Is Evidence not a required course at UBC?
I think you should take it either way, for a couple of reasons:
unless you've already secured a position at a solicitor-only firm, there's a good chance you'll have to do some litigation during articles; and
even as a solicitor you should know some general principles of litigation. As a solicitor you'll be advising clients on how to avoid being sued, which necessitates having an understanding of litigation.
Hi everyone,
In looking at summer courses before 2L I was wondering how useful Evidence would be if I mainly want to focus on solicitor work rather than litigation. I've looked at past results on this forum which seem to suggest that it's not entirely necessary for solicitor work, but I was wondering if it would be a useful course to take regardless (it's taught by Nikos Harris at UBC if that matters at all).
Any insights/comments from upper years/practitioners would be appreciated!
Thank you for providing so much useful information and advice. I especially appreciate you sharing your own experiences applying with the ACPS. As you have advised, I will do my best and apply often and broadly. I had anticipated needing to start out regionally (which it sounds like a lot of Crowns have done), and I am prepared to do so given my flexible living arrangements.
Just as a follow-up question and related to one of your earlier responses on this thread (from 2016), you had mentioned that Alberta makes no distinction between full-time and contract Crowns. Is that still the case? How often do contract Crowns not get their contracts extended? Are there a lot more internal postings once you get accepted at a position with the ACPS?
I don't think it'll change much, at least not right away. Right now as a student I'm hesitant to use legal assistants much. This is mostly due to imposter syndrome (I've been out of law school for less than a year, who am I to boss around someone who's been at the firm for 15 years?)
I expect that as I get more comfortable (and as my hourly rate goes up) I'll rely on assistants more often to handle administrative tasks so I can focus on billables.