Articles 101

Ooooh - well I was asked a question recently, that is, about what "articles" are. So here's the primer. I love questions.

In Canada (and other common law countries I believe) you have to article before being called to the bar (i.e. before being formally anointed as a lawyer). Articles are basically an "internship." The length of time varies depending on the province, but doing the required bar course and articling takes about a year.

In other ways the legal education is about the same as in the U.S. - we do three years of law school with the same base courses of Contracts, Torts, Criminal Law, Property and Constitutional Law. Our degree is a more or less a post-graduate degree. Actually that's sort of a gray area - 99% of law school students do have an undergraduate degree but in rare cases you can get into the program with just three years of undergraduate education. Also the law degree itself is called a "Bachelor of Laws." The reason for this is that in England and Australia a law degree is an undergraduate degree and Canada adopts the same terminology - although more and more schools in Canada are calling it a Juris Doctor (the U.S. equivalent) to reflect the fact that it is not an undergraduate degree. In fact, my law school may have made the switch, it was in the works when I graduated and possibly I could pay some sum of money to have my LLB converted to J.D.

Many graduates of Canadian law schools go directly to U.S. firms, so there's really no major difference in the core education. Oh - the other difference is that there are way fewer law schools in Canada, proportionally speaking. As a result admissions standards at all schools tend to be quite high.

After graduation, if you choose to practice in Canada, you have to get hired by a firm willing to take you on for your articles - and most students (at least is seemed like almost all) do. During the articles you are supposed to get exposure to different areas of law. Of course if you are at a small firm it will be much more limited, but at the larger national firms like mine there is quite a bit of variety. It's really a wonderful opportunity to gain exposure to all different areas of practice. Even if you know what you want to do it's useful to see how the other side works. For example even if you know you want to do solicitor's work, it's useful to understand how the court system works so you understand what the consequences might be if the contract you draft does get you taken to court. And if you're not entirely sure what you want to do, it's an opportunity to decide.

The catch is that firms don't necessarily hire back all their students - after all it's a test run for the firm too. Hireback statistics are compiled and do affect people's choices on where to article. But they can vary from year to year depending so many students spend the year worrying about hireback, which is a drawback to the program. The other drawback is the pitiful salary - at least in my city. I expect I will get a raise of 50% or more if and when I'm hired back. It's a little exploitative considering my billing rates are not that much lower than a first year associate's.

In addition to articles you also have to do a bar course and exam. The exam is different in each province, but I think it's fair to say it is not as stressful as it seems to be in places like California or New York - the vast majority of people pass.

Another question people ask me - can you fail you articles? Technically, yes. You have to meet certain criteria and accomplish certain tasks and this is all regulated by the body governing lawyers in each province. (We are a self-regulated profession in Canada.) You have a principal, aka a senior lawyer at your firm, assigned to oversee you and ensure you do this. But I've never heard of anyone failing and I doubt it happens except in the most egregious cases.