ABSTRACT
Mitchell, 2012), only time will tell whether either the worsened job prospects of law
graduates or the apparent decline in interest in attending law school represents more
than temporary phenomena.
What about other countries? As discussed above, demand for the JD programs in
Japan has clearly dropped as it has become evident that the prospects of success on the
new bar exam continue to be dim, even if they are not anywhere near as dim as was the
case under the old system. In Ontario (the only province of Canada for which I have
been able to find data for more than a few years), the number of applicants has, with
the exception of one year, risen steadily over the last decade.18 The last year has seen
some discussion of an ‘articling crisis’ which refers to the problem of a small portion
(12 percent in 2011) of law graduates being unable to secure 10-month positions as
articled clerks which is a requirement to qualify for practice (Gray, 2011); in part
this probably reflects that the number seeking such positions increased 25 percent
between 2006 and 2010 (McKiernan, 2011). In England it has long been the case
that a significant number of those completing the legal practice course (LPC),
which is the one-year post-LLB course required for those hoping to enter practice
as solicitors, have encountered difficulties in securing traineeship positions; those dif-
ficulties appear to be increasing. In part this reflects that there are manymore places in
the LPC (14,482) and many more students enrolled in the course (9,337 in 2010)
than there are available training contracts (5,809 in 2010). Moreover, the government
cut funding that provided positions for 750 traineeships for potential legal aid solici-
tors (Rose, 2010). It is important to note that the hunt for training contracts does not
end if one is not secured the first year; this means that the number actually seeking
such contracts is considerably greater than the number successfully completing the
LPC each year (Nair, 2011). On the barristers’ side of the profession, the number
of pupilages declined by about 20 percent between 2007-2008 and 2010-2011
(Solicitors Journal, 2012).
