The organization will reassess the program before placing new students
The Law Society of Alberta has announced that it is freezing placements for students under its Articling Placement Program (APP) until further notice.
While the legal regulator will still source placements for currently eligible students, it will not place new students until it has reassessed the program based on feedback from APP students, firms and organizations that were part of the program, staff, and the Law Society’s diversity and inclusion and executive committees.
According to the Law Society, lengthy waiting times for placements was a concern raised by past and present APP students; thus, it opted to pause placements instead of “making promises of placements that we cannot fill,” the Law Society said in a statement.
The APP was piloted in February 2022 to help articling students experiencing harassment or discrimination to leave unsafe or untenable articling positions and transfer to a different firm or organization. However, the Law Society said that over the previous year, APP placements have been “increasingly difficult”; firms and organizations registered with the program cited inopportune timing, budget considerations, and issues with the existing APP model as reasons why they could not accommodate APP students.
“Some students have waited many months for a placement while others are still waiting. This is causing additional distress to those already in untenable situations,” the Law Society said in a statement. “We have heard from APP students that the lengthy and uncertain wait for a new articling placement contributes to extended unemployment, financial hardship and doubt about their future in the legal profession. Some are choosing to remain in harmful articles because they simply have no other options, which is what the APP was intended to provide.”
The organization confirmed that it would still support students in other ways. It urged articling students experiencing harassment and discrimination to reach out to the Law Society’s equity ombudsperson. It also recommended contacting the Alberta Lawyers’ Assistance Society or emergency services for counseling and emergency support.
Firms or organizations looking to help articling students depart untenable articles were also urged to contact the Law Society.
