🚀 go-pugleaf

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
eye WEEKLY                                          September 19, 1996
Toronto's arts newspaper                      .....free every Thursday
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EYE ON                                                          EYE ON

                    HOW MANY LAWYERS DOES IT TAKE?

                                  by
                         PETER KUITENBROUWER

Rocco Galati is a curly-head barrister and solicitor with a loud voice 
who shares space with other self-employed lawyers on University Ave. 
near Dundas St. W. Paper and files in stacks two or three feet high 
rise from his worn wooden desk and from the filing cabinets behind 
him. Clearly Rocco has become expert at stacking files; the towers of 
paper appear very stable.

Chit-chatting, Rocco and I realize we both graduated with B.A.s from 
McGill University in June, 1984. So of course we're sizing each other 
up: I'm thinking "Geez, he's done OK, lawyer with his own practice on 
University Ave." Rocco, meanwhile, is envying me.

"When I got out of McGill in English Lit. I applied to all the 
journalism schools, but none would let me in. All the law schools 
accepted me though," says Rocco, 37, sucking on a styrofoam Second 
Cup. Now, he says, he's gained weight, he's overworked, and he's not 
making money: with all the overhead, he clears maybe 16 or 17 cents on 
every dollar he bills. Recently he's begun writing a legal affairs 
column in Our Toronto, and dreaming of walking away from it all to 
take the plunge into journalism. "You wouldn't believe how many 
lawyers are quitting," he says.

For the 1,100 new students in this province blithely skipping into law 
school this month, I offer these words of caution: Law is a lousy 
profession in Ontario these days.

* The province has slashed funding for legal aid by more than half, 
taking away a large share of lawyers' income. In 1991-92 the Law 
Society of Upper Canada issued 230,000 legal aid certificates. This 
year it can issue only 100,000.

* Law firms, even the Big Firms, aren't hiring the way they used to.

* Lawyers who choose private practice are required to shell out about 
$7,500 a year to the Law Society in fees and insurance premiums 
(that's three times what it costs in Quebec, twice what it costs in 
B.C.) before they can print up business cards. From a 1990 base 
premium of $1,544 a year plus tax, Ontario lawyers' insurance has 
jumped by about $1,000 a year, settling at $5,600 in 1995 and dropping 
a bit to $5,160 this year. And banks won't offer new lawyers unsecured 
lines of credit like they did when Rocco started.

                        BYE-BYE MIDDLE GROUND

It's hard to know how many lawyers end up jobless. Working with the 
Law Society's antiquated computers, which take overnight to spit out 
the numbers, Kelly Swinney provided these figures: in the 12 months to 
July 31, 1996, the Law Society suspended 2,252 lawyers for non-payment 
of fees. Meanwhile, last year 1,087 new lawyers were called to the 
bar, down slightly from 1,131 in 1991.

Writing in the Law Times, Law Society bencher Gavin MacKenzie notes 
that membership has mushroomed, from 7,610 lawyers in 1971 to 26,428 
in 1996. He warns, "We need only cast our eyes south to see the 
adverse effects on a society in which lawyers create the demand for 
their own work."

So lots of lawyers are in trouble. Before cheering the divine justice 
of it all, think of what it means. Increasingly, only those who live 
on the Bridle Path or in a garbage dumpster can afford a lawyer.

"We are moving towards an increasingly stratified legal profession," 
says Marilyn Pilkington, dean of Osgoode Hall Law School. "Some 
lawyers are making very high incomes serving corporate clients, and 
limit their practices to those areas that are most remunerative, while 
lower-income clients are concentrating their demand on lawyers that 
don't have those remunerative clients. All kinds of people need legal 
services and don't have access to them, and there's an oversupply of 
lawyers.

"How many low-income people walk into the law offices on the 27th 
floor of one of the Big Firms downtown," the dean asks me, "and ask to 
see a lawyer? They don't."

Pilkington says a growing number of law school graduates don't 
actually seek to practise law. "They use their legal education more 
broadly. There's much more movement in the legal profession. People 
are leaving practice and pursuing other paths. Law is a very good 
preparation for all sorts of career paths."

So go ahead and switch careers, Rocco -- you're in good company. But 
that could create a new and perhaps more scary problem: a surfeit of 
journalists.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Retransmit freely in cyberspace        Author holds standard copyright
http://www.eye.net                              Mailing list available
eye@eye.net          "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..."     416-971-8421