by David Eby

$19,850 is not just the down payment for a decent first apartment, it is also one year’s tuition at the University of Toronto Law School. Beyond that, $19,850 is also a number that is reducing access to justice across Canada.

Since 1999, the University of Toronto Law School has led the charge in escalating law tuitions, a growing trend that is now undermining law schools’ long history of turning out graduates able to practise law on behalf of low-income groups or address the public interest issues of the day.

“Many law grads that have long histories volunteering with Pivot face a major financial hurdle in joining our practice,” says John Richardson, Executive Director of Pivot Legal Society in Vancouver, a non-profit organization that serves Vancouver’s poorest neighbourhood. “Lots of them, even years after graduation, have to turn down positions with us due to continuing student debt obligations.”

It would be incorrect to suggest that U of T alone is failing to turn-out law grads financially able to provide legal services to low-income groups, or who can address public interest issues like the environment. In fact, with an innovative back-end debt relief program for those working in access-to-justice related careers after graduation, U of T is actively addressing the issue; many law schools across Canada don’t have comparable programs, but do have comparable tuitions.

For the 2005/2006 academic year, law school tuitions across Canada averaged $6,722, before mandatory fees which routinely run more than $1,000 per year. This average includes much lower-cost Quebec law school tuition fees that run about a third the cost of other provinces’ tuitions. A 2004 study showed 40 per cent of law students currently graduate with at least $40,000 in debt. Thirteen per cent graduate with at least $70,000 in debt.

While a recent University of Toronto study found that access to law school by groups defined by gender and race remains consistent despite rising tuition, over the 4-year study period graduates from all law schools in Ontario, including U of T, became more likely to article in large firms. The study also showed a decline in the proportion of graduates working in non-firm settings for Ontario, but was unable to study the effect of rising tuitions on access to public interest or legal aid career choices.

Richardson says that he doesn’t need a study to tell him that grads struggling with significant debt loads have difficulty taking public interest jobs; he hears it often enough to know it’s a major factor. “It’s something we’re really trying to find innovative ways around,” says Richardson. “We want people that come from the communities we’re serving to be able to practise with Pivot. That’s our goal.”

Richardson adds that Pivot is searching for ways to deal with the barrier, examining options for everything from subsidized housing for staff, to seeking dedicated funding to help employees pay down loans. For now, however, law grads struggling with debt will continue to have difficulty taking lower paying jobs that place an emphasis on providing access to justice.

David Eby is a lawyer practising with Pivot Legal Society in Vancouver.

This article was published in the April 2008 issue of BarTalk. © 2008 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.