Editor's update, January 2016:
The Articling Registry has now been integrated into the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch's job board. Although the job board is a CBA member benefit, the articling positions are also viewable by non-CBA members and potential students, and no fee is charged for posting articling positions. Visit the CBA job board.
VANCOUVER — The Law Society of BC and the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch, have launched an innovative online Articling Registry for Canadian law students and BC lawyers.
The Registry is the first of its kind to enable both lawyers and students to look for articling positions by location, timeframe, and area of practice. Firms and students can post positions sought, resumes and available articles.
The Registry is designed to promote articling, including shared articles, throughout BC, with a particular focus on sole and small firm practices outside of the Lower Mainland and Victoria region.
“This was an initiative that came out of our Small Firm Task Force,” explained John Hunter, QC, President of the Law Society of BC, “and the Task Force considered it to be likely that students who choose to article in smaller communities would, if given the opportunity, stay in those communities after being called to the bar.”
Some sole and small firm practitioners have reported that while they may not have enough legal work to justify hiring an articling student on a full-time basis, they would be in a position to share a student with another firm. The Task Force received strong encouragement from sole and small firm practitioners to support and promote an expanded shared articling program.
“The goal of the Registry,” explained Kenneth Walton, President of the CBABC, “ is to increase the number of articling students with sole and small firms which will support and strengthen the viability of law practices and the provision of legal services in both the short and long term throughout the province.”
Over the coming months, the Law Society and CBABC will be working to encourage both lawyers and law students to post information on the Articling Registry.
The Law Society of BC was founded in 1869 and is the governing body of the legal profession in BC. Under the provisions of the Legal Profession Act, the Law Society is responsible for the licensing, professional conduct and discipline of the more than 11,000 lawyers in BC.
The Canadian Bar Association is the professional organization responsible for representing the interests of more than 35,000 members in Canada, including 6,100
lawyers in British Columbia.
Media contacts:
Dana Bales, Communications Officer
Law Society of BC
604-443-5708
Email: dbales@lsbc.org
Jesse Tarbotton, Communications Coordinator
Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch
604-646-7856
Email: jtarbotton@bccba.org