Attraction and retention are buzzwords that are often bandied about within Northern communities.
The Chamber of Commerce, city council, tourism boards and many other community groups can often be found wrestling over the question, “how do we bring people to the north, and how do we get them to stay here?”
Lakehead University in Thunder Bay is at the forefront of that matter when it comes to the field of law, as its charter law class just graduated this year.
Five grads of the 58-person class have taken up work in Sudbury. They are helping to build a locally grown and educated product in Northern Ontario.
Three of those grads took some time to sit down with Sudbury.com and discuss the program and what it means to be working at Sudbury law firms.
Jordan Derro is working in construction and contract law at Desmarais Keenan, and Carly Deboni and Rebecca Ducharme are both working in insurance defence at Miller Maki.
The Lakehead program is unique in that it is an accelerated course load that aims to get grads out into the workforce faster than most law programs.
Functioning much like a college program, Lakehead's course load is six courses per semester, as opposed to the standard five, with the third year set aside for students to do placement work and get some on-the-job experience.
Deboni did her placement in southern Ontario at a small firm in Guelph, and hails from the southern part of the province as well, but has made her way back to the North for work.
“I was interning at a small firm, and they didn't have any openings to take on more people,” said Deboni. “It's not a paid placement when you're there; it's more they're trading their knowledge and experience for your help.”
Ducharme and Derro are both Sudburians and jumped at the opportunity to do their schooling in the north and now return to their hometown.
Derro did his placement at the Sudbury Crown Attorney's office and now works at Desmarais Keenan. He said the opportunity to be part of the first graduating law class at Lakehead University was a big draw for him, but one that comes with a measure of pressure.
“There's definitely some pressure on us to set a standard for Lakehead grads,” said Derro. “But I appreciate the opportunity to spearhead what the university is doing and be a part of it.”
Ducharme always planned to return to Sudbury for work after graduation, but was always leaning to Lakehead for her education.
“I had applied to a few different schools, but was hoping to get into Lakehead,” said Ducharme. “I thought it was really unique what they were doing in trying to achieve a mandate of bringing more lawyers to the North.”
Like many start-ups, the fledgling law program at Lakehead drew on help from the locals to ensure its students were getting the same standard of education as their southern counterparts.
“A lot of the professors are from the north. One of our professors, Karen Drake, is a lawyer from Thunder Bay, and she's a strong advocate for more northern lawyers,” said Ducharme. “For some of the classes, we had local law practitioners come in and take time out of their work day or evening to teach us.”
The grads will continue their work in Sudbury before being called to the Bar in September where they will be presented with the degree of barrister-at-law by the Law Society, a court certificate of qualification and are sworn to the oath.