Law Times

Law Times • November 14, 2016 Page 3 www.lawtimesnews.com Law Practice Program lives to see another two years BY ALEX ROBINSON Law Times T he Law Society of Up- per Canada has extend- ed the Law Practice Program for two more years. After a debate about the con- troversial alternative to articling, the law society's governing body, Convocation, voted to approve recommendations to let the pro- gram's pilot continue. The law society's Professional Development and Competence Committee had originally rec- ommended the program should be scrapped after its third year, but it pulled an about-face af- ter public backlash that saw the committee receive more than 125 submissions. "The licensing system — while it is our responsibility and we're tasked with making the ul- timate decisions — it affects ev- ery participant in the justice sys- tem," the committee's chairman, Peter Wardle, told Convocation at its November meeting. "So it's important that we lis- ten and that we ref lect on what we're hearing." The program was initially proposed as a five-year pilot, but Convocation cut it down to three years over fears it would become "entrenched." But the shortened program meant the committee tasked with reviewing the LPP only had so much data to evaluate it. Proponents say the program needed to be extended in order for it to be properly assessed. Bencher Gina Papageorgiou, who supported the recommen- dations to extend the LPP, said the law society's review of the program clearly shows the LPP was better than articling in cer- tain ways. "Our obligation is to govern in the public interest and I cannot understand how we could think about moving away from a pro- gram that actually trains people — it looks at this early stage — in a better and more consistent way than articling," she said. The committee released an initial report in September, which found the LPP should end because of a perception that the program's candidates were sec- ond tier, even though there was no evidence to suggest the pro- gram was inferior to articling. The report was based on sur- veys and focus groups with LPP candidates and employers, but it recognized it did not have suf- ficient information to compile statistics about employers' views of the program. The report found 62 per cent of candidates in the LPP's first year said the program was not their first choice. In the second year, 73 per cent said the LPP was not their first choice. Bencher Joe Groia said there is overwhelming evidence of a perception that the LPP is sec- ond tier, and that its candidates have to deal with the stigma at- tached to it. He said the LPP harms its candidates and the public interest as well as the pro- fession itself. "It needs to come to an end, in my respectful view, today," said Groia, who called himself part of a "somewhat small and lonely minority" that still wants to scrap the LPP. Groia argued that the LPP has also led to a large amount of unpaid placements. Opponents of the LPP have also argued it puts too much of a financial burden on both the program's candidates and arti- cling students, whose fees have increased to cover the cost of the program. Papageorgiou argued that the law society's licensing fees law- yers should cover that cost, as there will be an increasing num- ber of new licensees entering the profession in the future. "Why can we not as a law so- ciety say to ourselves, 'We expect this additional income. We're going to now commit that we're going to take this additional money and put it into the licens- ing process and we're not going to overburden these law stu- dents who are graduating with a tremendous amount of debt already'?" she said. The original report also cited financial sustainability and poor enrolment numbers as reasons the LPP should be scrapped. It was originally hoped the program would attract around 400 candidates each year, but there were only 440 students in the first two years of the English program — administered by Ry- erson University — and 28 can- didates in the francophone Pro- gramme de pratique du droit, which is run by the University of Ottawa. Wardle said the committee had to deal with "artificial dead- lines" before its initial report, which gave it a limited amount of time to make its recommen- dations before the consultation period. "That approach simply doesn't work with a problem as complex and [that] has as many pieces as this one and involves so many stakeholders," he said. "So we have to do this differently in the future." At its November meeting, Convocation also approved recommendations to conduct further analysis of the entire li- censing process to come up with long-term solutions to recog- nized problems. The committee will issue a new report concerning its find- ings in the first quarter of 2017. "This is going to be a wide- ranging long-term review of the entire process from beginning to end," Wardle said. "We're not going to continue to tinker or make piecemeal changes with one piece of the puzzle at a time." The committee also with- drew its recommendations to implement some experimental programs, saying they should be considered later as part of the more comprehensive review. The committee had recom- mended the law society look into a three-month abridgement of articling for candidates who participate in skills training in a law society program. It also suggested the implementation of two tests. The first of the two tests — the Practice and Procedure Exami- nation — would have been given to students before their practical training and would replace the bar exam. The other test was a practice skills examination after the experiential training. Wardle said the committee is not ruling anything out in its fu- ture review of the process, which could potentially include abol- ishing articling. "I continue to have reserva- tions about the Law Practice Program as do many on the committee, but it simply did not make sense to end it at this time, without the longer-term plan," he said. Wardle also left the door open to looking into extending the LPP for longer than what will now be a five-year pilot. "We will take our time next time around, and if that means that the LPP has to be extended again, that's what we will do." LT NEWS Gina Papageorgiou says the Law Society of Upper Canada's review of the Law Practice Program clearly shows the program was better than articling in certain ways. Tel: 905-841-5717 www.bolandhowe.com The Proof is in the Precedents Ask for our Trial Report Card Truth in Personal Injury Advertising Begins with Trial Work Untitled-1 1 2016-11-10 9:04 AM Fee hike approved BY ALEX ROBINSON Law Times C onvocation at the Law Society of Upper Canada has ap- proved a $50 fee hike for all licensees in its 2017 budget. The fee increase was the first one in three years, but it can be offset if licensees sign up for a pre-authorized payment plan. If they choose not to sign up for the plan, lawyers will see their annual fees rise to $1,916 from $1,866. Paralegals' fees will jump to $1,046 from $996. "Though we prided ourselves on keeping the fees f lat for the past number of years, in light of some of the strategic initiatives, we thought it was now an appropriate time to raise the fee," Bencher Christopher Bredt told Convocation at its November meeting. Bredt noted that fees in other law societies range from $2,057 in B.C. to $2,520 in Alberta. "So our annual fees are in fact at the low end of the fee spec- trum," said Bredt, who is chairman of the LSUC's audit and fi- nance committee. Bredt said a new insurance levy recently approved by Convo- cation would result in a reduction of $400 for licensees. Lawyers will be paying a lot less overall because of the reduction, Bredt said. The law society expects to see an increase of 700 new lawyers in 2017 and 550 more paralegals, which Bredt says will lead to more revenue in fees but also increased expenses. The 2017 budget will also look to increase the LSUC's law- yer compensation fund grant limit to $500,000 from $150,000, which was due to an increase in the number of claims. The law society will also be spending $2.1 million to mod- ernize its licensee database. LT

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