THE hot economy and heightened competition for skilled workers have spilled over into the legal sector, prompting local firms to sweeten their offers to articling students to keep them from greener pastures in Calgary and Toronto.
The growing battle for home-grown talent is likely to put further pressure on the pay scale at Legal Aid Manitoba, which has been facing a critical shortage of lawyers to handle criminal and family-law cases for the province's poorest people. Dave Hill, managing partner of Hill Dewar Vincent, said while local firms might have been successful in recent years offering articling students an annual salary in the mid-$30,000 range, aggressive recruiting from national players is pushing the wage scale up.
Stefanson said firms in Calgary and Toronto are taking an longer look at University of Manitoba law students.
"I've always thought articling students should be paid more than support staff. Now it's even more important to pay (articling students) more because they're not as likely to stay in Winnipeg if they've got another offer from a Calgary or Toronto firm at $65,000 or $70,000," Hill said.
He said Winnipeg-based firms that can afford to pay higher salaries can be more competitive on a national level.
"It should be something in the range of $50,000," he said.
Grant Stefanson, one of the managing partners at D'Arcy & Deacon LLP, agreed that salaries are heading upward, but not quite that high. He said firms in Calgary and Toronto are taking an increasingly long look at University of Manitoba law students.
"That's traditionally our fishing pond. That's heightened the competition for (U of M) graduates, especially for students who have done really well and are really good candidates," he said.
He said most large Winnipeg law firms are paying articling students between $35,000 and $37,000.
"I could see it pushing $40,000 if the trend continues, but I don't see it going much beyond that. We are losing some great candidates (to Calgary and Toronto), but there are still people looking for jobs in Winnipeg."
Stefanson said articling student salaries have come up several thousand dollars in the past 12 months, but they'll never compete with what firms in the larger centres pay.
"We have a much more attractive cost of living and lifestyle in Winnipeg. There's a bit of a trade-off. You can make more money elsewhere, but you'll have higher expectations of billable hours, house prices that are out of reach, and commuting," he said.
Allan Fineblit, CEO of the Law Society of Manitoba, said when the general economy is booming, the legal one tends to follow suit. The amount of legal work to be done has increased and firms across the country have been in hiring mode.
"It's generally a good time to be looking for opportunities, that includes articling students. It's not such a great time to be trying to hire somebody. (The market) tends to have peaks and valleys and we're unquestionably at a peak," he said.
Mark Adkins, a partner at Toronto-based Blakes Cassels & Graydon LLP's securities group, was in Winnipeg on a recruiting mission in October. He volunteered for the job because he grew up in Winnipeg and graduated from the University of Manitoba's law school in 1999. He's now working at the firm's New York office.
"I like to tell the students what the jobs are like and what it means to work at a large Toronto firm and the kind of work we do," he said.
Blakes, a firm specializing in corporate commercial cases, typically hires 30 to 40 summer students a year. Many of them end up being hired as articling students the following year, he said. Adkins said his recruitment trip to Winnipeg yielded one hire from the U of M.
"I think that there are good people everywhere you go. It's a matter of finding those with the most promise. There are excellent candidates coming out of the U of M. The ones I've met from there have excelled (at Blakes)," he said.
Adkins says a typical articling student earns about $70,000 annually in Toronto. Those who do a good job will likely be hired on by the firm as an associate lawyer, a position that comes with a $20,000 raise and the chance for a bonus.
geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.cas
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