount of time for corporations, practi- tioners who wouldn't normally be able to take an articling student but would take a four-month placement a er they have been pre-trained," he says. While some suggested the LPP seemed to attract primarily minority or foreign trained law students to the program, Bent- ley argues that doesn't mean those students could not fi nd placements elsewhere. He says much of the "fi ction" in commentary about the LPP program is unfair to the candidates. "For a profession [that] insists on evidence before judgment is rendered, I think it's helpful to look at the evidence," says Bentley. " e LPP cohort refl ects the province of Ontario. Almost half were from Ontario and Canadian law schools and in this next year more than half will be from Ontario and Canadian law schools. e position we took from the beginning is the evidence will triumph over the fi ction." Levesque says the feedback they've re- ceived is that the French LPP is "very in- tensive and rigorous." "In the francophone community I think there is the attitude that for every extra lawyer who can provide quality legal services in French is a gain for the whole community. It's good for the whole community and survival of the lan- guage and to promote access to justice in French," she says. Mariane Gravelle went through the French LPP and completed her work place- ment at the Stormont, Dundas, and Glen- garry Legal Clinic in Cornwall, Ont. Like D'Cunha, she turned down an articling po- sition she had been off ered — with a family law sole practitioner — to pursue the LPP instead. "I think it's a misconception people have that candidates in the LPP are second class and couldn't get anything else," says Gravelle. "I turned down an articling posi- tion because I felt this [LPP] would just be a lot better for me. I would have the chance to look at several diff erent types of law and meet more people. e networking oppor- tunities were really great." Her placement gave her access to clients right away and to handling hearings. e Ottawa U law grad says she developed in- terests in areas of law she didn't think she would such as immigration and wills and estates. is summer, she worked as a proj- ect offi cer for the LPP program, getting it ready for the next group of candidates. e program also proved to be the right No one cared where I got my undergrad or how I came to Infrastructure Ontario or where I went to law school; they just wanted to make sure I could deliver. Can this guy actually do it? " JOSHUA D'CUNHA, Legal counsel, Infrastructure Ontario and Ryerson LPP graduate. "

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