The ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the legal profession appear to have landed disproportionately on law students and young lawyers. Anecdotally, first jobs, articling positions and summer jobs have evaporated. Those who have secured positions are working remotely – losing some of the invaluable informal learning that typically comes with working in a law office.
The articling committee of the Law Student and Young Lawyers Sections is putting some data to these anecdotes about the job market for aspiring and new lawyers to inform its potential initiatives.
The survey, The Impact of COVID-19 on Law Students, Articling Students and Young Lawyers, includes questions about the effect of the pandemic on participants’ current or most recent position, upcoming opportunities they had previously secured, and the extent to which individuals and their employers are accessing government aid.
Respondents should be young lawyers (under the age of 40 or a member of the bar for 10 years or less), articling students, or law students in Canada.
The survey is now active and takes only a few minutes to complete. We encourage law students, articling students and young lawyers to complete the survey and to share it with others in their network.