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Legal Research in Canada’s Provincial Appellate Courts 189
Province
Number of
Judges 27
Total Number of
Researchers 28
Number of
Research
Lawyers
Number of
Student or
Junior Law
Clerks 29
British Columbia 24 14.2 2.2 12
Alberta 18 22 14 8
Saskatchewan 11 3 0 3
Manitoba 9 2 2 0
Ontario 24 26 9 17
Quebec 25 34 8 26
New Brunswick 9 2 0 2
Nova Scotia 8 3 0 3
PEI 3 0 0 0
Newfoundland &
Labrador
9
2 (1 full-time + 2
part-time)
0.5 1.5
The following is a West to East jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction summary of the
approach to legal research support taken in Canada’s provincial appellate courts.
A. British Columbia: Court Profile and Overview of Approach to
Legal Research Support
British Columbia’s Court of Appeal is currently composed of twenty-four
judges, of which fifteen are full-time and nine are supernumerary. 30 The British
Columbia Court of Appeal employs one full-time law officer, who is a senior
lawyer. The law officer conducts legal research and supervises the Court’s twelve
law clerks, who are articling students. The clerks are each assigned to one or two
judges for a period of ten to twelve months. 31 The Court also currently employs a
junior lawyer, who is a former law clerk, on a full-time basis to work on a major
case presently before the Court. Another senior lawyer with a background in legal
publishing proofreads and edits judgments two mornings (eight hours) a week.
27
28
29
30
31
Includes supernumerary judges.
Includes both articling students and lawyers, but not university students.
Does not include university students.
Online: British Columbia Court of Appeal .
More information about the Court’s clerkship program is available online: British Columbia
Court of Appeal .