Rural Education and Access to Lawyers

 By Sharon Matthews

Successors are key to succession planning. For lawyers practising outside of the south coast, succession planning is hampered by insufficient numbers of new lawyers joining their communities. Lack of successors is a better excuse for failing to plan than some of the oft-cited reasons such as not having time, or worse, not believing that you could become disabled, die or retire.

In 2009, someone much smarter than I had an idea of how the CBABC could address this problem in a concrete way, or rather, a REAL way. And that was the idea that became the Rural Education and Access to Lawyers, or REAL, initiative. Good ideas need resources and so the CBABC sought funding from the Law Foundation, which generously provided funding for the first three years of the program. 

REAL is a co-ordinated set of programs to address the current and projected shortage of lawyers practising in small B.C. communities. The primary program is the placement of second year summer students in firms in those communities, with a contribution toward the cost of engaging the students. In addition, the Regional Careers Officer (the amazing Michael Litchfield), promotes these opportunities to law students in the western Canadian provinces and works to break down the attitudes that cause law students to believe that the only good opportunities are in large urban centres. 

REAL works. In 2009, 11 positions were created in Nanaimo, Campbell River, Powell River, Squamish, Kamloops, Vernon, Cranbrook, Trail, Smithers, Vanderhoof and Fort St. John. In 2010, 21 positions were created in Campbell River, Qualicum Beach, Courtenay, Smithers, Vanderhoof, Squamish, Fort Nelson, Prince George, Williams Lake, Quesnel, 100 Mile House, Winlaw, Invermere, Golden, Nelson, Castlegar, Salmon Arm, Penticton, Vernon and Summerland. These positions would not have existed but for REAL. Of those, 16 (51 per cent) resulted in articling positions where few had existed before. 

In 2011, 20 positions were created in Powell River, Courtenay, Qualicum Beach, Nanaimo, Squamish, Kamloops, Vernon, Lumby, Revelstoke, Nelson, Fernie, Invermere, Vanderhoof, Prince George and Fort St. John. 

The first three years, thanks to the Law Foundation, have been a tremendous success. The initiative was designed to run for five years in order to allow for a continuum of results and to determine how many of the participants end up practising in these communities. The CBABC is thrilled that the Law Society has agreed to partner with the CBABC to provide funding for years four and five1. This new arrangement will include a review of the program and the criteria. In addition, as originally 

planned, there will be a go-forward plan to make the program financially sustainable in the future. 

REAL has proven two critical things. First, by working cooperatively, justice system stakeholders can, in short order, make a difference in a concrete way. In addition to the Law Foundation and the Law Society, REAL has been supported by UBC and UVic Law Schools as well as others in Western Canada, the Legal Services Society, the CBA National Rural Task Force, CLEBC and local Bar associations. Second, the “there are no successors” excuse to avoid succession planning has disappeared.

We all need to face the fact that we are not invincible from disability or death and some day we will want to leave our practice to retire or do something different. It is time to plan. You don’t have time not to. 

This article was published in the December 2011 issue of BarTalk. © 2011 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.