Environmental Law at U of T

[sufferingstudent]

Hi everyone! I'm hoping a current/past U of T student may be able to help me on this one. I'm waffling between UBC and U of T just because I'm fairly certain I want to go into environmental law. UBC has its own specialization, as well as a larger course catalogue for environmental law courses; U of T also lists it as a specialization, but has way less course offerings. I figure U of T, as the top law school in Canada, would still position anyone well to enter whichever field they want to, but if anyone has any experience with their environmental law courses, I'd love to hear about it! Did it feel like you gained an in-depth knowledge about different areas of environmental law, and was it easy (relatively lol) to find a position working in the field? This is the only hang-up I have - I don't want to pay the extra $20,000 a year if UBC would have been a better option for this area. 

Thank you in advance! 🙂

[Darth Vader]

Almost no one goes into this field out of law school, as there are very few opportunities. What are your alternative practice area interests?

For context, I researched this field in-depth when I was a law student and you can count the number of environmental law jobs in the formal recruits in Ontario on two hands. I disagree with the notion that just because U of T is considered the best law school in Canada, this makes it easier to work in any field. U of T is focused on jobs that come up in the formal recruits as that is where the majority of its students end up. I can name a handful of schools that have better environmental law clinics and course offerings than U of T. It also happens to be the case that these schools place the most number of students in environmental law jobs out of law school. 

UBC's class of 2020 report shows no one articling in environmental law and only 2 people articling in aboriginal law. The same goes for U of T if we are to go by their career statistics - https://www.law.utoronto.ca/student-life/career-development-office/career-statistics. In conclusion, absolutely do not make a decision based on your interest in environmental law because both U of T and UBC are not known for this field. 

[cpup630]

On 2/4/2022 at 5:07 PM, sufferingstudent said:

Hi everyone! I'm hoping a current/past U of T student may be able to help me on this one. I'm waffling between UBC and U of T just because I'm fairly certain I want to go into environmental law. UBC has its own specialization, as well as a larger course catalogue for environmental law courses; U of T also lists it as a specialization, but has way less course offerings. I figure U of T, as the top law school in Canada, would still position anyone well to enter whichever field they want to, but if anyone has any experience with their environmental law courses, I'd love to hear about it! Did it feel like you gained an in-depth knowledge about different areas of environmental law, and was it easy (relatively lol) to find a position working in the field? This is the only hang-up I have - I don't want to pay the extra $20,000 a year if UBC would have been a better option for this area. 

Thank you in advance! 🙂

did you end up making a decision? I was deciding between the same thing too!

[sufferingstudent]

On 3/1/2022 at 12:25 PM, cpup630 said:

did you end up making a decision? I was deciding between the same thing too!

Hey! Yes, I decided on UBC, though I haven't declined U of T yet juuuuust in case I change my mind haha. 🙂 

For me it ended up being mostly because it's cheaper, closer to home, and I'd rather work in BC than Ontario! I'd love to hear what you decide if you want to share.