Ask an Upper Year

[Ribbons]

FOLKS! Hello!

I haven't seen one of these threads in a while so I just thought I would make one as a current 2L at UofA. Pop your questions below we (or possibly just me if this website is no longer as active as it used to be) will answer your questions as best as we can!

 

[V_110]

Hi,

I am an upcoming applicant and UofA is one of my dream schools to attend. I was just wondering:

1) How you are enjoying UofA Law in general

2) How is the grading system like at UofA (e.g., is there any grading curve)

3) How the UofA 1L recruit was like

Thanks for doing this QnA session and I hope your 2L year goes great!

[ananonymousonion]

Thanks for doing this! I have a few questions:

1) What's the best part about living in Edmonton? What's the worst?

2) Do you have any experience with some of the student clinics (eg SLS)? How do you apply and how exactly do they work?

3) Does UofA "specialize" in any specific types of law (eg better faculty, unique opportunities)?

Best of luck this year!

[Rusty Iron Ring]

Hi, thanks for doing this! 

I am a graduate of UofA law.  Is it still absolutely awesome?

[Renerik]

14 hours ago, V_110 said:

2) How is the grading system like at UofA (e.g., is there any grading curve)

1L courses must have a class average between 2.7 and 3.0 (if you get a B, congrats, you're above average).

2-3L courses must have a class average between 3.0 and 3.3 (if you get a B, you're below average). 

While the grading policies don't set a limit on the number of As that can be handed out, all the 1L grade distributions I've seen have fewer than 25% A range grades with 0-1 A+ grades. 

Classes that have 5 or fewer people (moots and some seminars) have no imposed curve. The prof can give out 5 A+s if they'd like.

[Ribbons]

21 hours ago, V_110 said:

Hi,

I am an upcoming applicant and UofA is one of my dream schools to attend. I was just wondering:

1) How you are enjoying UofA Law in general

2) How is the grading system like at UofA (e.g., is there any grading curve)

3) How the UofA 1L recruit was like

Thanks for doing this QnA session and I hope your 2L year goes great!

Amazing!!! 

1) In general, I am loving it. It is by far the hardest I have every work but I enjoy learning and I truly do enjoy learning about the law. The community is pretty great too. I would say sometimes things can feel a bit like high school unfortunately, but most of the time I am learning wonderful things from my peers and having a great time.

2) There is a grade curve, it is harsh, and every year students have to go through the mental shitshow of learning how to do law school. As reference, I had a 4.2-4.3 GPA (on a 4.3 scale) for all of undergrad and my first year I got ~3.1 (which is above average...). It is a shock to the system lol I got a 3.6 last semester so I am improving (and the upper year curve is slightly higher) but the reality is that first year is TOUGH and getting solid grades is difficult. 

3) I didn't do 1L recruit but hopefully someone else has an answer for this!

20 hours ago, ananonymousonion said:

Thanks for doing this! I have a few questions:

1) What's the best part about living in Edmonton? What's the worst?

2) Do you have any experience with some of the student clinics (eg SLS)? How do you apply and how exactly do they work?

3) Does UofA "specialize" in any specific types of law (eg better faculty, unique opportunities)?

Best of luck this year!

1) Best part? I like the people and culture of the city. Campus is also lovely and the new law lounge is incredible. The worst part is honestly the political views folks have are sometimes ROUGH lol but mostly I find edmonton's transit to be the worst part as it is genuinely dangerous. I moved apartments after 1L because I felt unsafe on the train (for good reason sadly). To be clear, this is because Edmonton does not invest in social services (again politics lol).

2) Yea! I got involved with SLS. It is pretty straight forward. An email will go out about SLS in September and you sign up and will almost certainly get everything you sign up for (so make sure to only sign up for what you actually want to do). I did SLS Crim biweekly for first year and I quite liked it! Basically you will be assigned shifts to a particular day or days and on a weekly or bi weekly basis in either criminal or civil/family law (or a few other areas but those are the main ones). In terms of a detailed breakdown of their structure essentially you act as a support to a lawyer so you will communicate with clients, go to court, and carry out some minor responsibilities!

3) They have a ton of super cool specialities from Indigenous law to Energy/Environmental law. Take a look at the faculty page and peek at professor research in your are of interest or look at course listings (https://sites.google.com/ualberta.ca/law2022coursedescriptions/home?pli=1) as an indication of what is available!!

Edited January 18, 2023 by Ribbons
Grammar

[Ribbons]

7 hours ago, Rusty Iron Ring said:

Hi, thanks for doing this! 

I am a graduate of UofA law.  Is it still absolutely awesome?

I think so!! Steve is still working here and he has an amazing new cafe set up. The culture of the law school (like any law school) is still alcohol centred and (at times) feels like highschool but the vast majority of the time its been absolutely awesome.

[kollykibbler]

2 hours ago, Ribbons said:

The worst part is honestly the political views folks have are sometimes ROUGH lol but mostly I find edmonton's transit to be the worst part as it is genuinely dangerous. I moved apartments after 1L because I felt unsafe on the train (for good reason sadly). To be clear, this is because Edmonton does not invest in social services (again politics lol).

There is certainly some truth to all of this, as your experiences attest. However, it's important to keep in mind the rough views some people in Edmonton hold really have no voice in local politics. The city's mayor, Amarjeet Sohi, is a former Liberal cabinet minister. Edmonton overwhelming votes NDP in provincial elections. I would say the city is generally as progressive as Toronto, and a lot more progressive than Calgary. It's not so much that Edmonton doesn't invest in social services—the UCP doesn't. I'm also skeptical the LRT's problems can be entirely chalked up to a lack of funding, but I suppose that's another issue.

My apologies for derailing, and I don't mean to devalue anything you've written. But I do think it's important prospective students know all sides of the political situation when they're making their decisions.

[Rusty Iron Ring]

15 hours ago, Ribbons said:

I think so!! Steve is still working here and he has an amazing new cafe set up. The culture of the law school (like any law school) is still alcohol centred and (at times) feels like highschool but the vast majority of the time its been absolutely awesome.

You have no idea how happy this makes me.  

When I compared notes with friends who went to other schools, it sounded like we had very different experiences.  Our school (or at least my class) was super, super collegial.  I made so many great friends. 

But yes, highschool.  Everyone dated each other. And then everyone married whoever they were dating on graduation day. 

Edited January 19, 2023 by Rusty Iron Ring

[Whist]

On 1/17/2023 at 7:17 PM, ananonymousonion said:

Thanks for doing this! I have a few questions:

1) What's the best part about living in Edmonton? What's the worst?

2) Do you have any experience with some of the student clinics (eg SLS)? How do you apply and how exactly do they work?

3) Does UofA "specialize" in any specific types of law (eg better faculty, unique opportunities)?

Best of luck this year!

Another upper year here! I'll give my thoughts. 

1. Edmonton feels more laid back than other major cities I've lived in/been to in Canada. The summers are very beautiful here and I love how much sunshine there is year-round (even when it's quite cold). The river valley is lovely. It's also relatively affordable and I'm happy with the food scene. Something I don't like about Edmonton is downtown can be sketch and public amenities like the LRT can be sketch. The LRT is very reliable time-wise though. Also, if it needs saying, it can get extremely cold in the winter.

2. I've done multiple SLS projects both as a 1L and upper year, and clinics outside SLS. Most SLS projects, you apply in the Fall and you're practically guaranteed a spot. The bigger projects are Criminal and Civil/Family. With crim, you can get files as a 1L, but civil/family you're less likely to get your own files unless you do it as an upper year. There are other projects too, like Human Rights, Legal Education, Wills, and more, most of which you can do in 1L. Some of the small projects like Immigration don't run every year though. For the clinics not through SLS, you have to do a proper application and aren't guaranteed a spot, but they're usually done for course credit. Examples are the business law clinic, Innocence Canada, Mental Health Court placement, Utilities Commission placement, JAG internship, and so on. 

3. I'm not sure if there's a proper specialization, but you can browse course offerings (at least current ones) here: https://sites.google.com/ualberta.ca/law2022coursedescriptions/home . IMO, there's a lot of opportunity at UofA for stuff like criminal and family law, and a reasonable amount for corporate law, natural resources, and Indigenous law. There's at least one course for almost everything though. I'm willing to bet it's the case for many Canadian law schools, but most of the profs are very successful practitioners and/or are the type who went to HYS or clerked or were medalists. 

[Ribbons]

On 1/18/2023 at 7:01 PM, kollykibbler said:

There is certainly some truth to all of this, as your experiences attest. However, it's important to keep in mind the rough views some people in Edmonton hold really have no voice in local politics. The city's mayor, Amarjeet Sohi, is a former Liberal cabinet minister. Edmonton overwhelming votes NDP in provincial elections. I would say the city is generally as progressive as Toronto, and a lot more progressive than Calgary. It's not so much that Edmonton doesn't invest in social services—the UCP doesn't. I'm also skeptical the LRT's problems can be entirely chalked up to a lack of funding, but I suppose that's another issue.

My apologies for derailing, and I don't mean to devalue anything you've written. But I do think it's important prospective students know all sides of the political situation when they're making their decisions.

Haha you're definitely right; my description was very simplified. I lived right beside the leg last near and the combination of the truck convoy circling my apartment and the sketchiness of government centre station I have got the combo of bad experiences lol but genuinely Edmonton is overall pretty progressive it is just has done very poor policy & law in relation to transit safety.

[Khrisse]

Thanks for doing this, Ribbons. And congrats to everyone who’s admitted in this cycle! I’m a current 1L at U of A and happy to answer questions from anyone who’s accepted an offer or is considering it!