by Jennifer Moroskat and Kerry Parker Smith

Have you considered bringing an articling student into your firm? The Career Services Offices of the UVic and UBC Faculties of Law would like B.C. lawyers to know that a number of high caliber third-year law students are still seeking 2009-2010 articling positions.

For a law student, articling is a critical stage of legal training, and a mandatory step on the path to admission into the Law Society of British Columbia. Students are eager to put their skills to work and to experience the practice of law under expert guidance so they can develop a successful legal career.

Students can perform useful and billable work that benefits a firm or legal department. For a lawyer who serves as principal to a student, that assistance is valuable. Principals also draw satisfaction from the important contribution they make. Principals help develop their students into strong lawyers through guidance, training and mentorship, which benefits the profession as a whole.

New Articles Registry
To help connect law firms with students, the website of the Canadian Bar Association, British Columbia Branch (CBABC) now contains an Articles Registry, developed by the CBABC with support from the Law Society of British Columbia. The Registry allows law firms to profile their firm and post multiple articling positions with varying criteria. The Registry is popular among students as they can search for positions by interest, location and start date.

Shared Articles Registry
If your firm is not able to hire a full-time articling student you can consider taking a student for shared or split articles. This option allows a student to work for two or more firms with two or more principals during their articling term, and allows the student to gain experience in a variety of work environments and practice areas. The CBABC website has a Shared Articles Registry developed jointly by the Career Services Offices of the UBC and UVic Faculties of Law, the CBABC Branch, and the Law Society of B.C. Firms and organizations can use the Registry to advertise their need for an articling student, specifying length of articles available and practice areas covered.

Requirements to Become a Principal
To become a principal, you must be a practising lawyer in good standing with the Law Society with seven years of practice experience. For more on the qualifications of principals and the articling relationship, please see Law Society Rules 2-27 through 2-46. Please also refer to the background information – including the current articling agreement and checklist – in the “Licensing & Membership” section of the Society’s website at www.lawsociety.bc.ca. If you are not certain if you qualify as a principal, please contact Lesley Small, Manager, Credentials & Licensing at the Law Society of B.C. at 604-669-2533 or lsmall@lsbc.org.

The UBC and UVic Career Services Offices are ready to assist lawyers that are considering hiring an articling student by answering your questions, posting positions and advertising to students.

Please contact either Jennifer Moroskat, Law Careers Officer, University of Victoria at moroskat@uvic.ca, phone: 250-472-4719, fax: 250-721-6390 or Kerry Parker Smith, Director, Career Services, University of British Columbia at parkersmith@law.ubc.ca, phone: 604-827-5052, fax: 604-822-9486.

Jennifer Moroskat, Law Careers Officer, University of Victoria and Kerry Parker Smith, Director, Career Services, University of British Columbia

This article was published in the April 2009 issue of BarTalk. © 2009 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.