Court clarifies role of articling student

As you know, a law degree does not make you a lawyer. After articling you must complete the bar admission course in the province in which you wish to practise. A major component of the bar admission course is the articling process. Articling is a period where you will work as an apprentice lawyer. What are articling students allowed to do? The following article from Law Times is an interesting discussion of this issue.

"By Robert Todd | Publication Date: Monday, 18 August 2008
An Ontario judge’s refusal to allow an articling student to represent an accused at trial has prompted the Superior Court to take the apparently unprecedented step of clarifying just what a student-at-law can do.

Justice Kenneth Langdon stayed impaired driving charges against a man after ruling one trial judge showed an apprehension of bias by refusing to hear arguments on a constitutional issue, and another judge erred by refusing to allow representation by an articling student.

The judge decided to stay the charges against Aaron Moran, even though Moran did not contest the Crown’s allegations, ruling an institutional delay of 15 months would be excessive."

To read the complete article click below.

http://www.lawtimesnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4209&Itemid=82

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