Law students subject to price hike

by Alice Hewitt

For law students in Canada taking the bar exam is the result of three years of hard work.

But it now comes at a large price.

The Law Society of Upper Canada recently announced a fee increase that would see the cost of the bar exam and the articling required along with it to almost double in price. Articling is the the equivalent of an internship for law students.

The cost has been raised in order to pay for a new program catering to the shortage of articling positions in law firms.

Graduating law students are currently expected to engage in articling for a period of ten months. The new program would give students four months of education online and in the classroom before placing them in a law firm to work under a practicing lawyer for another four months.

Philip Cumbo is the president of the University of Windsor Students’ Law Society. As a third year student, he will be taking the bar exam later this year. Cumbo said the student reaction to the new fee was “profound”.

“A lot of students were very shocked to have the fee levied on them with such a close turn around,” said Cumbo. “A lot of students had planned and saved for the fee but didn’t plan for it to be so much.”

Last year, law students were charged $2,700 for articling and to sit the exam. With the new fee in place, graduating students will be expected to pay over $5,000 either in full or through installments, by early April.

However it’s not completely up to students to foot the bill. Practicing lawyers will also have to pay towards the fee.

“The way the fee was levied, is the cost was downloaded to students, so that means that the students are paying about $3,000 to fund this program,” said Cumbo. “Whereas practicing lawyers their fees only went up between $15-$25.”

In response to the LSUC’s decision to raise the fee, University of Windsor students have created an online petition called “The Law Union of Ontario” which they plan to give to the LSUC.

According to The Law Union of Ontario website, the union is a coalition of more than 200 progressive lawyers, law students and legal workers and has several active chapters in a number of law schools.

“The Law Union provides for an alternative bar in Ontario which seeks to counter the traditional protections afforded by the legal system to social, political and economic privilege,” the website states. “By demystifying legal procedures, attacking discriminatory and oppressive legislation, arguing progressive new applications of the law and democratizing legal practice, the Law Union strives to develop collective approaches to bring about social justice.”

In the U.S. graduating students aren’t required to article, but Cumbo says he doesn’t think the increased cost will convince students to choose to study across the border instead. He also says he thinks it’s primarily a personal choice for each student.

Cumbo said he wants to make it clear law students don’t expect to have their way paid for them.

“We just expect the sharing of the cost to be equitable amongst all of its members and defraying the cost by even a $1,000 or $2,000 makes a huge difference to law students.”