Top 5 Law schools in Canada?

[qsizzle]

I am curious of people's belief at what the top 5 Law schools in Canada are?

I'll start:

1. U of T

2. McGill

3. UBC

4. OZ

5. Queens

Just meant to be fun and get people's opinions. By no means am I looking for super in depth analysis like "Osgoode had 12.223 more OCI interviews over a 10 year span".

[Turtles]

Ryerson should be #1 for their innovative coding curriculum and convenient location, being the only law school in downtown Toronto and with part of its campus atop a Best Buy. Second is Bora Laskin for pioneering the Integrated Practice Curriculum, which much better prepares students for Davies than articling ever could. Third place is reserved for TWU if that initiative ever makes a comeback. To be completely honest, UBC would probably fall to the bottom three due to being so far geographically from Toronto.

Edited March 3, 2022 by Turtles

[MapleLeafs]

If you have Queens at 5, I would put Western right up there with it. 

[qsizzle]

2 minutes ago, MapleLeafs said:

If you have Queens at 5, I would put Western right up there with it. 

I was thinking that. But I applied to Queens but not Western... So it earned #5

[Ice]

Idk why you people keep doing these stupid rankings that have been argued and dragged on countless times. Everyone already knows what the tiers are with UofT/UBC/Mcgill/Os at the top, followed by the majority of other schools, and then the bottom tier which is Windsor Dual and maybe Lakehead depending on your interests. Such a redundant post and I don't see the point in baiting people to argue it

[Renerik]

In no specific order the top 5 schools are:
- McGill
- Laval
- UQAM
- Montreal
- Sherbrooke
UOttawa would have made the list as an honorable mention but they're in Ontario so dead to my PQ nationalist heart.

[qsizzle]

2 minutes ago, Ice said:

Idk why you people keep doing these stupid rankings that have been argued and dragged on countless times. Everyone already knows what the tiers are with UofT/UBC/Mcgill/Os at the top, followed by the majority of other schools, and then the bottom tier which is Windsor Dual and maybe Lakehead depending on your interests. Such a redundant post and I don't see the point in baiting people to argue it

Well @Turtles seems to disagree with you. So that's why we have this thread. To have a fair and open discussion.

3 minutes ago, Renerik said:

In no specific order the top 5 schools are:
- McGill
- Laval
- UQAM
- Montreal
- Sherbrooke
UOttawa would have made the list as an honorable mention but they're in Ontario so dead to my PQ nationalist heart.

Can you please install a 🤮 emoji on the reaction choices?

[Rashabon]

1 minute ago, qsizzle said:

Well @Turtles seems to disagree with you. So that's why we have this thread. To have a fair and open discussion.

Don't be a schmuck, it's not cute.

[mjslava]

1 minute ago, Ice said:

Idk why you people keep doing these stupid rankings

[Whist]

The top 5 law schools are, in very specific order:

1. The school I attend, for the sole reason that I attend it.

2. USask, because the grading curve matches the landscape I assume.

3. UBC because you can fling yourself into the ocean after an exam year-round and not freeze to death.

4. Lincoln Alexander because it’s a conversation starter each time it gets brought up.

 5. UofT because it gives all the Toronto stans a place to cluster far away from me.

Honourable mention to UNB, because they rejected me and that takes a sturdy spine.

[qsizzle]

I didn't give my reasons. I will now.

1. U of T- gets all the super smart Keeners and gives me a chance to succeed elsewhere.

2. McGill - has gill in the name implying a great ocean law program.

3. UBC - has all of that good, dank, sticky, potent, ...clinical opportunities

4. OZ- has the first ever color movie named after it.

5. Queens - everyone who attends becomes royalty. No one would go to a school called 'peasants'.

[CheeseToast]

I would put U of T, UBC, and McGill in category one. Almost all of the rest in category 2. The rest in Category 3. 

That's right Oz, Western and Queens, you're no different from the rest of us! 

Edited March 3, 2022 by CheeseToast

[mjslava]

1 hour ago, Whist said:

Honourable mention to UNB, because they rejected me and that takes a sturdy spine.

UNB rejected you? Did you insult them in your PS or something?

[СлаваУкраїні]

27 minutes ago, mjslava said:

UNB rejected you? Did you insult them in your PS or something?

"UNB is my number one safety school. I'd be honoured to attend if I don't get in anywhere else."

[Whist]

26 minutes ago, mjslava said:

UNB rejected you? Did you insult them in your PS or something?

As a snarky answer, it’s probably because I don’t have a connection to east coast Canada. As a serious answer, it’s probably because I don’t have a connection to east coast Canada.

[Darth Vader]

In a more serious post, I always find these ranking posts very corporate heavy and Ontario-centric with the exception of UBC and McGill. 

When you look at Ultra Vires employment across all markets, you see that some schools place across different regions. Dalhousie for example placed the same percentage of students as McGill in Toronto last year. Dalhousie also does well with clerkships.

UOttawa is another underrated school. I see UOttawa grads placing in Ottawa, Vancouver, and Toronto. UOttawa is also a better school for public interest jobs than some of the "top 5 schools" mentioned here. UVic is another underrated school. It has a respectable reputation no matter where you go and many UVic students are working in good public interest jobs. 

Queen's is a very overrated school on this forum. The jobs Queen's grads get are pretty similar to most other mid-tier law schools in Canada. Queen's does not have the best Big law placement rates nor does it have the best public interest placement rates. 

If people want to talk about rankings, they should think about the kind of jobs students get from these schools that are not just Big law. They should think about clerkship placement rates. And they should think about which law schools have the best lateral movement across Canada and is not just a good regional law school. 

[MapleLeafs]

1 hour ago, CheeseToast said:

That's right Oz, Western and Queens, you're no different from the rest of us! 

Oz has a national presence and it is undoubtedly a tier above Western/Queens. better big law placement, best clinical opportunities in all of Canada, and better clerkship rates 

[GGrievous]

I plugged them into a list randomizer and it put out the following:

UNB

McGill

Dalhousie

Queens

Windsor

even the randomizer ignores the West. 

[Pendragon]

1 minute ago, MapleLeafs said:

Oz has a national presence and it is undoubtedly a tier above Western/Queens. better big law placement, best clinical opportunities in all of Canada, and better clerkship rates 

More noteworthy alumni too I might add. A lot of judges and top-tier lawyers are from there. Oz also reigns in some areas of law because of its diverse course selection and clinical programs. If you're just Bay Street or bust, then it doesn't matter much if you go to Oz, Western, or Queen's, but outside of this field I think Oz has a better presence in other fields and is more marketable. 

[GGrievous]

12 minutes ago, Darth Vader said:

They should think about clerkship placement rates. And they should think about which law schools have the best lateral movement across Canada

Get out of here with your “in depth analysis”. Say some schools at random or get out! 

[Darth Vader]

2 minutes ago, Barry said:

Get out of here with your “in depth analysis”. Say some schools at random or get out! 

Forgive me sir for trying to bring some level-headedness and sanity into this thread. 

I forgot to mention that Ryerson is in the top 5 law schools, because it is so innovative that a student in its inaugural class is already suing for $750,000. So Ryerson is making headlines for all the right reasons!

https://www.thestar.com/amp/news/gta/2021/12/07/he-was-the-poster-child-for-torontos-newest-law-school-hes-now-filing-a-750000-human-rights-complaint-against-it.html 

[Lawstudents20202020]

I think we should rank them alphabetically, starting with the letter T. 

[GGrievous]

5 minutes ago, Lawstudents20202020 said:

I think we should rank them alphabetically, starting with the letter T. 

agreed

1. The Lincoln Alexander School of Law 

[Evolution]

22 minutes ago, Darth Vader said:

I forgot to mention that Ryerson is in the top 5 law schools, because it is so innovative that a student in its inaugural class is already suing for $750,000. So Ryerson is making headlines for all the right reasons!

https://www.thestar.com/amp/news/gta/2021/12/07/he-was-the-poster-child-for-torontos-newest-law-school-hes-now-filing-a-750000-human-rights-complaint-against-it.html 

Memes aside, my take on this situation is synonymous to what this person said about a month ago on the forum:

"Is that article supposed to support your argument against Ryerson? Because that guy is a 37 year old man that got into law school without a degree and a criminal conviction, who received the second largest scholarship at Ryerson valued at 10k (the first was given to a Black woman), raised 40k through GoFundMe, received another 12k in bursaries, and was given a free dorm. He also failed his first year of law school and was given the chance to redo it. He claims that he was misled by Ryerson marketing itself as a social justice school when it has a Bay Street focus. This is not unique to Ryerson as anyone in law school can tell you that most employers participating in the OCI process are in corporate, and at the end of the day, people just want a job.

I'm with Ryerson on this one. If anything, they should have given the money to other deserving students in the program that come from working class and marginalized backgrounds."

Their name was Darth Vader I think - I like what they say on this forum!

 

Proximity to Wildeboer Dellelce is the most important factor in my opinion: 

1. Ryerson

2. UofT

3. Osgoode

4. Everyone else

[Renerik]

People are about to catch bans if I don't start seeing more civil law schools in these rankings.