Law Times - Newsmakers

BY FEBRUARY 2018, Ryerson University had a Law Society of Ontario-approved plan to bring a new law school to the Greater Toronto Area for the first time in decades. The school still faces challenges in moving the new juris doctor program forward going into 2019, after the proposed law faculty was refused pro- gram approval by the Ontario Ministry of Train- ing, Colleges and Universities. Both the school and the province have said they plan to work together to "explore a path forward" with "programs that deliver results." But it means the school, which had at one time been set to open applications in August 2019 and begin classes in September 2020, will have to go back to the drawing board after submitting exten- sive proposals to the Law Society of Ontario and the Federation of Law Societies of Canada over the last few years. Ryerson's proposed curriculum was designed for 150 students entering the program in the first year, with tuition of $20,000 per year, according to the Federation of Law Societies of Canada report and a report last year from the Academic Standards Committee of Ryerson's Senate. Ryerson's initial proposal was based on escalating provincial funding through 2021, without which it could be unsustainable, according to the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, which reviewed and approved the submission in December 2017. The school aimed to offer more entrepreneurial options for students, such as re- quired courses on the business of lawyering, social innovation and the law, legal in- novation and access-to-justice solutions, according to Ryerson's April 2017 proposal seeking approval from the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. One-week boot camps at the beginning of each semester would tackle career plan- ning, technology innovation, accounting, taxation and financial analysis, coding and Emotional Quotient/Cultural Quotient, according to Ryerson's proposal. The courses were designed to help graduates become "practice-ready lawyers," Ryer- son said, and better prepare students for an increasingly competitive job market. An estimate by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario projects 1.6 new licensed lawyers for every one practising position in Ontario by 2025. "If you don't know the numbers, how can you be successful in a business?" Chris Bentley, managing director of Ryerson's Law Practice Program and Legal Innovation Zone, said in August. "We talk about financial literacy, have them prepare a business plan, understand the fundamentals of business as a mandatory part of the law school." But Merrilee Fullerton, the minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, said in November that "it was not in the best interest of the people of Ontario to approve the proposal at this time," citing concerns surrounding the use of tax dollars. The ministry also said it looked at the labour market demand for lawyers — as well as the other options available for students — and appropriate tuition rates. Statistics from the law society and from Ryerson's law school approval proposal to the FLSC show the average debt of first-year Ontario law students is $35,358, which rises to an average of $53,876 in the second year and $71,444.17 in the third year. A May 2018 report about the lawyer licensing process by the Law Society of Ontario's Professional Development and Competence Committee said only 10 per cent of On- tario law firms currently provide articling positions. Over the last year, Law Times asked practitioners what Ryerson would need to do to produce practice-ready law graduates. Lawyer Lisa Feldstein said in February that she was concerned there would be a f lood of graduating students with limited opportunities to article. "Let's deal with the articling situation first and, once the supply-demand issue is a little more stable, then it may make perfect sense for there to be another law school," she said. Brigid Wilkinson, who practises at Evans Bragagnolo & Sullivan LLP in Haileybury, Ont., said in August that Ryerson's focus on entrepreneurialism is more important than many students realize. "I find that when people go to law school they have a very specific idea of what they want to do and that changes once they hit law school. When I worked on Bay Street, I just did a particular type of litigation," Wilkinson, the Federation of Ontario Law As- sociations' northeast regional representative, said in August. "Here, if you were a litigation lawyer, you would do everything. You would do con- tracts, you would do employment, some family, some criminal." "The entrepreneurial spirit is certainly required. Whenever I read all of these articles about how there aren't enough jobs or positions, it seems people expect someone to give them a job. There's a lack of comprehension that you need to create your own job." Hamoody Hassan, a trial lawyer in London, Ont., supported a new law school at Ry- erson when he spoke to Law Times in August. After working with graduates of existing programs, he said he noticed that many of his articling students have had to teach themselves legal software suites, digital research, financial accounting and practice management. Hassan also said that the profession has an old-fashioned view of the purpose of a law degree, when instead a law degree should be viewed like an MBA, as a vehicle for advancing one's career within a number of fields. Ryerson's approach, he said, would be "cutting edge." "The idea that you have to work for a lawyer in order to become a lawyer seems to me to be quite anachronistic, like an 18th-century concept. And there's no articling jobs, so it's sort of ridiculous for our law society to say that's what you need to do to become a lawyer," Hassan said in August. The question remains: Will a new law school — offering a more practical curriculum — help Toronto's law students become better lawyers and improve access to justice? Or will it f lood the market with graduates who are jobless and saddled with debt? "Ryerson was to be a very different type of law school with a very different curriculum," Mark Cohen, CEO of Legal Mosaic, a legal business consultancy firm, said in November. "And it was really designed to address and remedy the very prob- lems that were cited as the reasons for voting down the proposal." On the other hand, Bencher Jeffrey Lem said to Law Times in Au- gust that "it seemed irresponsible to be bringing in even more pro- spective lawyers at a time when the current graduating cohorts are experiencing widespread articling position shortages and job short- ages." Lem voted against the proposed school at the LSO's Convoca- tion earlier in the year. Existing law schools are under similar pressure to address mis- matches in the legal marketplace. A group of current students and alumni in early November 2018 called for certain measures of financial transparency from the Uni- versity of Toronto's law faculty, pressing the school on its high tuition rates. The law society is also working on solutions to the so-called ar- ticling crisis that leaves aspiring lawyers with fewer options when it comes to receiving on-the-job training. In October, the law society finished a consultation on four options for lawyer licensing — from having a "Practice Essentials Course" for aspiring solo practitioners to removing articling altogether and hav- ing all candidates complete a virtual law practice program. "As our candidates are getting out there and making names for themselves in the profession, I think that's speaking to the quality of the program and the lawyers that are coming out from the law prac- tice program," said Gina Alexandris, director of the Law Practice Program at Ryerson University, in August. — with files from Aidan Macnab and Alex Robinson Future uncertain for new law school Had been set to start classes in 2020 BY ANITA BALAKRISHNAN, LAW TIMES top stories Chris Bentley says students at the proposed Ryerson law school would learn different skills, such as financial literacy. LawTimesNews.com Fresh Ontario legal news and analysis available on any device. Get More Online 20 December 2018

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