A Role for Law Students in the Administration
of Justice in Quebec
Chris Nation*
Introduction
Much has been written over the past few years in praise of
student legal aid clinics. Those concerned with making legal services
more available to the poor have seen the student clinic as a means
to that end. Others, concerned with the lack of practical content in
today’s law school curriculum, have seen the clinical experience as
a counterweight to the academic programme. And more recently,
those involved in the provincial legal aid schemes have sought to
use the student clinic to fill the gaps and absorb some of the
spillover from their larger plans.
In Quebec today, student clinics are operating at each of the
province’s five law schools. The clinics vary from school to school
(particularly with respect to the degree of supervision of the
students by lawyers) but generally much of the practice undertaken
by students is unauthorized given a strict interpretation of the
Bar Act.’ A recent amendment to the Bar Act 2 and a provision of
the Legal Aid Act 3 have entrusted the Bar and the Legal Aid
Commissioner with the responsibility of defining the capacity of
students to practise law. To date, no regulations have been passed
by either body, and from conversations which I had with various
Bar officials, none appear to be on the horizon. Until such time as
these regulations are made, our clinics will continue to operate with
little legal authority behind them.
In the light of this situation, two questions present themselves:
Firstly, what is the present capacity of students to practise law
and secondly, what type of statutory formula could best provide for
the needs of both the legal aid system and the law schools.
* Articling student with Jones, Branson, Emery & Cafra, Victoria, British
Columbia.
1S.Q. 1966-67, c.77, s.128 as am. by S.Q. 1973, cA4, s.72.
2 S.Q. 1973, c.44, s.8(d).
3 S.Q. 1972, c.14, s.80(f).
1976]
LAW STUDENTS AND JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION
469
1. Statutory limitations on law students’ ability to practise
Under section 128(1) of the Bar Act 4 only the practising ad-
vocate or solicitor may give legal advice or prepare and draw up
certain documents, such as a notice or motion, intended for use
in a court case. The competence of a student (or any other non-
lawyer) to act for a client on his own mandate is established and
defined in subsection 2(a) of section 128 and section 129:
s.128(2) The following acts, performed for others, shall be the exclusive
prerogative of the advocate, and not of the solicitor:
(a) to plead or act before any tribunal, except before:
(1) …
(2) A conciliation officer or a council of arbitration; and
(3) An investigator … or the Labour Court…
(b) to prepare and draw up a will…
(e) to make collections or make any claim with costs or to imply
that judicial proceedings will be taken.
None of the provisions of s.128 shall limit or restrict:
s.129
(b) the rights specifically defined and granted to any person by
any public or private law.5
Section 128(2) (a) allows non-lawyers to act before the designated
tribunals and section 129 would have the effect of authorizing
student practice before those tribunals which specifically permitted
appearances by non-lawyers.
(a) Administrative tribunals
The rules of procedure used in administrative tribunals are
generally of a more flexible nature than those in force in the courts.
The administrators or arbitrators take an active role in the conduct
of the hearing and it is common practice for the parties to appear
without counsel. Parties are also frequently represented by para-
professionals or specialists in the subject matter of the particular
tribunal and the lawyer will usually only be necessary when the case
raises a fairly complicated legal issue. In the Rapport du Groupe
de Travail sur les Tribunaux Administratifs one of the recommended
uniform rules of procedure before the tribunals was that:
Toute partie touch6e doit pouvoir se faire repr6senter par un conseil,
c’est-b-dire une personne comp6tente, et pas n6cessairement un membre
du Barreau, et il pourrait 8tre dans l’intdr~t des justiciables de se faire
representer par un sp~cialiste non-juriste.6
4 S.Q. 1966-67, c.77 as am. by S.Q. 1972, c.44, s.72.
5Ibid.
1 Groupe de Travail sur les Tribunaux Administratifs, Rapport, Qu6bec:
Minist~re de la Justice (1971), 162.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 22
Given the volume of cases heard by the various tribunals, 7 re-
presentation for all parties by specialists and lawyers is undoubtedly
beyond the present capacity of those groups. In certain cases, as
well, a party may need representation but not necessarily the highly
skilled representation which the lawyer or specialist would provide.
In such circumstances, the law student could make a useful con-
tribution by appearing on behalf of a party.
Although there are many tribunals which would theoretically
fall within the exceptions of sections 128 and 129 of the Bar Act,8
I will consider below those in which student involvement would be
both useful and practicable.
Subsection (2)(a)(2) of section 128 of the Bar Act refers to
“a conciliation officer or a council of arbitration”. Although the
words “conciliation” or “arbitration” are not defined in the Act
their meaning is clear: it is the procedure whereby two parties
submit their grievances to a third who is entrusted to settle the
dispute according to a certain set of agreed upon rules. The two
foremost examples of this type of tribunal in Quebec are the
Workmen’s Compensation Board9 and the Rental Board, originally
established under An Act respecting the regulation of rentals0
(now An Act to prolong and amend the Act to Promote Con-
ciliation Between Lessees and Property-Owners).”1 Neither board
has established procedures to be followed in their hearings, but it
appears that a practice has developed before both boards of allowing
parties to be represented by both lawyers and non-lawyers. 2
Under section 129(b) of the Bar Act, law students would be
permitted to represent parties who were claiming before an ad-
ministrative tribunal which permitted parties to be represented by
non-lawyers in their regulations. Statutory regulations are public
laws within the meaning of the subsection and the right to choose
to be represented by an agent is a right “specifically defined and
granted to any person”.
There are four tribunals in particular, two federal and two
provincial, whose regulations should permit law students to appear
7 See ibid., for figures.
8 Supra, note 4.
9 Workmen’s Compensation Act, R.S.Q. 1964, c.159.
I’ S.Q. 1950-51, c.20.
11 S.Q. 1975, c.84.
12 See J.P. Bergeron, “The Quebec Rentals Board”, and M. Lacoste, “The
Workmen’s Compensation Commission” in W.C.J. Meredith Memorial Lectures,
Eleven Lectures on Administrative Boards and Commission (1961) at pp. 60, 64.
1976]
LAW STUDENTS AND JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION
471
on behalf of a client: the Unemployment Insurance Commission, 3
the Immigration Appeal Board,’14 the Quebec Pensions Appeal Board 5
and its Review Commission.->
Under the federal Unemployment Insurance Act,17 a claimant may
appeal a decision of the commission to a Board of Referees, and then
under certain circumstances appeal the Board’s decision to an
Umpire. 19 The right of a claimant to be represented by a non-lawyer
in his appeal is contained in rule 4(2) of the Umpire Rules of Pro-
cedure,20 under the heading “Commencement of Appeal”:
A Notice of Appeal shall contain:
the name and address of the appellant’s solicitor, if any; and
the name and address of the appellant’s agent, if any.
d)
e)
The federal Immigration Act 2′ allows a person to appeal a decision
of the Special Inquiry Officer 22 and be represented by counsel,,
Under rule 2(b) of the Immigration Appeal Board Rules, “counsel”
is defined as:
[A]ny person authorized by the appellant or respondent to represent him
before the Board, and is not restricted to barristers, solicitors or advocates.
‘3 Unemployment Insurance Act, R.S.C. 1970, c.U-2.
14 Immigration Appeal Board Act, R.S.C. 1970, c.I-3.
15 Quebec Pension Plan, S.Q. 1965, c.24.
16 Ibid.
17 R.S.C. 1970, c.U-2.
18 Ibid., s.70.
10 Ibid., s.30.
20 Umpire Rules of Procedure, P.C. 1974-2333 of 22 Oct. 1974, S.O.R. 74-602,
s.4(2)d, Can. Gaz., Part II, vol.108, no21, 2826, 13 Nov. 1974. In practice
claimants are quite frequently represented before the Board and Umpire
by non-lawyer specialists in unemployment insurance law. One such group
of specialists, the Mouvement d’Action-ch6mage, a Montreal charity-funded
organization, takes on students from law and other faculties at the Universit6
du Quebec at Montreal to help them with their projects.
21 R.S.C. 1970, c.I-2.
22 Ibid., s.31(1).
23 Ibid., s.26(2).
241mmigration Appeals Board Rules, P.C. 1967-2084 of 2 Nov. 1967, S.O.R.
67-559, s.2(B), Can. Gaz. Part II vol.101, no.22, 1743, 22 Nov. 1967. According
to a spokesman at the Service d’Accueil aux Voyageurs et aux Immi-
grants, the petitioner will be represented by a lawyer in the majority of
cases before the Appeal Board and by an immigration law specialist provided
by the Service d’Accueil in a lesser number of cases. In hearings before the
Special Inquiry Officer the situation is the reverse with the specialists appear-
ing in the majority of cases where counsel is used, and lawyers appearing in
only the occasional case.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 22
Two separate administrative tribunals are established under
the Qubec Pension Plan, the Pensions Appeal Board2l and the
Review Commission.20 Both tribunals allow the appellant
to be
represented by an agent of his choice. In the “Schedule A-Form of
Notice of Appeal” of the regulations of the Pension Appeal Board27
it says:
At the end of the notice of appeal there should then be set out
(a) Name and address of appellant’s solicitor, if any,
(b) Name and address of appellant’s agent, if any, on whom documents
may be served.
The Rules of Procedure of Review Commissions (Benefits) 2 con-
tain a similar reference to a representative of the appellant who
is not necessarily the lawyer.
(b) Summary conviction offences
The Summary Conviction Offences section of the Criminal Code,20
provides another important exception to section 128 of the Quebec
Bar Act 3 0 Two sections, the meaning of which appears to be quite
plain,31 allow appearance and cross-examination by an agent:
s.735(2) A defendant may appear personally or by counsel or agent…
and
s.737(2) The prosecutor or defendant, as -the case may be, may examine
and cross-examine witnesses personally or by counsel or agent.
As both the words “counsel” and “agent” are used, the interpretative
presumption against redundancy in statutes would indicate that
the words were not intended to have the same meaning:
When two words or expressions are coupled together, one of which ge-
nerally includes the other, it is obvious that the more general term is used
in a meaning excluding the specific one;3 2
“Counsel” is defined in the Criminal Code as a “barrister or solicitor”
(advocate in Quebec) but “agent” is not. The word “agent” therefore
must be given its normal meaning. For the purposes of the section
25 S.Q. 1965, c.24.
26 Ibid.
27Q.S.R. 2-235 (Aug. 1972).
28Q.S.R. 2-239 (Aug. 1972), s.4(c).
29R.S.C. 1970, c.C-34.
30 S.Q. 1966-67, c.77.
31 See WJ. Parker, An Observation on Appearances by Agents in Summary
Conviction Matters (1968-69)
11 Crim.L.Q. 393.
82Maxwell on Interpretation of Statutes 11th ed. by R. Wilson and B. Galpin
(1962), 320.
1976]
LAW STUDENTS AND JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION
473
it would mean “a non-lawyer who is authorized by the accused to
act on his behalf in court”.3
The law student therefore has the right to represent clients
before these tribunals since they fall into the exceptions foreseen
by sections 128(2)(a) and 129(b) of the Quebec Bar Act. One
relatively minor point only remains to be determined.
The provisions of section 128(2) (a),
the regulations of the
administrative tribunals and sections 735(2) and 737(2) of the
Criminal Code allow the non-lawyer to act and plead before the
particular tribunal mentioned. Section 128(1) (a) and (b) and section
128(2) (e), however, say that non-lawyers generally may not perform
the acts of giving legal advice, drawing up court proceedings and
letters threatening to take action. The question is whether the student
would be permitted to perform these acts for a client whose case
was within the jurisdiction of one of the excepted tribunals. For
example, if a student had a client who as a tenant wished to obtain
a reduction of rent under the Conciliation Act,34 would he be able to
give the client advice as to his legal rights? Or could he write the
landlord a letter threatening action before the Rental Board and
draw up the legal proceedings required in the action?
Basic rules of interpretation would suggest that the student
would be able to perform all the various acts which are necessarily
incidental to the actual representation before the tribunal. The act
of pleading before a tribunal is of far more importance in terms
of the rights of the client than the acts of advising, preparing pro-
ceedings and writing letters. As the greater act it must be construed
as including these lesser acts; it would be manifestly inconvenient
33Despite the apparent plain meaning of the Criminal Code, the judges of
the Montreal Social Welfare Courts have, at the request of the Montreal Bar,
refused to allow law students to act on behalf of clients who are brought
before their courts. The reasons’behind the Bar’s decision are not known and,
at this time, the Bar has not taken an official public position on the question.
See “Rdsum6: Re L’6tudiant h la Cour du Bien-Etre Social” in R. Cooper,
The Poor and Legal Facilities, 1015-1018 (unpublished, McGill University Law
Library).
Shortly after the incident described in the above paragraph, a report
prepared by Robert Cooper of Community Legal Services
titled
Memorandum of C.S.L. to the Bar of Quebec concerning the capacity of law
students as agents in summary conviction matters June 1971 was sent to the
Bar for its consideration. Recently I was informed by the Bar that the issues
raised in the Memorandum had been on the agenda of the Bar’s Committee
on Professional Training but had not been discussed due to lack of interest.
Inc.
3 Supra, note 11.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 22
and unjust if a client were able to engage a student to plead his
case but were forced to hire a lawyer to write his letters:
If a statute is passed for the purpose of enabling something to be done,
but omits to mention in terms some detail which is of great importance
(if not actually essential) to the proper and effectual performance of
the work… which the statute has in contemplation the courts are at
liberty to infer that the statute by implication empowers that detail to be
carried out.35
Section 128(1) and (2) (e) should therefore be qualified so as not
to restrict or infringe upon the rights of persons who may plead
before a tribunal.
2. The student assisting a lawyer
It is well recognized that the presence of practising lawyers is
essential to the well-being of any student clinic. This is so, not only
for supervisory purposes, but also in order that the clinic may
provide a fairly comprehensive range of legal services
to the
community it serves. The question may arise then as to the rights
of the student to assist the lawyer on a case which is beyond the
competence of the student.
This issue was discussed in Barreau de Montrdal v. Singer.30
Singer, a lawyer from New Brunswick, was charged by the Bar
with usurping the functions of an advocate. He had come
to
Montreal at the request of a litigant to help with the preparation
of an important case. His activities included studying the pleadings
and documents, drawing up procedural documents, interviewing
witnesses, researching the authorities, giving advice to the client
and the attorney of record, and preparing the case for trial. One
of Singer’s defenses was that he was merely performing the tradi-
tional tasks of articling students. Walsh J. distinguished his case
from that of a student and in doing so acknowledged the rights
of students to assist lawyers:
There is no doubt that a person learned in the law, though not qualified
to practise under the Bar Act may render services to the attorney of
record: students do this for their patrons … .X
Generally then, when a law student is providing services under
the authority and responsibility of a lawyer and is neither directly
advising the client nor pleading or acting before a court there will be
no conflict with the Bar Act.
35 Craies on Statute Law 6th ed. by S.G.G. Edgar (1963), 111.
36 (1934) 56 C.B.R. 394.
37 Ibid., 409.
19763
LAW STUDENTS AND JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION
475
3. The role of a student clinic within the Quebec Legal Aid Plan
Since the implementation of Quebec’s Legal Aid Plan 38 practising
lawyers provide free legal service for practically any legal matter.
One would think that the Plan has deprived students of their
traditional clientele. Certainly it is true that the Plan has brought
a lawyer within reach of the poor. However, this does not necessarily
preclude a useful role being played by student clinics.
First of all it should be borne in mind that part of the raison
d’6tre for student clinics is the educational experience which they
provide for law students. Involvement with clients, courts and
real cases will not only teach the student how to practise law but
will also stimulate his interest in the substantive law that forms his
curriculum.
Secondly, it should not be assumed that the services provided
by law students under the supervision of experienced lawyers will be
in any way inferior to those provided by members of the Bar.
Reports on the performance of students in other clinics indicate
that the student generally handles the cases he is given with great
conscientiousness and diligence. A report on the Dalhousie clinic
found that:
Clinical students devote much research and preparation time to these
matters, in many cases more than a practitioner would or could do.
The result is that the clinic develops a considerable expertise in a
variety of poverty law matters …. 9
Thirdly, there is the simple fact that the law student is willing
to work for free. Whatever his motivation, a desire to help the
underprivileged or the opportunity to gain some practical experience,
the utilization of law students in the legal aid system will put no
further burden on the public coffers and, in fact, could have the
effect of relieving them to some extent.
Other provinces have attempted to deal with the question of
student clinics and their experiences may be illuminating.
(a) Ontario
In Ontario, student legal aid clinics have been a firmly established
branch of the legal profession for several years. According to a
recent report 40 the combined case load of the six law school clinics
is close to six thousand cases per annum. Despite this activity, and
despite a considerable degree of de facto recognition of the students’
a8Legal Aid Act, S.Q. 1972, c.14.
39 H. Savage, The Dalhousie Legal Aid Service (1975) Dal.LJ. 505, 519.
40L.S. Fairbairn, Student Legal Aid, The Search for Legitimacy (1974)
Osgoode Hall LJ. 627, 634.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 22
status within the profession, de jure recognition of students remains
marginal at best.
The Regulations of the Legal Aid Act 41 govern the constitution
and operation of the clinics. They provide for a scheme whereby
the student clinics can render assistance to duty counsel and panel
solicitors, and handle certain types of cases in which the client
has been refused legal aid for other than financial reasons. These
cases, enumerated in section 13 of the Legal Aid Act, 42 include
summary conviction proceedings, civil proceedings in a provincial
court (family division), small claims court cases, proceedings
before a quasi-judicial tribunal and proceedings
in bankruptcy
subsequent to a receiving order.
Although the regulations do allow the clinics to handle certain
cases, they stop short of resolving the question of the student’s
status to practise law. Rule 78 merely provides that:
… a law student who has successfully completed two years of his law
course and is a member of its legal aid society, may, with the approval of
the dean, represent and appear on behalf of a person … provided he is
entitled in law so to appear.
As no special role for law students has been carved out of the
general statutory prohibition against unauthorized practice 4 3 Ontario
students must be satisfied with practising
law in those areas
which have specifically permitted representation by non-lawyers.44
(b) Nova Scotia
The Nova Scotia statute4 5 does confer a certain status to practise
law on a law student during the period he is participating in a legal
aid or clinical law programme operated by the faculty or under
the authority of an enactment. It defines the student’s rights in
terms of the tribunals and proceedings in which he is appearing.
Before the “courts, masters, judges et al.”, the student acting alone
may present an uncontested motion or a motion for adjournment
or to hear judgment. Before the provincial or stipendiary magistrate
(basically a minor civil claims jurisdiction) the student may appear
41 R.R.O. 1970, Reg. 557, ss.74-78.
42 R.S.O. 1970, c.239.
43The Law Society Act, R.S.O. 1970, c.238, s.50; The Solicitors Act, R.S.O.
1970, c.441, s.1.
44It would appear from Fairbairn’s article, supra, note 40, that in reality
this is far from the case. Student clinics in Ontario on a regular basis take
on cases which are outside of the “approved function” as defined in the
Rules and engage in legal activities in violation of professional codes.
45 Barristers and Solicitors Act, R.S.N.S. 1967, c.18, s.7 as am.by S.N.S. 1969,
c.28, s.1; S.N.S. 1970-71, c.28, s.l.
19761
LAW STUDENTS AND JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION
477
on behalf of any client of the barrister, conduct a civil proceeding,
try an offense punishable on summary conviction or, where the
judge has absolute jurisdiction, try an indictable offense.
Although the range of activities permitted under the Act appears
to be quite narrow, it does include the two areas crucial to any
student clinic: small claims and summary conviction proceedings.
A report on the clinic which has been operating under this regime 4
paints a glowing picture of dynamic growth, a broad and varied
case load and a deep involvement
in the community through
a variety of paralegal projects. Certainly no complaint emerged
from the report that the clinic was having difficulty functioning
within the permissible jurisdiction.
On this point, the report raised something well worth keeping
in mind for our present purposes: a university clinic must be
structured in such a way that all acts performed by the students for
the clients are done under the strict supervision of the resident
lawyers. The point is made frequently by Fairbairn as well, regarding
the Ontario clinics:
the lesser the supervision of the students’
activities, the greater the risk of overstepping jurisdictional bounds
and the greater the danger of becoming tangled in problems of
professional responsibility.
(c) Manitoba
Undoubtedly the recent Manitoba legislation 47 is the most com-
prehensive and well-defined formula enacted in Canada to this
date concerning student practice. A student “who is acting under
the… supervision.., of a barrister or solicitor and who is …
registered in an accredited clinical training program…”, under
section 48.1 (1):
(a) may engage in the work of a solicitor;
(b) may appear as a junior with a barrister or solicitor in the conduct
of any proceeding; and
(i)
(c) may appear, either alone or as a junior with a barrister or solicitor
in any interlocutory application or motion in any proceeding
including, without restricting the generality of the foregoing,
an application for bail and to examine for discovery,
to move an adjournment or hear judgment,
in any summary proceeding in a Provincial Judges’ Court or
before a Provincial Judge including, without restricting the
generality of the foregoing, proceedings under The Highway
Traffic Act, The Wives’ and Children’s Maintenance Act, The
(ii)
(iii)
46 Supra, note 39.
47 An Act to Amend the Law Society Act (2) S.M. 1974, c.51, s.3, amending
The Law Society Act, S.M. 1956, c.39, ss.48.1(1) and (2).
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 22
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
(viii)
Child Welfare Act, the Juvenile Delinquent’s Act and the
Criminal Code,
in any proceeding under Part IV of the Landlord and Tenant
Act,
in any proceeding heard under subsection 85(1) of The County
Courts Act whether the hearing is before a Deputy County
Court Clerk, County Court Clerk or County Court Judge,
in any proceeding in which the presiding Provincial Court
Judge has absolute jurisdiction to try an indictable offence,
in any proceeding before an administrative or public tribunal
or commission,
in any other proceeding specified in any regulation of the
governing body.48
The bulk of the cases to be expected at a student clinic are in the
areas of family law, landlord and tenant, criminal law and employ-
ment law; the above regulations would therefore appear quite
adequate to meet the needs of a busy clinic. The Manitoba legislation
could serve as a model for similar initiatives on the part of the
other provinces.
4. Recommendations
As mentioned above, the recent amendment to section 13(2) (a) of
the Quebec Bar Act 49 enables the Bar to determine an area of com-
petence for law students. Rather than itemizing the precise activities
which the student should be allowed to perform, I will do no more
than mention some of the considerations which should bear upon
the decision. The regulations should be oriented towards the types
of cases most commonly handled by a legal aid clinic. Experience
has shown that the overwhelming majority of such cases are con-
cerned with family law, lease law, criminal law (especially juvenile
matters), small claims, welfare, unemployment and immigration.
The right of the law student to appear before these latter administra-
tive tribunals should be confirmed in the regulations and certain
of the more routine court procedures in the area of family and
lease law should be brought within the competence of the student.
In family law, for example, a student might be allowed to deal with
matters under “Proceedings concerning marriage and the alimentary
obligation” in Title IV of Book Five of the Code of Civil Procedure.
In lease law a student would be able to handle the application for
permission to withhold rent.-
48 Ibid.
49 S.Q. 1966-67, c.77 as am.by S.Q. 1973, c.44.
SO S.Q. 1965, c.80.
51 Art.1612 C.C.
1976]
LAW STUDENTS AND JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION
479
Secondly, the organizational framework of a clinic should be
kept in mind. Student clinics are normally composed of a small
nucleus of lawyers who advise and supervise a relatively large body
of students. The student handles the case assigned to him inde-
pendently and consults the lawyer only when the need arises. For
this reason, the regulation ideally should attempt to single out
those types of judicial activities which students could handle
from beginning to end. This has been done in Nova Scotia and
Manitoba by defining the student’s area of competence in terms
of particular tribunals which by law have particular jurisdictions.
I would not recommend the wholesale application of the existing
Quebec regulations on articled students 52 to law students simply
because nearly half the specific activities listed in the regulations
are subsidiary procedures to actions which a student clinic would
probably never handle.
Conclusion
Quebec law students do possess certain rights to practise law
as recognized by the statutes and the courts. These rights however
are randomly located and often quite tenuously based. For the
future well-being and development of our student clinics a com-
prehensive regime of the student’s capacity to practise law is
essential.
At a recent conference at Osgoode Hall Law School on “The
Role of the Law Student in the Administration of Justice” (February
21-22, 1975), representatives from the legal aid clinics of Canadian
law schools came together to compare and discuss their activities.
The information exchange at the conference was of interest to
Quebeckers for several reasons:
First, it showed that the degree of student participation in the
clinics of other provinces was significantly higher than in Quebec.
Secondly, and more importantly, it showed a high level of co-
operation between the clinics, the provincial law societies, the
provincial legal aid organizations and the law schools. Student
clinics in the other provinces are recognized as being capable of
performing a useful service within the legal aid structure and
have, by and large, received either official or unofficial authorization
to pursue this goal. Surely the time is long overdue for such
cooperation in Quebec.
52Regulations of the Bar of Quebec, Q.S.R. 9-015-016, Division III, nos.27-28
(Aug. 1972).
