After years-long debate, articling students must be paid at least $620/week
The long-running debate about a mandatory minimum wage for articling students has finally come to an end. Following years of reviews and postponements since the 2018 approval of a mandatory minimum wage for Ontario articling students, which was set to come into effect in May 2021, the Law Society of Ontario’s (LSO) Convocation approved a mandatory minimum wage for lawyer licensing candidates in Ontario of $620 per week on October 27.
A 2021 report from the Professional Development and Competence Committee on Experiential Training Enhancements stated that approximately 10 to 15 percent of articling placements are unpaid or paid below minimum wage, amounting to about 130 to 150 placements in Ontario. The report further stated that inadequate remuneration for articling students could create exploitative work arrangements.
With the articling program being one pathway to obtain the required experiential training in order to be licensed to practice law in Ontario, unpaid or underpaid positions could present unfair barriers to economically disadvantaged candidates entering the legal profession, especially with mounting costs of law school tuition and student debt. The mandatory minimum wage for articling students aims to resolve this issue.
However, on the other side of the debate, there are law firms and clinics that are not able to afford articling student salaries. These smaller firms may have to forgo the hiring of articling students now completely, in turn reducing the number of available articling positions and making for an even more competitive job market.
Law Society benchers and members of the profession are left divided on the outcome. Some wonder when the intervention from the LSO will stop, or if this will lead to a “slippery slope” of regulating lawyers’ income. Others welcome this mandate as a change that was long-overdue.
