Thinking about becoming a lawyer? Then did you know it’s illegal in Victoria, British Columbia for street musicians to give balloon animals to children? Did you know that Canada’s criminal code states that anyone “offending a public place with a bad smell” is liable to two years in jail? Standing up for malodorous individuals has inspired a vast number of law students. Well, perhaps not.
What inspires you to go to law school? Are you sure it’s the right move for you? If you’re considering law school, take a look at some of these helpful online resources. There are also useful links for those who already have made the decision to attend law school.
Law School Admission Council’s (LSAC) Guide to Canadian Law Schools
This is hands down one of the best online resources for prospective law students. It’s official Guide to Canadian Law Schools offers a plethora of useful information. It’s a highly recommended resource for anyone pondering whether or not law school is right for them.
Law School Details
Canadian-universities.net offers links to every law school admissions department. The website also has a page about law school scholarships and awards, in case you would like some help in paying for law school. Chances are you would!
The Council of Canadian Law Deans provides links to every law school or law department in the country.
Jurist Canada is another great resource offering a comprehensive list of Canadian Law Schools. Besides links to law school homepages, it also provides links to the following useful sections of each school’s site:
- Faculty
- Law Journals
- Library
- Admissions
- Curriculum
- News & Events
Legal Specializations
Some people attend law school simply because they don’t know what else to do after obtaining an undergraduate degree.
Perhaps this is a poor choice, giving the cost, rigorous coursework, and amount of time spent in law school. To avoid making this mistake, check out these resources below, each of which provides concise descriptions of legal areas of specialization. If you’re not inspired, perhaps another profession will better suit you.
CampusAccess.com offers a short, concise description of law specialization areas. The website also offers a short, easy-to-understand article about Getting a law degree.
The University of Calgary Faculty of Law offers a very useful career advice web page which provides thorough profiles of different practices.
Canada Law School Rankings
Macleans’ law school rankings are based 50% on faculty quality and 50% on graduate quality. Graduate quality focuses on the success each law school has in producing graduates who obtain the most competitive jobs. The indicators used for this statistics include elite firm hiring, national reach, supreme court clerkships, and faculty hiring. Quality of faculty is based on faculty journal citations. Based on this model, the top 10 ranked common law schools for 2010 are as follows:
- 1. Toronto
- 2. Osgoode
- 3. McGill
- 4. Queen’s
- 5. UBC
- 6. Dalhousie
- 7. Victoria
- 8. Western
- 9. Ottawa
- 10.Alberta
The top ranked civil law schools are:
- 1. McGill
- 2. Montreal
- 3. Laval
- 4. Ottawa
- 5. UQAM
- 5. Sherbrooke
Should these rankings be a major factor in selecting a law school? Take the time to read the comments underneath the rankings.
The Canadian Lawyer Magazine has a section on its website called 4STUDENTS
Julia McDonald, a counselor at Athabasca University, has written a helpful piece called How to Become a Lawyer. Included in the article are solid pieces of advice and some other good links to peruse.
Vancouver Island University has put out an article called Are You Considering Law School? Well, considering the fact that you’re reading this article, this might be a rhetorical question!
Canadian Law School Forum
The Law Students forum is for Canadian law school students and prospective law students. Don’t be shy, ask some questions. You may get some astute advice. Yes, there’s a slight possibility you may get a snarky response.
Finally, if you’ve decided to go to law school but are still pondering what area of law to specialize in, here’s a sobering comment from Frank Addario, president of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association (Ontario) from a September 2009 article: “If you graduate law school with some idealism regarding the public service aspect of legal practice it’s a terrible time to choose that path. It’s very hard to watch your classmates make two, three, or four times what you’re making”.
The article’s author, Jeff Rybak, says, “The income gap between lawyers working in areas of public law and those in the corporate-commercial sector has never been wider. That pits the very motives that led many people to law school in the first place against the need and desire to earn a reasonable living.”
For aspiring lawyers, here’s a simple, yet vital question to answer: What’s more important to you: money or job satisfaction?
Brian Jenkins writes about careers in law, among other college and career topics, for BrainTrack.com.