I find myself constantly baffled by our provincial legal system, and I genuinely want to know what others think about this.

Under the Justices of the Peace Act, the absolute baseline qualification to become a presiding Justice of the Peace (JP) is a mere two-year community college diploma and general work experience. Because of this, a staggering majority of Ontario's JPs are non-lawyers former social workers, flight attendants, or managers who get a brief crash course before being handed massive constitutional power. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/only-five-of-14-new-justices-of-the-peace-have-a-law-degree-does-that/article_68f36cb5-ae3f-5357-9b80-a0861429819a.html

https://www.lawtimesnews.com/news/general/concerns-voiced-over-non-lawyer-jps/262689

It is bad enough that we have dog walkers and cashiers as adjudicators for the License Appeal Tribunal, but this is even more outrageous. JPs run complex bail hearings, authorize invasive search warrants, and hold the authority to strip citizens of their literal freedom. Am I the only one who thinks the stakes are way too high for this amateur framework?

Navigating intricate Charter arguments and shifting statutory bail laws requires a deep legal education. It feels like an absurd double standard when minor, lower-stakes occupations require strict university degrees and grueling licensing exams, yet Ontario requires neither to wield the power of the state.

Provinces like Quebec and Alberta have already modernized by prohibiting non-lawyers from presiding over bail or trials, restricting them to administrative tasks instead. There have been legislative attempts to fix Ontario’s broken setup, but intense behind-the-scenes lobbying from the Association of Justices of the Peace of Ontario (AJPO) protecting their lucrative $140,000+ salaries keeps killing reform. What makes this totally inexcusable is that Ontario currently has an exploding surplus of newly licensed, underemployed lawyers who have actually passed the bar exam and could easily step in to fill these roles.

How is leaving our civil liberties in the hands of unqualified political appointees still acceptable? For other lawyers, defendants, or citizens out there does this system seem as completely insane and embarrassing to you as it does to me?

I recently graduated from law school and I’m about to start my articling/LPP period. I have a professional student line of credit that I used during law school.
Now that I’ve graduated, my available credit has been reduced to $0, even though I still have an outstanding balance on the LOC.

I was previously told that I would continue to have access to the remaining funds/credit during my articling period. For those who have gone through this recently:

Did your bank continue giving you access to the unused portion of your professional LOC after you graduated and started articling?

Did the bank require proof of articling/LPP or proof of enrolment before restoring/maintaining access?

Was your experience different depending on the bank (TD, RBC, Scotia, CIBC, etc.)?

Just trying to figure out whether having the available credit go to $0 immediately after graduation is normal, or whether I need to contact the bank and provide proof that I’m continuing into articling.

Thanks!

So the title kinda says it all. I am currently volunteering in a law firm, they offered me an articling position, but claimed they couldn’t pay me 620 per week but I will have to work 7 days a week if I am an articling student with them.

Few hours later, I received an articling offer from a law firm I interviewed last week.

Obviously I accepted the latter offer. But the law firm I am volunteering just sorta involved me in an high-profile case. Do I need to disclose the law firm name which I accepted the offer to my current firm? Is it legally required for me to tell my current firm, to avoid any conflict of interest (the firm I accepted offer is in no way involved in the high-profile case).

Any advice would be appreciated!

Edit: the title should be “ Should I disclose the law firm I accepted articling position with the current firm I volunteering”

For those who have completed CPLED/PREP Capstone, how did you feel about your oral assessments afterwards, and did you ultimately pass?

I recently completed Capstone and have been worried about my performance ever since. I have a verbal disability and had approved medical accommodations, including additional time for the oral components. Even with the accommodation, the timed environment made two of my oral assessments particularly difficult, and I wasn’t able to get through everything I had prepared or wanted to address.
I completed all of the assessments and tried my best to follow the criteria, but I keep thinking about the things I didn’t get to say or fully develop in those two oral components.
For anyone who has been through Capstone, did you have an oral assessment that you felt went poorly or was incomplete and still pass Capstone overall? How much does one or two weaker oral performances affect the final result?

I’m getting called to the Ontario bar in about a month and I’m currently working at a small/full service-ish firm as a licensing candidate. I’ll be staying as an associate after my call.
The good thing is I get exposed to a bit of everything. Civil litigation, family, estates/estate litigation, etc. Pretty much different areas of barrister work except criminal. The transactional side of the firm is pretty dead though.
My issue is the pay is honestly pretty low and I don’t really see much career growth here long term. The firm is also very old school and disorganized. I’m planning to negotiate my salary before my call, but realistically I don’t think it’s going to go up by that much.
At the same time, the job market for new calls seems pretty rough and I know having a job already is better than having nothing.
So I’m wondering what other lawyers would do. Would you just stay for a year, get the experience on your resume and then move? Or would you keep applying to other firms while working and leave if something better comes up?
I’m mainly interested in commercial litigation/business/corporate work but I’m also pretty open to learning different areas right now.
Does having even 6 months to a year of post-call experience make a big difference when applying elsewhere?
Just trying to figure out if I should suck it up for a year lol or keep looking in the meantime.

Hi everyone! I’m in my last year of law and am pursuing criminal defence come articling next year.

Other than the obvious differences in the actual law of it, how would you guys describe the differences of the trial advocacy/process of that vs what we do here? Whether that be questioning witnesses, cross vs. Direct, etc.

It’s such a high profile case that is readily available to watch from beginning til end, so I’m curious if the trial advocacy aspect of the trial is worth taking note of.

If this is too consuming of a question, let me know and that’s enough for me to understand that it’s all completely different and there isn’t much I can take from it lol.

Thank you everyone!!!

I got an articling position but LSO said the lawyer is not eligible and I am now left unemployed. Also, since I applied for articling as experiential training, am I supposed to pay for my articling fee now even though I am basically broke and have no job…? And moreover, I worked at the firm for a week, and she is not paying me. Asking me to come directly and they will pay in cash. Has anyone experiences anything similar ?

I recently graduated from law school in Ontario and I’m currently in the LSO licensing process. I’ve already registered for my Ontario bar exams.

I have an articling opportunity with a lawyer in BC, but my prospective articling principal would prefer that I go through the BC licensing process and complete PREP. I would prefer to remain in the Ontario licensing process if possible and have my BC articling placement count toward my Ontario experiential training requirement.

The LSO has told me that I can remain in the Ontario licensing process while also registering with the LSBC, but I’m unclear on whether registering with the LSBC as an articled student would also require me to complete PREP.

I’ve reached out to the Law Society of BC for clarification but haven’t heard back yet.

Has anyone been in a similar situation — articling in BC under a BC lawyer while remaining an Ontario licensing candidate? If so, were you able to have the articling placement approved by the LSO, and did you also have to register with the LSBC or complete PREP?

Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has actually done this or dealt with both law societies.

Just wondering other lawyers thoughts with now this IPV tort anyone can add to a family law case (mine included) where the unjust enrichment and loco parentis original ask isn’t fairing well for opposing council because their case is slim and now using this tort as leverage in an “offer to settle” .. so going forward is adding this tort with a motion judge an easy task ? Or will it cost them thousands and time to do so?? Can anyone do this ? Because this would be the only hurdle when it comes time for trial in evidence gathering and time and money wasting

I’m an articling student in the M&A group of my firm. I’m basically stuck here for 10 months - my firm has a small but robust Data Privacy and Cybersecurity group that I really wanted to be a part of, but demand for that group was too high and I wasn’t placed in it, and unfortunately it doesn’t seem like I will get a rotation in it before my articles are up…meaning I also won’t get hired back into the group.

I have my CIPP/C designation and have been casually looking for junior positions in privacy and Cybersecurity just to see (I’m obviously still an article student and a long way from applying)…but there honestly aren’t that many jobs and the ones that are out there require two or more years of experience.

So what do I do? Am I locked out of data privacy Biglaw forever???

I’m so frustrated because I feel stuck and I’m not even a lawyer yet. All because of bad luck and a stupid arbitrary rotational system.

As the title implies, I’ve literally come to my wits end yet I don’t want to give up; almost 70 cold emails and personally delivering applications to law firms within, outside of Calgary and rural Alberta yet still nothing positive.

If there’s anyone who has any leads or ready to give me a chance, I would be eternally grateful. And I promise you will not regret this.
I am willing to relocate anywhere to kickstart my career path in Alberta.

As an ITL, I will not discriminate any specialty or remuneration as my priority is to build on my experience with any area that will expose me to the Alberta legal practice.

Kindly help me out. Thank you