Articling < Admission Information < Law Society of New Brunswick Website

For 2009 – 2010 you must complete the Bar Admission Course in the following order: August, November, February and May. If you miss one of these blocks you will have to complete the new BAC (2010-2011) entirely and you will not be given credit for any part of the old course you may have taken.

Principals: Specific disclosure requirements are imposed on principals pertaining to errors and omissions, practice review, professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming experience. Principals are required to file a Statement of Qualifications with the Articling Committee. The Articling Committee retains the discretion to accept a member as Principal.

Associate Principals: If a principal cannot satisfy minimum requirements under the approved Education Plan, a student-at-law must be referred to an associate principal who will also be required to file a Statement of Qualifications.

Substantive Coverage of Articles: Students-at-law and principals will together prepare and file an Education Plan. The Education Plan provides that the student-at-law will obtain a working knowledge in at least 4 of 8 basic practice areas and reasonable skills in at least 8 of 13 skills areas with instruction in Professional Conduct and Legal Ethics being mandatory.

Articling Assessments: Students-at-law and principals must jointly assess the Student’s performance in conjunction with the Education Plan. This must be completed 6 months following the commencement of Articles. In this way, if compliance with the Education Plan is lacking, remedial steps may be taken well before the end of the Articling period.
Prior to admission, principals and students-at-law are required to file a Confidential Articles Evaluation.

Flexible Articles: Upon the recommendation of the Articling Committee, in 1994 the Bar Admission Course Committee adopted the policy of permitting admission to the Bar Admission Course at any Block of the Course provided that the student-at-law has completed at least 6 weeks of Articles prior to the Block of the Course the Student-at-law proposes to commence.

Becoming oriented to practice

Articling provides a number of opportunities for you to learn about how to practise law effectively and efficiently. As no doubt you will already have found, the practice of law is both complex and complicated.

Unless you have previously worked in a law office, you may find office procedures, management systems, the operation of legal institutions and the handling of legal matters to be both perplexing and confusing. The most widespread feelings are frustration, disorientation and incompetence. If you feel this way, rest assured that you are in good company.

These feelings will dissipate over time once you become more comfortable, more self-confident and more secure in your working environment. You will probably find it helpful to discuss your feelings and experiences with other students, sympathetic members of your firm or with the Law Society personnel.

Often, I expect you will find yourself "stuck", not knowing what to do or how to do it. Almost invariably, someone else has done the same or similar thing before. In most offices, it will not be difficult to locate a file, sample documents, memoranda, and so on. In some instances, you may find it necessary to go to the Court Registry or other government official for precedents and assistance. Your Bar Admission Course program materials will often provide approaches and solutions. In addition, the Society operates regional libraries, in addition to the main library in Fredericton. The librarian in Fredericton and the custodian in the regionals are there to help you. In short, talk to others, locate sample and precedent materials and take advantage of practice publications by the Continuing Legal Education Committee and commercial publishers. Try to develop the habit of doing difficult things first. The more you put them off, the harder they seem to get.