Corporate law

[shawarmalaw]

Hello, I got accepted to Ottawa law with a 152 and got back my Jan 2022 score today and was not happy with my score. I don’t see myself getting into a better school than Ottawa.  As someone who wants to go into corporate law, can you score corporate jobs in Toronto with an Ottawa law degree? 

Thanks

 

 

[ArchivesandMuseums]

22 minutes ago, shawarmalaw said:

Hello, I got accepted to Ottawa law with a 152 and got back my Jan 2022 score today and was not happy with my score. I don’t see myself getting into a better school than Ottawa.  As someone who wants to go into corporate law, can you score corporate jobs in Toronto with an Ottawa law degree? 

Thanks

 

 

As a 2L at uOttawa law, I would say that uOttawa law students will have the lowest chances at corporate law jobs in Toronto, excluding Lakehead law. To be successful, you need to have a cGPA of 7.5 + (High B+, which is a Dean's list cut off).     

[ramoj]

Have three friends who are at/have go to Ottawa. All on deans list. Two at seven sisters now and one US V25 firm. It's doable, but subject to grades. 

[shawarmalaw]

49 minutes ago, ArchivesandMuseums said:

As a 2L at uOttawa law, I would say that uOttawa law students will have the lowest chances at corporate law jobs in Toronto, excluding Lakehead law. To be successful, you need to have a cGPA of 7.5 + (High B+, which is a Dean's list cut off).     

Is there no business law courses in Ottawa ? What does the school specialize in

[gglaw]

1 hour ago, shawarmalaw said:

Hello, I got accepted to Ottawa law with a 152 and got back my Jan 2022 score today and was not happy with my score. I don’t see myself getting into a better school than Ottawa.  As someone who wants to go into corporate law, can you score corporate jobs in Toronto with an Ottawa law degree? 

Thanks

 

 

Depends! I spoke to someone who went to Ottawa and now works on Bay St so I think that it is very doable especially through OCI and such! 

[shawarmalaw]

What is OCI

3 minutes ago, gglaw said:

Depends! I spoke to someone who went to Ottawa and now works on Bay St so I think that it is very doable especially through OCI and such! 

I’m sorry I was referring to this comment 

[ArchivesandMuseums]

20 minutes ago, shawarmalaw said:

Is there no business law courses in Ottawa ? What does the school specialize in

Although uOttawa law is the largest law school in Canada, it does not offer diverse business law courses. See this course search engine: (https://commonlaw.uottawa.ca/en/students/student-centre/course_search_engine) uOttawa law has particular strengths in public law and technology law. 

[AHappyLawyer]

Around 15% land in Toronto for corporate jobs:

 

https://ultravires.ca/2021/11/toronto-summer-2022-2l-recruit-numbers/

[gglaw]

10 hours ago, shawarmalaw said:

What is OCI

I’m sorry I was referring to this comment 

On campus interviews!! It’s when firms come to campus and interview the students for jobs, internships, etc! 

[easttowest]

Yes, you can. 

While not business-focused, there are a few business law-type courses simply because the school is so big. There are certainly more on offer than schools like Lakehead or UVic, though nothing like what I imagine Western would be like if it was as big as Ottawa. 

Bus Org is a required course. Then beyond that you can take Securities, Secured Transactions, Commercial Law (though, not sure if necessary for anything), and three Tax courses. There are two Corporate Governance courses. You won’t learn much in the “applied” one but I actually found it a useful exercise in learning my way around disclosures. I think a Corporate Finance course is available as well but I could be wrong. 

Legal Drafting is not something you would think of as a business course but it was excellent and practical, and you could submit either legislation or a contract for your final project, so you could make it business-y if you wanted. 

You could also propose a directed research assignment to a professor. I wrote a paper on a securities law issue. It proved to be a good foundation for me since I now do a lot of securities litigation. 

So there’s stuff there if you want to do it.   However, I did get annoyed at course selection time since I’d taken most of what I thought would be useful in my career. 

But! On the other hand, why not enjoy the opportunity to learn some new stuff? You’re going to have to do this shit forever and much of it you’ll learn on the job anyway. My favourite law school class was Sentencing, which I took on a whim since I had to fill my schedule with something. 

Edited February 4, 2022 by easttowest

[blackeye]

On 2/4/2022 at 11:07 AM, easttowest said:

Yes, you can. 

While not business-focused, there are a few business law-type courses simply because the school is so big. There are certainly more on offer than schools like Lakehead or UVic, though nothing like what I imagine Western would be like if it was as big as Ottawa. 

Bus Org is a required course. Then beyond that you can take Securities, Secured Transactions, Commercial Law (though, not sure if necessary for anything), and three Tax courses. There are two Corporate Governance courses. You won’t learn much in the “applied” one but I actually found it a useful exercise in learning my way around disclosures. I think a Corporate Finance course is available as well but I could be wrong. 

Legal Drafting is not something you would think of as a business course but it was excellent and practical, and you could submit either legislation or a contract for your final project, so you could make it business-y if you wanted. 

You could also propose a directed research assignment to a professor. I wrote a paper on a securities law issue. It proved to be a good foundation for me since I now do a lot of securities litigation. 

So there’s stuff there if you want to do it.   However, I did get annoyed at course selection time since I’d taken most of what I thought would be useful in my career. 

But! On the other hand, why not enjoy the opportunity to learn some new stuff? You’re going to have to do this shit forever and much of it you’ll learn on the job anyway. My favourite law school class was Sentencing, which I took on a whim since I had to fill my schedule with something. 

Thanks so much for sharing! Can I ask if you pursued business law for your summer student position? If that's where you're at in your journey yet. + if it's been especially difficult to secure a job in business law.

[easttowest]

54 minutes ago, blackeye said:

Thanks so much for sharing! Can I ask if you pursued business law for your summer student position? If that's where you're at in your journey yet. + if it's been especially difficult to secure a job in business law.

In my 1L summer I was fortunate to work at a small law firm (3 lawyers) run by relatives. I did limited work on a small deal (~$1M), some research, wrote some demand letters, took cheques to the bank, worked on materials for a JR. 

In 2L I did the structured recruit, was hired, and summered, articled, and now work at my current firm. So I was hired in the first semester of 2L and none of the courses I took mattered really. 

[blackeye]

10 minutes ago, easttowest said:

In my 1L summer I was fortunate to work at a small law firm (3 lawyers) run by relatives. I did limited work on a small deal (~$1M), some research, wrote some demand letters, took cheques to the bank, worked on materials for a JR. 

In 2L I did the structured recruit, was hired, and summered, articled, and now work at my current firm. So I was hired in the first semester of 2L and none of the courses I took mattered really. 

That's amazing - congrats!! Are you happy you attended Ottawa? Would you go back and change schools if you could?