Western vs. Ottawa

[Olive]

Hi everyone,

I am very excited to have been accepted to law school this year and have narrowed my decision down to Western and Ottawa. I am primarily interested in criminal law and I intend to work in Toronto during and after law school. I have spent the past 4 years working in both federal and provincial governments. I have worked closely with prosecution services at both levels of government and I strongly envision myself perusing this in my legal career. I am also interested in international human rights, and would love the opportunity to one day work for the UN. That being said, I am excited to begin law school with an open mind and intend to explore other career paths in addition to those stated above. I am having a difficult time deciding what school would provide the best opportunities, here are my thoughts so far:

 

Ottawa

Pros:

- Being located in the capital/close proximity to the SCC will provide unique opportunities for internships etc.

- My anecdotal LinkedIn research seems to show that many of the PPSC lawyers graduated from uOttawa Law

- Many interesting course offerings for both criminal and international law

Cons:

- The large class size concerns me when thinking about competing for internships, research positions, Jobs, scholarships, class ranking etc. 

- I have heard that the administration is not very organized and I find their website incredibly difficult to navigate. I attended the welcome day and found that some representatives from the career services office were not able to answer some of my questions about assistance with finding/applying to jobs so I am concerned that there wont be a lot of support offered in this area

 

Western

Pros:

- Much higher placement rate in the Toronto recruit (I realize that the Ultra Vires publications do not generally provide numbers for public sector jobs so it is difficult to interpret how this would impact me. In any event, Western appears to have a very strong presence in the Toronto market)

- Very organized and helpful administration as well as seemingly strong career services. Western has a lot of information on their website about international internships that they help students to apply for (this is of interest to me given my UN aspirations)

Cons:

- strongly focussed on business/corporate law which is of no interest to me

- I attended Western for my undergrad and therefore am not very excited to spend another 3 years in London.

 

If anyone has a personal experience with either school or any other relevant insight to share, I would be very appreciative!