Graduates barred from practicing law

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Some Mi'kmaq law graduates from Dalhousie University in Halifax say they want to become lawyers. But they can't find articling positions.

After law school, graduates must article - do a work placement that teaches legal skills - at a law firm for 12 months. Once they've finished articling and are called to the bar they can work as lawyers.

Cathy Benton, who graduated from Dalhousie Law School in 1993, said even though she applied to law firms in two provinces, finding an articling position was tough. "I tried both in Nova Scotia and (Prince Edward Island) and I couldn't find one," said Benton.

Benton said she was very lucky when Nova Scotia Legal Aid's Halifax office offered her a volunteer articling clerk position - just one day before she was supposed to start articling.

Like Benton, Krista Brooks, another 1993 Dalhousie law graduate, said it was difficult landing articling work.

"I applied for 108 jobs in Nova Scotia and some in Ontario," said Brooks. "I applied to almost every single law firm in Nova Scotia."

Eight interviews and several applications later, Brooks found an articling position with the Sydney office of Nova Scotia Legal Aid.

Jennifer Cox, who graduated from Dalhousie Law School this year, said she applied in Truro and Halifax but most firms weren't interested. Cox eventually found an articling clerk position with the Truro office of Nova Scotia Legal Aid.

The recession was just one of a number of reasons Benton said she was refused articling positions. Some firms told Benton they felt her knowledge of Aboriginal law wouldn't be an asset.

And Benton said other firms informed her that she didn't qualify for positions because she wasn't part of the Indigenous Blacks and Micmacs program, a special law program at Dalhousie that aims to make law school more accessible Nova Scotia Blacks and Mi'kmaqs. Benton wasn't eligible for the program because she comes from Prince Edward Island.

Brooks, an IBM graduate, said most law firms told her they couldn't afford to hire her or that they'd already hired someone else.

But Cox, also an IBM graduate, said that in interviews law firm employers gave her the impression they wouldn't hire her because they don't think Native lawyers can bring in enough business or their firms.

IBM Program Director Carol Aylward said all students are having trouble finding articling positions but Mi'kmaq students face additional problems - including systematic discrimination.

"Mi'kmaq and minority students are facing a double barrier," said Aylward. "Economic and other excuses, and they're facing discrimination as well."

Both Cox and Benton said articling hasn't paid well. Cox says she makes only $500 a month at her current articling position. And as a volunteer articling clerk last year, Benton wasn't paid. Fortunately, Benton says, a number of Native organizations rescued her by hiring her to write a study on how the legal aid system services Nova Scotia Mi'maqs.

Since the IBM program began in 1989, 10 Mi'kmaq students have graduated. Only one person has been called to the bar to date but this summer four more Mi'kmaq, including Benton and Brooks, will become lawyers.

Aylward said articling is only one barrier for Mi'kmaq and other minority law graduates. While law firms traditionally hire graduates who have articled for them, this doesn't always happen.

Aylward said governments, law societies and the private bar should make sure Aboriginal lawyers get articling positions and are hired.

Benton and Brooks have both completed their articling. Nova Scotia Legal Aid has hired Benton on a seven-month contract, while Brooks is unemployed.

Brooks said she won't let unemployment deter her from her dream of working with the Native community. She said Native lawyers are important because Aboriginal people feel more comfortable dealing with Native lawyers than with non-Native lawyers who don't always understand them.

And Benton said Aboriginal people need Native lawyers ecause the justice system is not very good to them.

"I think it's important to establish an Aboriginal justice network. I think it's important we have Native lawyers right now," she said.