2024 Articling Survey Cross-Jurisdictional Report
In 2024, the Law Societies of Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society surveyed articling students and new lawyers as well as principals, mentors and recruiters. These surveys were a follow-up to the 2019 articling surveys to see if or how the articling system has changed, and what areas still need work.
Each province received a 2024 articling survey report of their findings, which are available on the respective websites (view Alberta’s report). An analysis of the data across the jurisdictions has now been completed to produce a cross-jurisdictional report.
Alberta-Specific Findings
When looking at the cross-jurisdictional report findings specific to Alberta it is important to note that Alberta accounted for 36 per cent of the total sample of student/new lawyer respondents across the participating provinces.
The cross-jurisdictional report once again looked at areas including training and mentorship, discrimination and harassment, as well as workload and compensation. The Alberta-specific findings are below:
Training and Mentorship
- Alberta student/new lawyer respondents reported notably higher confidence in training in most competencies, including ethics and professionalism, substantive legal knowledge and practice management.
- Alberta student/new lawyer respondents also demonstrated an upward skew in citing on-going learning sessions (i.e., mentorship, professional development, etc.) as one of the most positive aspects of the articling experience.
- Alberta principal, recruiter and mentor respondents were less likely to cite lack of training and lack of clarity of what’s required of them as challenges, compared to all those surveyed across participating provinces.
Compensation and Workload
- Student/new lawyer respondents from Alberta reported notably higher compensation and satisfaction with their pay versus all other participating provinces.
Discrimination and Harassment
- The report shows that experiences of discrimination and/or harassment during articling are on par with all provinces, but there is a stronger perception that relevant resources are available for student/new lawyer respondents from Alberta.
Next Steps
The cross-jurisdictional report offers valuable insights and identifies similar themes across the jurisdictions. This will allow the provinces to seek opportunities for collaboration on next steps as we continue our work to enhance the articling experience and entry level practice.
The full 2024 Alberta survey report and the cross-jurisdictional report are available on our website. Questions about the reports can be submitted to feedback@lawsociety.ab.ca.