Osgoode vs. Ottawa Law

[Typewriter]

Hi everyone, 

I am debating between osgoode hall and Ottawa law and would appreciate any assistance. 

Some context: I am coming to law school with an interest of become a lawyer within the Ontario public service or a municipal/ regional government. Ideally, I would like to merge my interests of public policy and the law. Longer term, I would like to be a provincial leader in the Ontario renal network and trillium gift of life network. Keeping this in mind, I have narrowed my options to osgoode and Ottawa. I am struggling to figure out which school I should go to

So far, this is what I think. Please feel free to tell me if there is a piece I am missing. 

1. Recognizing that my interests my change I feel that osgoode is better prepared to offer a range of opperutnities in the event my interest changes. Osgoode wins here.

2. I am concerned that osgoode is skewed toward providing opperutnities in the corporate space. As someone who is not particularly interested in going to big law (as of right now), I am concerned that Osgoode does not have enough exprential learning opperutnities that I can leverage to become a competitive applicant when it comes to apply for the public service. (I feel like i am making an assumption here). Ottawa wins here (I think)

3. If I move from Toronto, I lose my network. I have worked with the ministry of health and am currently doing a masters at York. If I go to Ottawa, I am afraid I will lose my network and will not be able to leverage them when it comes time to apply for summer jobs and articling positions. Is this a valid concern?  Osgoode wins here.

4. Ottawa law is cheaper… Ottawa 100% takes the W here 

In all seriousness, my main concern is item number 2. Is this concern valid?

thanks for all the help! 

Edited January 23 by Typewriter

[SNAILS]

These types of questions are really tough for strangers to answer because, by the very nature of law school, we went to at most one of the two and have no basis for speaking about life at the other law school.

Neither school will have a big enough advantage over the other to outweigh personal considerations that only you can evaluate. It probably comes down to this: Where do you want to live for three years? 

[biffo852]

This is purely from vibes I've heard from practicing lawyers that I'm friends with. Ottawa is a strong public sector school. Lots of connections to the feds. Many justices and federal clerks come from Ottawa. That is not to say it is impossible to go corporate from Ottawa if you are so inclined, as there are Bay street partners and associates who went there. 

Osgoode does have a good corporate reputation. Definitely a lot of people go there for that as they are only second to U of T in 2L placements according to UltraVires. However, I have also heard that it's a great school for people interested in public service too. It's just a great faculty in general. Plenty of people including politicians, justices, and crown counsels came from Osgoode. 

If i got into both, I i would be happy with either, but I would likely choose Osgoode as it's very reputable, I like Toronto (I know, North York), and gives you room to pivot if you didn't want to do public. That being said, I have family ties in Toronto and went to school there before. If you can stay in Ottawa, save money, keep your network, I do think that it's not an insignificant factor. 

This is coming from someone who also wants to do public sector law/administrative law. 

[Scrantonicity2]

I'm a current Osgoode student and I was in Ottawa for my undergrad. Here are some disjointed thoughts you might find helpful.

There are a LOT of non-corporate opportunities at Osgoode, including experiential opportuntities in the public sector. So you wouldn't have to worry about that at Osgoode.

Re: Ottawa - cost of living (while not what it once was) is still quite a bit cheaper. There are also quite a few neighborhoods with student-friendly pricing that are close to OttawaU AND very beatuiful (subjective opinion obviously). Sandy Hill, Centretown, and New Edinburgh are all great, and I love Lowertown but it is definitely a little rougher around the edges than some folks prefer, so YMMV. I found it a great city to live as a student. One thing to be prepared for is that transit is MUCH WORSE than Toronto. Plan accordingly.

I honestly don't think that your current network will have much (or even any) impact on your job hunt, unless you currently work with lawyers. 

If I were you, I would focus more on which city you'd prefer to live in and whether you are ok with the significant additional cost of living in Toronto and paying Osgoode tuition.

[Typewriter]

Thank you so much @Scrantonicity2. Can give me examples of what kind of opportunities are there for students interested in the public sector? 

I have reviewed the clinics and the internships and I feel Ottawa has made a better connections. 

Thank you!

[Turtles]

On 1/22/2024 at 10:40 PM, Typewriter said:

2. I am concerned that osgoode is skewed toward providing opperutnities in the corporate space. As someone who is not particularly interested in going to big law (as of right now), I am concerned that Osgoode does not have enough exprential learning opperutnities that I can leverage to become a competitive applicant when it comes to apply for the public service. (I feel like i am making an assumption here). Ottawa wins here (I think)

 

I have a feeling these kids are going to be better positioned to leverage their Osgoode clinic experience than the average Ottawa clinic peeps 

https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/practice-areas/criminal/osgoode-hall-law-students-make-their-case-before-the-supreme-court-of-canada/372018

https://www.lawtimesnews.com/resources/legal-education/osgoode-hall-students-help-family-facing-deportation-win-permanent-residency-on-humanitarian-grounds/379152

[Scrantonicity2]

So, it depends a little on how broadly you interpret "public sector." If you mean working directly for government, you could apply for an Osgoode Summer Internship Program (OSIP) at MAG or Legal Aid Ontario. During my time at OZ, there have been placements available to satisfy the public interest degree requirement that involve government/public law. Legal clinics in Ontario, while they operate independanty, are mostly creatures of LAO and primarily government-funded - there are a TON of opportunities to work and volunteer at clinics.

Its also worth keeping in mind that while the federal public service is headquartered in Ottawa/Gatineau, the provincial public serve is headquartered in Toronto.

 

[Typewriter]

On 2/4/2024 at 6:34 PM, Scrantonicity2 said:

So, it depends a little on how broadly you interpret "public sector." If you mean working directly for government, you could apply for an Osgoode Summer Internship Program (OSIP) at MAG or Legal Aid Ontario. During my time at OZ, there have been placements available to satisfy the public interest degree requirement that involve government/public law. Legal clinics in Ontario, while they operate independanty, are mostly creatures of LAO and primarily government-funded - there are a TON of opportunities to work and volunteer at clinics.

Its also worth keeping in mind that while the federal public service is headquartered in Ottawa/Gatineau, the provincial public serve is headquartered in Toronto.

 

Thank you, this really helped. I reviewed the OSIP 2022 document and it the internships were fantastic.