Mixed Barrister and Solicitor Rotations

Natural Resources, Transportation, and Indigenous Legal Group

Rotation length: 6-8 weeks

Resource and Environment Unit

* Usually, rotations with the Resource and Environment Unit are combined with the Transportation and Land Unit, as the two units are closely related.

The Resource and Environment Unit provides legal advice and opinions for government clients whose programs provide for the protection and management of the environment, forests, natural resources, mines and minerals, energy, agriculture and food, water and wildlife, as well as escheats matters. The Unit also supports the Oil & Gas Commission, the Environmental Assessment Office and the Royal BC Museum.  Lawyers may also represent such clients before administrative tribunals, such as the Environmental Appeal Board and Forest Appeals Commission, and support barristers who represent client ministries in court and tribunal proceedings. Lawyers in this Unit are also responsible for:

• providing advice to ministry clients on operational, compliance and enforcement and other day-to-day issues that arise;  
• Statutory interpretation of natural resource legislation, conducting legal research and providing legal opinions and memoranda as required; and
• working as part of a team with legislative counsel and client representatives on new or amended legislation and regulations.

Transportation and Lands Unit

* Usually, rotations with the Resource and Environment Unit are combined with the Transportation and Land Unit, as the two units are closely related.

Lawyers in the Transportation and Lands Unit provide advice in the following areas:

• statutory interpretation and advice on procurement and drafting of minor and major construction project agreements and transportation-related contracts;
• to statutory decision-makers, including Provincial Approving Officers and the Container Trucking Commissioner;
• construction contractual disputes, including arbitration and pre-litigation matters;
• legal transactions related to highways and transportation construction projects;
• all aspects of Crown land administration;
• park management and permitting; and
• treaty land and incremental treaty land transfers and the negotiation and implementation of modern treaties and reconciliation agreements as they relate to land.

Lawyers in this Unit also provide advice and represent all ministries and entities that are authorized by statute to expropriate real property.

Indigenous Legal Relations

Rotation length: 6-8 weeks

* The Indigenous Legal Relations (ILR) rotation includes both the Litigation Unit and the Solicitors Unit

ILR Litigation Unit

The ILR Litigation Unit provides support and litigation on aboriginal cases involving the government and provides solicitor advice to various ministries on aboriginal law issues, including:

• appearing on behalf of government in Provincial and Federal Courts on all aboriginal law matters;
• conducting significant aboriginal rights and title litigation;
• appearing on judicial review applications involving aboriginal rights and title issues;
• advising and assisting the BCPS on criminal law matters involving aboriginal rights or title claims; and
• providing research assistance and reports to all government Ministries and the BCPS regarding aboriginal rights and title claims.

ILR Solicitors Unit

The ILR Solicitors Unit provides legal assistance to:

• the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation;
• Provincial teams negotiating treaties with aboriginal groups;
• senior officials and ministers of government regarding government policy on aboriginal matters;
• line ministries with regard to their legal obligations pursuant to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (Declaration Act), as well as court decisions including Delgamuukw and Haida;
• line ministries regarding interim measures agreements and other memoranda of understanding;
• barristers involved in litigating aboriginal issues; and
• all ministries of government on all aspects of aboriginal law.

Justice, Health and Revenue Group

Rotation length: 6-8 weeks (choose either barrister or solicitor rotation)

The Justice, Health and Revenue (JHR) Group provides legal advice to a wide variety of ministries in the justice, health, social services and education sectors, on revenue and taxation matters, and local government and housing matters. The JHR Group is also responsible for actions, on behalf of government, associated with medical billing, recovery of healthcare costs, and debt related matters. While Director’s Counsel is within the JHR Group it is separate for the purpose of articling rotations. Students in a JHR rotation can expect a broad range of solicitor and barrister experience. JHR provides legal advice in a wide range of areas of the law, including contracts, statutory interpretation, administrative law (including administrative hearings and judicial reviews), specialized litigation, intellectual property, and privacy.

Students may choose either or both of a barrister and solicitor rotation (if choosing both rotations, the rotations do not need to be sequential). The main practice areas are described below.

Subgroup "A" (mixed rotation)

Lawyers in Subgroup A provide legal services and appear as legal counsel at all levels of court on matters relating to Taxation, Social Development, and Poverty Reduction.

Lawyers in the group also provide legal services for branches of Government responsible for cultural matters, safety engineering, cannabis and liquor, and the BC Athletic Commissioner.

Subgroup "B" (barrister rotation)

Lawyers in Subgroup B provide legal services and appear as legal counsel at all levels of court and before various tribunals on matters relating to recovery of health care costs, insolvencies, collections, medical audit, and charitable trusts. They are responsible for:

• health care costs recovery, recovery of proscribed Medical Service Plan claims (alleged mis-billings);
• conducting the Province’s lawsuits against tobacco and opioid-drug companies along with other class actions and individual claims to recover health care costs; and
• advising and representing the Attorney General in respect of his parens patriae responsibility to represent the public interest in ensuring the terms of a charitable trust are adhered to.

Subgroup "C" (solicitor rotation)

Lawyers in Subgroup C provide legal services to a wide range of Ministries and branches relating to:

• health and mental health and addictions;
• education, childcare, and advanced education and skills training;
• children and families (including adoption, child protection matters, the Hague Convention, and civil aspects of international child abduction);
• local government and housing, and residential tenancy;
• corporate policy and planning (including guide dogs, consumer protection, and more)
• civil forfeiture;
• victims of crime programs;
• Justice Services Branch (policy and legislation, indigenous policy and legislation, tribunals and tribunal transformation, family justice, family law transformation, access to justice, and more) and the coroner service and professional governance;
• driver licensing, vehicle insurance, commercial vehicle safety, passenger transportation, and RoadSafetyBC, and more.

Subgroup "D" (Solicitor rotation)

Lawyers in Subgroup D provide legal services to Ministries associated with Police, Security Programs, Adult and Youth Custody and Corrections, and Emergency Management BC, and Court Services Branch.

Vancouver Group:

Rotation Length: 6-10 weeks

The Vancouver Group includes both barristers and solicitors who provide legal services in multiple practice areas including:

• Human Rights;
• Labour and Employment;
• Administrative and regulatory law;
• Transportation and land law;
• Resource and Environmental law; and
• Corporate, commercial and procurement law.

Lawyers in the Vancouver Group represent the interests of a variety of ministries, branches and areas of government and are responsible for appearing on behalf of and advising those Ministries and Branches. The Vancouver Group lawyers:

• represent the government in complaints brought under the Human Rights Code, including appearing before the Human Rights Tribunal;
• advise all areas of government on matters of Human Rights both domestically and internationally, as well as with respect to proposed new legislation and amendments to existing legislation, regulation and policy matters;
• advise the government in matters of employment law and labour relations law, including workers compensation;
• advise the director of the Employment Standards Branch, and appearing in court on judicial review of Employment Standards Branch decisions;
• represent government employers in labour grievances and in matters before the Labour Relations Board;
• provide advice and commercial drafting services to the Liquor Distribution Branch on matters of procurement and real estate for both liquor and cannabis, policy and regulation, and supporting barristers in legal proceedings involving the Branch;
• provide support and advice to the Commissioner for Teacher Regulation and the Teacher Regulation Branch in matters related to certification and discipline, as well as appearing before disciplinary panels;
• provide advice and support to the Private Training Institutions Branch on all matters related to private education in BC;
• identify and coordinate advice to various client ministries and branches on issues of indigenous consultation and reconciliation;
• provide advice to the Provincial Nominee Program area of government on immigration related matters;
• practice as part of the NATRIL Group from Vancouver; and
• practice as part of the CSG Group from Vancouver.

Civil Resolution Tribunal

Rotation length: 6 weeks

A rotation with the CRT is well-suited to students who are passionate about access to justice and alternative dispute resolution processes.

The CRT is an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal that operates under the authority of the Civil Resolution Tribunal Act. The CRT is Canada’s first online tribunal and provides end-to-end dispute resolution services in strata property disputes and small claims up to $5,000. The CRT also has jurisdiction to resolve motor vehicle personal injury disputes, including disputes about entitlement to enhanced accident benefits, and some disputes involving incorporated societies and cooperative associations.

The CRT encourages a collaborative, problem-solving approach to dispute resolution, rather than the traditional courtroom model, by providing timely access to legal information, self-help tools, and dispute resolution services to help resolve disputes as early as possible. If parties are unable to resolve their dispute collaboratively, a CRT tribunal member makes a binding decision, enforceable as a court order.

Students on rotation with the CRT may:

• monitor CRT dispute resolution processes, forms and information material and provide briefings on any legal issues identified to the Chair, Executive Director, and Registrar and, as appropriate, other members and staff;
• conduct legal research and provide analysis and plain language legal advice on specific or general legal questions related to CRT disputes, CRT jurisdiction, statutory authority, and administrative law;
• review drafts of dispute resolution procedures, policies, and forms and identify legal issues and strategies to address them;
• exercise delegated decision-making authority under the Civil Resolution Tribunal Act, in a manner that is fair and impartial and demonstrates professionalism;
• support legal counsel representing the CRT on judicial review and appeal proceedings;
• review policy and legislative initiatives that may impact the CRT, and formulate and recommend responses to the proposals;
• identify legislative solutions to CRT legal or operational issues to policy staff at the Ministry of Attorney General;
• conduct public consultations on CRT processes and rules, including working with justice partners such as advocates, professional legal associations, the Ministry of Attorney General, and the public.

Private Bar

Rotation length: 4 weeks

This rotation is arranged between the student, their principal, and a private law firm, with assistance from the Manager and Chair. The purpose of a private bar rotation is to expose the student to areas of law that are not practised within the Ministry of Attorney General. This includes substantive areas such as wills and estates, conveyancing, and family law, as well as procedural areas including law office management, accounting, and administrative procedures.

During a private bar rotation, LSB continues to pay the student’s salary (including benefits). Students continue to be responsible for the small claim’s files assigned to them. The student, their principal, and the Chair must be satisfied that potential conflicts of interest are addressed prior to the student beginning a rotation with a private firm.