Queen's JD vs uOttawa JD/Master of International Affairs

[Travis Tanner]

Hi everyone,

First of all, I have been accepted to both of my top choice programs, but now I have to pick one of the two. Some background, I have not decided what I would love to practice law in yet, but it is between international law/foreign affairs and corporate law. Both programs are equally appealing to me, and I am having a hard time deciding.

If anyone could point out something that can help me make this decision, I would really appreciate it. Thank you so much in advance!

Edited April 5, 2023 by Travis Tanner

[RuleOfBlah]

1 hour ago, Travis Tanner said:

Hi everyone,

First of all, I have been accepted to both of my top choice programs, but now I have to pick one of the two. Some background, I have not decided what I would love to practice law in yet, but it is between international law/foreign affairs and corporate law. Both programs are equally appealing to me, and I am having a hard time deciding.

If anyone could point out something that can help me make this decision, I would really appreciate it. Thank you so much in advance!

If you're leaning at all towards international law, I might be more inclined to suggest picking Ottawa. From my experience at the University, Ottawa is preeminent in the international law field. There are a lot of volunteer/fellowship opportunities available in international law as a result of being in the country's capital. However, if you're leaning more the corporate way I think both Ottawa and Queens are pretty comparable in this field (someone please correct me if I'm wrong). I do know that in terms of the corporate law recruits, Ottawa and Queens place similar amounts of students. All of this is to say congratulations, you have a tough choice before you but this is a huge accomplishment and both schools are likely to set you up for success in either field. 

[Chef Justice]

8 minutes ago, RuleOfBlah said:

However, if you're leaning more the corporate way I think both Ottawa and Queens are pretty comparable in this field (someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

Queen's would be the better school for corporate law, as at least for the Toronto Recruit, firms have more OCI spots for Queen's students and more (and a larger percent) of Queen's students land in the recruit. 

[Turtles]

2 hours ago, Travis Tanner said:

I have not decided what I would love to practice law in yet, but it is between international law/foreign affairs and corporate law.

Have you ruled *in* that you have to practice law? Would you be happy with policy-related or other government role that is more focussed on foreign affairs? Global Affairs Policy Analyst, Foreign Services Officer, an intelligence agency or overseas liason officer, or even like an IRCC role in camada or abroad, etc? If those tickle your fancy and you may be able to achieve them with just a 1-year masters, rather than go 4 years for the joint program and do articling, to only then (2028?) land in a role you're not passionate about but feel obligated to do to justify the loans/expense, rethinking what you're embarking on may be in order. If your French is weak, or lack a third language (e.g.  Arabic, Chinese, etc), some language training may be more bang for your buck than law school (if non-lawyer global affairs related stuff is your aim).

Now, if you definitely want to practice law (for whatever reason) and still want to touch on global affairs, my understanding is most of the international law opportunities (with global NGOs and the UN and such) require an LLM (often because most countries don't require a bachelors degree to do law school, so most of your competitors for those spots could finish law school plus an LLM by age 22). If youre set on that path and an LLM is needed (check this out first), you may want to hold off on the master of international affairs until at least you do law school and an LLM and first try your hand at getting into your desired role with just the jd + llm. 

With all that said, almost everyone I've ever heard of suggest they wanted get into international law quickly changed their tune once they realize what that actually means and how few spots there are.

For corporate, for me it would hinge on where you want to live. Queens students land on Bay St at twice the rate of Ottawa students. But Ottawa students dominate in Ottawa recruit.

Note, if you find yourself tacking on a ton of schooling (already have a bachelors, now tacking on a jd, maybe masters, maybe llm) and need to rely on debt to fuel that, you may push yourself to needing to pursue corporate for financial reasons anyways, despite the added degrees. Maybe you value education for the sake of education, or maybe it's just personal interest, or maybe you have the money / rich parents, but keep in mind that the greater the cost to achieve, the greater reward needed to justify it (whether financial, personal satisfaction, or otherwise). So if money is a consideration, figure out what is actually feasible vs what's a pipe dream -- preferably before you spend the money.

 

[Travis Tanner]

Thank you everyone for your input, it is definitely helpful and hopefully, I can make a decision soon. By the way, you all have given me some new perspective/thinking to consider.

 

Cheerios!