Sucks to be you.

I'm quite busy these days, but I thought I would do a quick focused post. Last week the Convocation of the Law Society of Upper Canada voted in their infinite wisdom to implement an additional route to becoming a fully licensed lawyer in Ontario with the creation of the Legal Practice Program option. I'm still working through the implications of this decisions and will eventually post an analysis of it, but in the meantime check out this article from Ultra Vires (U of T's law student newspaper) which strongly suggests that Bay Street firms are taking a pass when it comes to hiring law students. 

The article suggests that hiring has fallen to historically low levels with only 379 students being hired this year; furthermore, remember that prior to the financial crisis approximately 450 students would be hired every year. While one can point to the soft (non-existent) recovery, outsourcing, reduced demand for lawyers, and hoarding of work - one thing is certain - the good old days ain't coming back and one wonders if law firms are awaiting the arrival of the LPP option which institutionalizes unpaid labour. One would wonder if tuition might be reduced as a result of the falling prospects for newly minted lawyers, but I'm not holding my breath. I note, however, that even for law students it could be much, much worse - you could be in Teachers College or in a Dietitian program. Anywho, I dug up this gem from a more humane better era, enjoy.