The Lawyers Weekly - August 5, 2011

JEREMY HAINSWORTH VANCOUVER

B.C.’s Rural Education and Access to Lawyers Initiative (REAL) says it has been successful in placing law students in firms outside B.C. metropolitan regions with a view to dealing with a shortage of lawyers in rural areas.

However, REAL’s success is threatened due to a shortage of funding. It has asked the Law Society of B.C. (LSBC) for financial assistance to continue that work after an attempt to go national with the program was denied funding.

“The aging of the bar across the province was recognized by everyone in the legal profession to be an upcoming access to justice crisis as senior lawyers in smaller towns prepared to retire or downsize their practices, but were not finding young lawyers to come to small centres to replace them and serve the community,” REAL oversight committee chair Kerry Simmons said in a May 20 letter to the LSBC.

“We want this project to get lawyers into those communities while experienced lawyers are still there,” Simmons told society benchers July 15, noting that the issue dates back to 2001 when the society noted the beginnings of a shortage of lawyers outside B.C.’s Vancouver, Victoria and New Westminster metropolitan areas.

“We knew there were very few, if any, summer positions…avail-able prior to this program starting,” she said.

To address the issue, she told benchers that the B.C. branch of the Canadian Bar Association (CBABC) proposed the REAL initiative to attract second-year law students to practise in smaller centres and to assist solo and small firms with advertising, hiring and funding those positions.

“This project addresses the
shortage of lawyers in rural com-
munities,” Simmons said. “The
hope is more will article in smaller
communities.”
And, she noted, placements in
smaller firms gives students access
to practice experience they might
not otherwise receive. She said one
student went to the northern com-
munity of Vanderhoof where she
received ample court-time experi-
ence as well as the opportunity to
lunch with judges who gave her
practice tips.

Further, Simmons said, feedback from lawyers indicates they see the initiative as a way of enhancing their practices.

Summer student placements cost $3,000 to $3,500 per month, Simmons explained. She said REAL placed 11 students in 2009, and 21 in both of 2010 and 2011 in communities of less than 100,000 population where there is less than a 500-person-per-lawyer ratio.

Simmons said 52 per cent of the positions led to offers of articles.

The funding problem comes as a result of the Law Foundation of B.C. being unable to fund the five years REAL had initially requested due to financial strain brought on by the economic downturn, Simmons told benchers.

The $795,000 in funding had been for three years but REAL finds itself without funding for 2012 and beyond.

However, the foundation had
supported an application by REAL
to the Access to Justice Fund which
supports national initiatives. The
fund was established in July of
2009, when the Law Foundation
of Ontario (LFO) was entrusted
with moneys as a result of the
settlement in the class action law-
suit Cassano v. TD Bank. The
court order approving the settle-
ment directed the LFO to create a
fund for the purpose of making
grants in support of public access
to justice in Canada.

The fund request had been supported by all branches of the CBA but has been turned down, Simmons told The Lawyers Weekly.

In the event that the program had gone national, B.C. could have seen a drop from 21 spots to five, Simmons said. So REAL had proposed $100,000 funding split between CBABC and LSBC which would have resulted in 10 further spaces, she said.

However, as the national pro-
gram is not proceeding for now,
REAL is proposing a $150,000
funding split which would allow
for 10 spaces and a part-time
regional careers office and a mod-
est promotions budget.

Lerners is proud to announce the appointment of Mark Lerner as President of The Advocates’ Society.

Since 1963, The Advocates’ Society has been Canada’s premier provider of skills training for trial lawyers: sharing techniques and best practices centered on ethics and integrity. Through its dedication to the protection and independence of the bar and judiciary, The Advocates’ Society works to ensure the highest standard of legal representation for clients.

Members of The Advocates’
Society are widely recognized
as being among the best of
counsel: men and women
committed to making a
difference in courtrooms across
Ontario and beyond.