In a debate about paying articling students minimum wage, the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) highlighted the tough situation facing the profession. With a backlog of candidates and a dearth of articling positions, the benchers were divided on whether to enforce a minimum wage if it might put placements in jeopardy.
After almost two hours of discussion, Convocation approved three measures to improve the training component of the licensing process but deferred making a decision on minimum wage to a later date.
Barbara Murchie, chair of the Professional Development and Competence Committee, presented the motion to “replace the enhancements to the experiential training component of the lawyer licensing process, as approved by Convocation in December 2018,” with four measures, including: 1) the LSO developing “an orientation program for articling principals, work placement supervisors, and licensing candidates to facilitate effective and fair experiential training, to be encouraged rather than mandatory;” 2) the law society leveraging “the new Bridge to Practice platform to foster entry level competence and skills by developing free training modules designed for candidates and new lawyers and focused on filling the identified gaps in articling placements such as practice management and client communications;” 3) the LSO applying “a risk-based approach to monitoring of experiential training by initiating outreach to both the candidate and the principal where placements end...
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