Law Times

www.lawtimesnews.com By anasTasiya Jogal Law Times ith members of the legal profession and law students expressing concern about the Law Practice Program, candidates in the Law Society of Upper Canada bencher elections are weighing in on the issue as well. Bencher candidate and Western Law Prof. Michael Lamb doubts the Law Prac- tice Program will be effective and says the students should get an upfront warning. "A law degree does not mean an auto- matic pathway to becoming a practising lawyer," says Lamb. The program isn't addressing the big- ger issue at hand, he suggests. While some lawyers worry the new program is facili- tating inequality and higher debt levels, he argues the problem really boils down to a very simple economic issue. "The reality is we are churning out now more lawyers than we need," says Lamb. "The program itself was a response to complaints by students saying, 'Look, you know I spent thousands of dollars to get my law degree and now I can't become a practising lawyer because I cannot get an articling position,'" according to Lamb. Despite the concerns, other candidates are cautious about predicting the outcome of the Law Practice Program. Bencher Howard Goldblatt, for example, says it's too early to tell whether the program will be a success. It's now in the second phase of the first year, and the good news is everyone who wanted a placement got one, he points out. "I think that we are better served by looking at this once we have more experi- ence, once we have more information, and once we have the feedback not only from the students who are in the program, which we are going to [get], but also from the placements, the principals they are placed with," he says. Fellow Bencher Peter Wardle agrees. "I think it's too early to know how it's going to turn out. We really only have the one year of experience," he says. People like Lamb, however, already see significant issues with the articling alternative. "What is going to happen is these students will get these placements with law firms instead of an articling position and finish the program and then they get licensed as lawyers. And then they are facing the same problem they would have had in the first place: Where do I work?" And while many Law Practice Pro- gram participants will likely open their own law practices if they can't find a job, Lamb says the shorter placements will give them less experience to do so in compari- son to those who articled for 10 months. Others, of course, worry about a two- tiered system. "My own view is that [there] should be one road to licensing for every- body and everybody should go through the same road," says Wardle. Some bencher candidates also feel the cost of the program is too high and will further divide the two groups of law stu- dents. "We are not achieving the results that we need to achieve," says Joanne St. Lewis, a University of Ottawa law professor. "I am concerned about what it means to be in that program economically," she says. "Students are coming out with ex- tremely high levels of debt." St. Lewis has particular concerns about the need to support the most economic- ally disadvantaged students. "Instead of having to pay for 10 months of articles, you pay for four," she says, referring to placement employers. "You pay for four, they are on their own in terms of paying their law society fees. They still have to eat, sleep, clothe themselves but they have something to do that should be taking up most of their time. So if they were to take a job, it may affect their performance. So it creates this feedback loop that I think is really, really dangerous." In addition, St. Lewis takes issue with the expectations around paid placements. "I understand that 75 per cent of the stu- dents in the program are paid, [but] paid what? What is the standard of payment? That is what I would like to know." The issue, she notes, is the need for the placements to pay a living wage. "I also don't believe in indentured servitude where people barely get a decent wage and I don't think we are examining those pieces at all," says St. Lewis. Bencher candidate Deanna Sgro has similar concerns. "When I graduated, we articled, we were paid. The students who do the LPP [with] the four months practical aren't paid. The most that they can get paid is in the four months of articling and even then I understand that 20 to 30 per cent of students receive no re- muneration or little to no remuneration," says Sgro. Sgro believes that with a few tweaks, the profession could im- prove both the Law Practice Program and legal education more generally. "The program is three full years, and I wonder if we could con- sider the four-month practical element of the LPP as a semester con- tained within the law school program and perhaps we can think about reducing articling for all students in order to facilitate firms hav- ing more students article with them," says Sgro. Another candidate, Janis Criger, believes the Law Practice Program is excellent as it is but also sees the same underlying issues. "The drawbacks, I believe, are the cost to the students because ob- viously they don't have an articling principal to pick it up. Oftentimes, those fees are taken care of by the principal, espe- cially if the firm plans on hiring the student long term," says Criger. "In my view, the LPP candidates are as good as any articling students," she adds. "Now I've only been exposed to nine of them, but six of those were perfectly good articling THE LAW SOCIETY OF UPPER CANADA BENCHER ELECTION 2015 Law Times • March 30, 2015 Page 13 Candidates stake their position Should lSUC press ahead with law Practice Program? W Dan Revington B E N C H E R ( T O R O N T O ) Finding Common Ground Applying Common Sense w w w. d a n re v i n g t o n . c o m DanRevington_LT_Mar30_15.indd 1 2015-03-25 1:12 PM Untitled-1 1 2015-03-12 8:03 AM student candidates and the other three were brilliant." In light of the concerns, Criger feels getting rid of articling and allowing all students to go through the Law Practice Program may be the best solution. Lamb, however, remains skeptical. "The law society is supposed to act in the public interest, so you could make the argument that the public interest is served if you create more lawyers than you need [and] therefore lawyers will sort of under- cut each other because they all need the business and that would serve the public in terms of cost," he says. But there's a caveat, of course. "For law- yers to cut costs, [it] usually means they don't put in as much time [into] something and cut corners and that isn't in the public's best interest," he adds. LT

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