Indigenous content has been represented in Canadian news for many years, but all Canadian law schools are now considering how best to respond to this call to action. Canadian law schools offer a variety of programs: the Juris Doctor (JD) and the traditional Bachelor of Laws (LL.B); Professional degrees leading to the practice of law, graduate studies in law and various joint programs. Some offer their programs only in English, others only in French, while others offer partially or fully bilingual programs. To learn more about the programs and admission requirements of the different law schools, click on the name of a university below. No. Canadian law schools do not require applicants to process their application documents through LSAC`s Credential Gathering Service. Each law school has different application requirements, so you should check each school`s admission pages to see what they need and how documents should be submitted. Note that each Canadian law school calculates your GPA differently. (See Information on Admission to Canadian Law Schools.) To determine admission, Canadian law schools tend to use either a predictive indicator consisting of a combination of the applicant`s GPA and LSAT score, with some weight assigned to each number, or a holistic audit method (see table for details). For some schools, additional information such as a personal statement or previous experience are determining factors, while for others their influence is marginal. For other schools, additional documents such as personal statements and letters of recommendation will only be considered during the scholarship review process. Finally, for some specific schools, letters of recommendation are completely ignored and applicants are discouraged from submitting letters of recommendation. If you take multiple LSAT assessments, be sure to see how each school handles the results.
Some schools consider the highest score, while others take into account the average score (see table for details). You can search for schools by province or filter schools by keyword using the search fields below. Canadian law schools do not list their job numbers on their websites, so an applicant must contact a school or its alumni to determine job prospects. Candidates who intend to practice in Quebec must obtain a law degree from a law school in Quebec. Applicants from Quebec who wish to practise English common law must attend a law school in another province or region. Three national mobility agreements between Canadian Bar associations govern the practice of lawyers across provincial and territorial borders. All law schools in Canada offer a professional degree in one or both Canadian legal systems. These systems are the “common law”, derived from the British legal system, and the “civil law”, inspired by French law. Common law is the legal system that applies in all provinces and territories of Canada except Quebec.
Civil law governs the private law of Quebec. If you are not applying to a civil law program in Quebec, you cannot apply directly to the high school`s law school. You must complete or are in the process of completing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in any field at an accredited or non-Canadian Canadian university accepted by the admissions committee. Law schools have their own academic and course standards and requirements for entry, so you should review the policies of the schools you wish to apply to. Most law schools have active programs to encourage more diverse representation within the legal profession. Many schools have tutoring programs for students. For more information, see the description of the law school on this website or each school`s calendar. Most law schools require the applicant to have completed at least three years of a bachelor`s degree to apply. However, the most competitive applicants to law schools have completed their four-year bachelor`s degree programs. For example, at the University of Toronto, only five candidates out of more than 2,000 applicants have been admitted to the Young Girls program in recent years without completing their four-year bachelor`s degree. All law schools in Canada are affiliated with public universities and therefore with public institutions. This practice has helped to reduce differences in the quality of students and teaching between schools.
[ref. Given that there are a limited number of positions in the annual admissions of each law school, access to all Canadian law schools is fiercely contested: most law schools receive many more applicants than they can accept. Most schools focus on their respective regions, and many graduates remain in the region where the school is located, although the relatively uniform quality of law schools allows graduates greater geographical mobility. The following Canadian law schools that teach either the common law system only or both common law and civil law systems. The common law system recognizes a set of rules that derives from a history of judicial decisions. Legal principles stemming from previous cases are applied to the facts of pending cases or clarified by judges. Law schools that teach the common law system include: Applicants applying to Ontario law schools through OLSAS can expect a more holistic approach to reviewing applications. Features to be demonstrated in the OLSAS app include leadership, community service, and communication skills. Relevant life experiences can be incorporated into the personal statement to show the development of these characteristics. Canadian law schools that are not located in Ontario do not use collaborative electronic applications, so the applicant is solely responsible for submitting the required application documents to admissions offices in the required format and methods. In addition, application deadlines are strictly adhered to, so applicants must be prepared to invest significant time in collecting and submitting documents.
Canadian law schools receive and review applications in multiple categories, so when you`re ready to apply, find out which category applies to you. The Regular/General category represents the largest and most competitive pool of applications. To become a lawyer in Quebec, you must obtain a bachelor`s degree in Quebec civil law from one of the six Canadian schools that teach civil law. Graduates must then complete a four-month training program at the École du Barreau du Québec and a six-month articling period (articling period). You will then have to take an exam organized by the Office de la Langue Française, which consists of written and oral questions in French. If you pass this exam with a minimum score of 60%, you can register with the Barreau du Québec. Not all Canadian law schools require the LSAT.