Dal vs Osgoode

[law7986889]

Hi all 🙂

I've been accepted at Dal but am waiting to hear from Osgoode. Wondering if anyone could weigh in with their experiences at the two schools as my decision will be between these if I get into Oz. I am from NS so Dal is appealing for being a little closer to family/friends, I also quite like Halifax. I would like to keep the doors to Bay St open, but I'm aware this could change once I get to law school.

Thanks in advance!!

 

Edited March 1, 2022 by law7986889

[theroaringbadger]

This. Also conflicted. Both schools have great environmental law programs. Both have clinics. Dal has stuff in marine law which not even Osgoode has. But Osgoode has a great name plus it’s in Toronto (where I want to practice) plus I’ve also heard great things about the clinic. 

[Pendragon]

20 hours ago, theroaringbadger said:

This. Also conflicted. Both schools have great environmental law programs. Both have clinics. Dal has stuff in marine law which not even Osgoode has. But Osgoode has a great name plus it’s in Toronto (where I want to practice) plus I’ve also heard great things about the clinic. 

Why does learning marine law matter if you want to work in Toronto?

Almost no one goes into environmental law. A lot of environmental law is just corporate law. 

[BlockedQuebecois]

11 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

Why does learning marine law matter if you want to work in Toronto?

Almost no one goes into environmental law. A lot of environmental law is just corporate law. 

A fair chunk of the maritime law in Canada is handled out of Toronto (and Montreal). BLG has a strong shipping practice, and both Fernandes Hearn and Isaacs, Odinocki are a Toronto-based boutiques in the area. 

I've touched a few shipping litigation files involving Canadian parties in the last little while, and none of the lawyers have been Halifax based—they're all in Vancouver, Toronto, or Montreal. Likely for the same reason all of England's big shipping files are run out of London, despite it being as landlocked as Toronto (i.e. that's where lawyers tend to be). We're not really like the US, where shipping practices are all run out of port cities.

I agree a lot of environmental law is a form of corporate law, but I don't think it's fair to say almost no one goes into it. I know a good number of people from my class at Osgoode who practice environmental law now. Certainly everyone I knew who did the joint JD/MES is practicing environmental law. 

Is it harder to get into than M&A? Certainly. But it's not impossible by any stretch. 

[Pendragon]

Osgoode JD/MES is the one exception I've noticed where a lot of people do go into environmental jobs, but many in environmental policy jobs as opposed to straight up practicing environmental law. I didn't know that about maritime law so good to know. 

Yea, I'd recommend the Osgoode JD/MES too for anyone that wants environmental law. I think I exagerrated by saying almost no one goes into it. In OCIs and articling recruit, there are maybe 10 environmental law jobs total. A lot of them do get scooped up by the Osgoode JD/MES students. You can also land them with a strong indigenous background. 

[theroaringbadger]

1 hour ago, Pendragon said:

Why does learning marine law matter if you want to work in Toronto?

Almost no one goes into environmental law. A lot of environmental law is just corporate law. 

I Do agree that environmental law is a subset of corporate law. I never said that I wasn’t interested in doing that. I was just saying that both Dal and Osgoode have environmental clinics. Dal’s is a little more diverse since they have marine/transportation law (a subset of environmental/corporate within itself that is interesting to practice) But then Osgoode is also obviously good as well (awesome clinic as well) being in Toronto which is where I want to practice. Ive heard great things about the profs there. I’m just having a bit of trouble deciding.