Illustration: Huan Tran

Ontario’s articling crisis is no secret. Statistics show 15 per cent of applicants were unable to get an articling position in 2012, and that number is expected to rise. Some blame the law schools, others point at law firms, but there isn’t any one reason for this problem. More applicants than ever are seeking entry to the legal profession, including those who have studied abroad — possibly because they couldn’t get a spot in a Canadian law school — and fewer law firms are offering articling positions as a result of the recent economic downturn.

Social media is everywhere.

Articling student Casey Barnett, left, and RBC General Counsel Group's Lucille D'Souza. Photo: Heather Gardiner

Lucille D’Souza, senior counsel in the RBC General Counsel Group & co-chairwoman of RBC’s diversity committee, talks to 4Students assistant editor Heather Gardiner about the company’s aboriginal articling program.

Dan Griffin Photo: Kaleigh Tait

Balance. Discipline. Leadership. Advocacy. Empathy. Focus. These are the values and skills Dan Griffin has been learning at the University of Windsor Faculty of Law. They also form a big part of his former life as a rock star in the making.

Illustration: Paul Dotey

The on-campus interview process could very well be the most stressful event in a law student’s life. So much time and preparation goes into it, and no matter how ready you think you are, sometimes you can never be prepared for the curve balls an interviewer might throw at you. 4Students asked law students, lawyers, and other members of the legal profession what was the weirdest question they had ever been asked in an interview with a law firm. Here are the most bizarre — some are quite shocking — questions we received:

When he was a student a decade ago at the law school where he now teaches, Dalhousie assistant professor Graham Reynolds says his favourite place to study was the library at Dal-affiliated King’s College. “I loved the big tables and the natural light there,” he recalls in a recent phone interview from his campus office in Halifax. “And sometimes it was fun to be around other people.”

Practising in Regina, elder law, in southern Ontario, arbitration

Robert Watkins is a first-year student at Osgoode Hall Law School. He painted After school in 2005 while he was studying Chinese folk art at the Jinshan Peasant Painting Academy in Shanghai, China. He spent two months at the academy and learned the basics of Jinshan folk art, which is a distinctive style of Chinese folk painting. Before travelling to Shanghai, Watkins spent six months studying traditional Chinese painting at Wenzhou University. Shortly after returning to Canada in 2006, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in humanities from Carleton University and enrolled in law school last year. Watkins continues to produce art and is working towards having his own exhibition in Toronto.

At the beginning of February, the Law Society of Upper Canada put out its request for proposals for its new law practice program pilot project. In November, the LSUC had approved the LPP as a licensing scheme both parallel and alternative to the current articling system. For now the program is a trial but will probably include a four-month teaching section followed by a four-month co-op. Much has been made about whether the co-op will be paid; the RFP notes it would prefer if the provider set up paid co-ops, particularly in underserviced areas, but payment is not mandatory.