No Free Work

RavenLaw supports liveable wages for all employees, including articling students. As employees, articling students are entitled to compensation for the valuable work they perform in law firms, organizations, and public employers across Ontario. We have written to the LSO Benchers to express our firm’s position that articling students should be provided with a liveable wage for their work and, in the alternative, no less than the bare minimum pay outlined in the Employment Standards Act. A copy of our firm’s letter is available here.

We also endorse the positions of many others calling for the protection of minimum wage for articling students by the Law Society of Ontario (“LSO”) from the following organizations and firms:

• CUPE Local 1281
• Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers
• Goldblatt Partners
• The Canadian Association for Legal Ethics
• Durant Barristers (supported by 57 signatory firms)
• Peter Wardle of Singleton Urquhard Reynolds Vogel LLP
• Alexander Overton
• Law Students’ Society of Ontario
• Federation of Ontario Law Associations

We recognize the precarious and vulnerable position of articling students. As such, regardless of the outcome of the LSO’s consultations on the issue of minimum compensation, RavenLaw LLP will be supporting articling students seeking to organize their workplace, pro bono. We invite articling students interested in unionizing to contact us at info@ravenlaw.com