In 2024, the Law Societies of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society surveyed articling students and new lawyers, as well as principals, mentors and recruiters. Each province received a 2024 articling survey report of their findings, which are available on the respective websites. The BC report is available on our website.
An analysis of the data across the jurisdictions has now been completed to produce a cross-jurisdictional report.
BC-specific findings
BC accounted for 43 per cent of the total sample of student/new lawyer respondents across the participating provinces. The cross-jurisdictional report looked at areas including lawyer competence, discrimination and harassment, as well as workload and compensation. The BC-specific findings are below:
Lawyer competence
- BC students/new lawyer respondents reported notably lower confidence in training in most areas, including ethics and professionalism, communication skills, conducting matters, client relationship management, practice management and dispute resolution.
- With the exception of practice management, BC principal, mentor and recruiter respondents were less likely to agree that adequate training was provided, compared to all those surveyed across participating jurisdictions.
Discrimination and harassment
- Experiences of discrimination and/or harassment from BC respondents during the articling period are on par with all provinces, but notably there were more mentions from BC respondents of fear of reprisal and lack of trust as reasons for not reporting.
- With respect to mental health resources, there was a stronger perception that mental health resources were available among principal, recruiter and mentor survey respondents in BC.
- BC students/new lawyer responses are on par with all provinces in perception that mental health resources were available.
Compensation and workload
- BC reported higher compensation, according to both student/new lawyer and principal, recruiter and mentor survey respondents compared to the total across all jurisdictions.
- Workload challenges are on par with all provinces, with the exception of Saskatchewan, where respondents were less likely to report challenges compared to the overall student population surveyed.
Next steps
The cross-jurisdictional report offers valuable insights and identifies themes across the jurisdictions. This will allow the provinces to seek opportunities for collaboration on next steps as we continue our work to enhance the articling experience and entry level practice.
The full 2024 BC Articling Program survey report, December 2024 and the cross-jurisdictional report are available. Questions about the reports can be submitted to consultation@lsbc.org.
