McGill University (Civil Law)

I’m being sarcastic here but there is something to it. High turn over among associates who produce the majority of work, with little room for advancement and to make the real dough is something.

Which schools? Chances at Queens, Osgoode, and Western?

You should receive an offer from one or more of those schools

Applied to Osgoode, Western, Queens, Windsor and Ottawa

With a 160-163 and a 3.59 cGPA you should receive an offer from a school in Ontario

Hi there, my cousin directed me to these forums recently. I'm not sure what my B2 and L2 are yet as I haven't seen the OLSAS calculation but my cGPA is OLSAS calculated. I scored 157 this November and registered for the January LSAT the other day. I have work experience, full-time/part-time, working throughout school and after graduation. I also have a lot of volunteer experience with competitive sports teams for teenagers. I applied to all Ontario schools and I'm hoping for Osgoode or Western, but would take any school. What are my chances of landing a spot in Ontario this cycle, especially if I can break into the 160-163 scores in January? All comments are very appreciated, thank you.

I entered UTLaw 5-6 years ago and in my experience a significant majority (i.e. 75% plus) of UTLaw are K-JDs. Although grad school experience and a few years of work experience don't necessarily mean you are a mature student, I'm pretty sure Osgoode had a Mature Students' Associations years before we had a similar club set up, and I don't even know if that club is still active at UTLaw now.

I got the call this morning! Accepted with a 156 LSAT and a 4.15/4.33 (A+ on TRU portal) Good luck everyone!!

It's not a horrible analogy. An associate who sticks around forever but is incapable of making the jump to partnership could suck the air out of the room and prevent other associates who do have that possibility from gaining experience and working on files, etc. And all else being equal, every firm would prefer someone with more skills and a better business case than someone who isn't. That's just natural. There are certain people who are so talented however at a particular niche that they stick around forever and a spot is made for them despite not being as well rounded, but that's few and far between and largely the people that don't make partner are not those people. Returning to the idea that big law is a pyramid scheme, I think people should really look up phrases before using them. A pyramid scheme is one in which you get paid by recruiting people into the scheme who also pay. You could perhaps argue that equity partnership (rather than big law as a whole) is a pyramid scheme, except partners aren't making their big money off enrolling new people to contribute equity. They make money by generating actual revenue, something pyramid and MLM schemes don't actually do. If you wanted to argue it was a Ponzi scheme, because the house of cards collapses if everyone takes their money out at once, sure. But that's still not the right analogy, because again, existing partners aren't funding their returns using the money from new investors. They are funding it from generating revenue. In any event, smaller partnerships actually have way worse structural issues than big law. A pyramidal structure isn't inherently a pyramid scheme and linking the two is just poor logical reasoning. The pyramidal structure of big law (and accounting and consulting and finance) are actually well oiled models. A senior partner contributes more value by overseeing multiple juniors than by doing the work themselves. Anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot. Leverage is natural and it is inherent in most organizational structures because not all work is the same.

Also while the broader firm won't see your grades, the student or junior associate director (who are sometimes one and the same and definitely coordinate if not) will and a massive drop from good grades to straight Cs, absent some explanatory life event, may be a red flag that they keep in mind when evaluating your performance going forward.

In Ontario the LSO will provide you with the study matierals. There is also an index compiled privately that many people use. Neither of these is avalible to you yet, so don't stress out and worry you're missing something.

Getting hired back is never a guarantee. If you find yourself in the unfortunate position of having to look for an associate position as a fresh call, your grades will definitely matter.

I’m a first gen law student and I have no idea what the procedure is for studying for the bar. Are there classes? Books? Free materials? When do I start? any guidance is appreciated including what did and didn’t work for you 🙂

You're incredibly competitive for UBC. I'd be shocked if you don't get in.

Accepted today, 167 LSAT, 3.83/4 GPA, strong softs