I'm somewhere between the two positions.
I see a difference between students, law students, articling students, and paralegals, because law students and articling students always work under the supervision of a lawyer. The lawyer is ultimately accountable for their work. I don't know about criminal law, but I think there are situations in other civil law areas where liberty is not at issue and where maybe students can play a bigger role.
I think I would use Mr. Ferguson's definition of what is essential. If you have liberty issues, where significant equality rights issues are at stake, then I think it's important to have proper legal counsel, and I agree with Mr. Fowler, as well. In Ontario, they have now started to fund a second chair for criminal law, so that senior counsels can work with junior counsels in order to train them on complex criminal cases.