Articling is a professional rite of passage for junior lawyers, a job akin to a practicum position. It's an opportunity for them to hone their skills before starting practice.
But making that transition from the academic world of law school to the professional world can be deeply unsatisfactory, according to a couple of online surveys from the Law Society of British Columbia.
The questionnaires, sent to past and present articling students in November and December 2020, netted nearly 900 responses. (The responses were included as part of a report to society directors earlier this month.)
More than 300 people provided comments. Many of those comments were far from positive.
The surveys revealed tales of students working 60-plus hours a week for less than $30,000. “The work environments could be cutthroat and demeaning,” that respondent said.
One response noted the need to set boundaries for not working weekends.
“It would have been too depressing to think that all of my time was being put into a job where I felt like I was being taken advantage of, wasn't really appreciated — just a commodity — and all for a thousand dollars a week, which when divided by my hours worked, was just above minimum wage," they said.
Meanwhile, 46.1 per cent of respondents reported working eight to nine hours a day while 13 per cent said they worked 11 to 13 hours a day. Some 6.7 per cent reported working seven days a week with just over half reporting five days a week.
More than 50 per cent of articling students said they worked statutory holidays.
Another said lawyers at the firm where they articled did not have mentoring time, that they ended up doing administrative work rather than gaining further education.
“It's very stressful, and I don't feel supported. I think I'm grossly underpaid,” said another. “I have decided not to practice law after I finish articling.”
Another articling student, though, recognized the need for rigour.
“I feel as though this prepared me well for the practice of law as I got a lot of experience. Once you become a lawyer, you are expected to be competent,” they said, noting they opposed limiting articling to 40 hours a week. Their argument? Junior lawyers might not receive the hands-on experience they need to practice.
Another person spoke of fixing the system rather than letting it perpetuate itself.
“Articling students are treated extremely poorly,” they said. “They then become lawyers, and many think the articling status quo is a rite of passage, paving the way for the next crop of articling students to be abused. Articling is fundamentally broken. Fix it.”
And that’s what the law society has been looking at.
The society has been examining ways to change the way articling works, including establishing limits on the number of hours worked and establishing minimum levels of financial compensation, with limited exceptions.
The society’s board has agreed, in principle, to implementing standards for hours of work and minimum financial compensation levels during articles.
“We are in the process of finalizing a consultation paper on how to implement standards that ensure fairness and also avoid a reduction in the availability of articling opportunities,” society communications officer Vinnie Yuen said.
However, such changes would not be seen until other pathways to become a licensed lawyer are in place — something hoped for by September 2023.
At the society’s October 2020 annual general meeting, a resolution was approved calling on society directors to take action to ensure that articling agreements are consistent with the hours of work and compensation requirements in the Employment Standards Act.
That resolution resulted in the creation of the Lawyer Development Task Force.
