English at civil law schools?

[CrimeAndPunishment]

Hello, I'm wondering if there are any civil law schools that teach in English? Also, I was wondering what the pay is like in a city like Montreal compared to cities like Toronto and Calgary. My French is decent but definitely not phenomenal, and while my last 20 courses are about 3.95/4.0 my cgpa is lower due to a bad first stint at university. Can someone give me an idea of how the law schools are there, which ones are considered better. Also, how hard would it be to practice in Toronto after if I ever decided I wanted to move back? Thank you for your time and I'm sorry if these are very basic questions. 

[TheDevilIKnow]

I am not an expert on these things  so I will provide just a very basic reply. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable, and possibly motivated to correct me, will then chime in. 😉

I don't believe there are any civil law schools that teach entirely in English. McGill may be the exception, because it teaches a combined civil and common law program, with instruction primarily in English, I think - but you asked specifically about civil programs, so you're probably not thinking McGill. 

The other civil law schools are at the uniligingual french institutions in Quebec. I'm not sure if there's much sense of ranking between the various Quebec schools. It's not fair to compare McGill to the others, since it's not really the same program. I haven't seen any rankings of how well the civil schools place students in Montreal. In terms of a very general sense as a Quebecker, I would say that U de M is clearly the most "prestigious" Quebec university, but I don't know if that translates to law programs.

There isn't too too much conversation on here about compensation in Montreal, but from what little I've seen, it's less than Toronto but perhaps comparable with Calgary and Vancouver. Don't forget the drastically higher taxes, of course. (Sure, maybe tempered by a lower cost of living).

It may be tough to head to Toronto after practicing in Quebec, but hard to predict precisely. It would probably depend on exactly what sort of work you were doing, and how well it transferred. In other words, it would have less to do with your schooling and more to do with what you learn afterwards. It seems it's easier than I thought to start practice in Ontario as a Quebec lawyer, but this refers only to the administrative steps - not to the actual practicalities of ensuring you're competent.

[frodo]

On 12/12/2021 at 7:13 PM, CrimeAndPunishment said:

Hello, I'm wondering if there are any civil law schools that teach in English? Also, I was wondering what the pay is like in a city like Montreal compared to cities like Toronto and Calgary. My French is decent but definitely not phenomenal, and while my last 20 courses are about 3.95/4.0 my cgpa is lower due to a bad first stint at university. Can someone give me an idea of how the law schools are there, which ones are considered better. Also, how hard would it be to practice in Toronto after if I ever decided I wanted to move back? Thank you for your time and I'm sorry if these are very basic questions. 

Hi, so. Bad news: you really need your French. You should be confident in your reading, speaking, oral comprehension and writing skills (you will be tested on those). Now, when it comes to rankings, you will see people fighting to death which university is "the best". McGill is, of course, number one (simply because more people know what it is), then I would probably place UdeM second (once again, more people know what it is), the rest -- depends on where you want to live, what you want to do with your degree, etc. Now, the switch from Civil to Common law is not that complicated. In fact, most Civil Law schools have partnerships with out of province universities that allow you to get your JD degree in 1-2 years. After that, you would have to pass the Bar Exam in the province of your choice. 

The way I see it: if you have high GPA, strong CV and good at networking, most firms would be interested in hiring you. Being fluent in two languages + being proficient in two legal systems is a huge plus, the way I see it. 

The pay is better in Toronto, but the cost of living there is ridiculous. So, maybe Ottawa would be a better choice? As a school and as a city to practice in. 

Best of luck!

[LemonBee]

I've heard that the Faculty of Law at UdeM allows some students to submit work in English for the first year. I can't find confirmation of this on UdeM's website anywhere, though, and my references are two news articles that reference this. One is an "open letter" responding to criticism of the 1.5% of students who write in English (according to the letter) and another is about the experience of an Anglophone student in UdeM's law program.

If this is true, does anyone have more information on this?