Law Times

Page 6 November 26, 2018 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com Killing law school a smart plan BY IAN HARVEY I n the dying days of the Liberal govern- ment under Kathleen Wynne, every- one, it seemed, was promised a pony. Things have changed, however, and the new regime under Premier Doug Ford has been reigning in those promises and the attendant spending, causing howls of anguish every week as a new round of cuts and cancellations is rolled out. Among the latest is the cancellation of Toronto's French-language university, which would have cost about $83.5 mil- lion in federal and provincial funding to establish plus ongoing operating costs. It joins other university expansions in Brampton, Markham and Milton, which were on the books for $300 million. Politically, it's an easy move. Uni- versities rarely graduate conservative thinkers or voters, and the 4.1 per cent of Ontarians who claim French as their mother tongue are generally clustered in Northern Ontario, which remains NDP territory. However, it's the axing of the pro- posed law school at Ryerson University that has probably piqued the interest of the profession. In the academia bubble, where gov- ernment funding is infinite and possibilities are end- less, expanding university campuses, creating a French university and adding a law school probably seemed like grand ideas, especially under a Liberal government eager to please and spend. But why? Why another law school? What's the driv- ing need to churn out more lawyers into an over-crowded market where many are fight- ing for scraps just to pay their Law Soci- ety of Ontario dues and keep their E&O insurance current? It's common knowledge that many newly minted graduates would have bet- ter luck panning for gold in the Don Riv- er than trying to find articling positions. Even the LSO, which dubiously ap- proved the Ryerson scheme when it was proposed, admits as much. The decision seems based on prudent logic. Merrilee Fullerton, minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, cit- ed Ontario Job Futures, which projects that, through 2021, employment pros- pects for lawyers are "average." "For lawyers, it means jobs are ex- pected to be more difficult to find, the probability of unemployment is higher and wages and salaries have re- cently increased at a slower rate than other occupations," she said, noting that ministry staff agreed. It's obvious millennials and the next cohort, gen- eration Z, are facing huge challenges finding sustain- able employment and career paths. Too many young people enter the workforce burdened with debt, find housing is unaffordable in cities such as Toronto and employment prospects are dim where basic degrees have the gravi- tas of a high school diploma. Expand- ing university campuses or adding a JD from Ryerson isn't going to work when the law sector is just as saturated. Was the decision politically motivat- ed? Yes. Ultimately, all things are politi- cal, including the Wynne government's initial tacit approval. It all sounded so politically correct at the outset, though. In its application, Ry- erson insisted that the law school would be unique, training lawyers to represent average people and focusing on technol- ogy and diversity, but there was vocal pushback from existing law schools. Indeed, a focus on technology would be laudable, but it's something every law school could easily add to its curricu- lum. It's also laughable for Ryerson to insist that it alone can create a more nimble, tech-savvy lawyer to offer more afford- able services to more people of average means. What rubbish. Small boutiques and single practitioners are already using technology extensively because it's ef- ficient, at least where the system will allow. It's also not like the larger firms aren't using technology either. But it's not a magic wand because the problem isn't that schools are not teaching ap- plied technology, it's that there's limited opportunity to apply it in the system. The courts and justice system are still stuck on paper documents with no end in sight. LT uIan Harvey has been a journalist for more than 41 years, writing about a diverse range of issues including legal and political affairs. His email address is ianharvey@rogers.com. COMMENT u EDITORIAL OBITER By Gabrielle Giroday ©2018 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. 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Karen Lorimer Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Brown Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gabrielle Giroday Staff Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anita Balakrishnan Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patricia Cancilla CaseLaw Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Laura Crawford Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phyllis Barone Production Co-ordinator . . . . . Jacqueline D'Souza Electronic Production Specialist . . . Derek Welford Funding woes T he province of Ontario has nixed the proposed law school at Ryerson University. For those who have been watching the proposal work its way forward through various levels of the approval process, the news was not a surprise. As a four-part series this past summer in Law Times explored, graduates from law schools are facing issues such as mounting debt and dim prospects for articling positions. What was interesting was the fulsomeness of the official govern- ment response to the cancellation, which cited "whether the program duplicates other programs in the province; labour market demand; student demand; appropriate tuition rates, and if the program aligns with an institutions Strategic Mandate Agreement" as part of its rea- soning not to fund the school. The school has now stated it did not seek new funding but "rather to transfer enrolment funding and OSAP, already approved by the government, toward legal education." Considering that in the span of a few days the province came un- der fire from critics for its reticence to kick in funding for improve- ments at the Brampton courthouse or to help with a $500,000 short- fall at Pro Bono Ontario, the news about Ryerson was another clear message to Ontarians about the province's dedication to tightening up spending, even amid an extensive outcry in some cases. The move by Justice Peter Daley of the Superior Court of Justice (clearly backed by his boss, Chief Justice Heather Forster Smith) was especially unusual. The decision about Ryerson may have been very well reasoned, though there are many people who will be disappointed by the news, particularly those who saw the school as a way of improving access to justice. If the past week is anything to go on, the Ford government has got a lot farther to go, and law- yers and legal organizations should be mightily aware that funding may be hard to come by when it comes to the province. LT Queen's Park Ian Harvey

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