The post below sparked interest to the editor of Law Times resulting in a substantial contribution to an article entitled New Law School Rankings ‘Incomplete’

Maclean’s Article: A Seriously Flawed Analysis

Recently, Dean Monahan sent out an email discussing the Maclean’s article on the first ever ranking of Canadian law schools’ performance. The dean noted that the methodology employed was flawed and that Osgoode’s third place finish in the ranking should not be taken so seriously because it does not take into account other factors that would determine a school’s performance in a ranking system.

In response to this email and the Maclean’s article, I decided to take it upon myself to do some research into the methodology utilized by Maclean’s to determine a law school’s performance. After considerable review, I agree with Dean Monahan’s sentiment and thus composed a letter to the editor of Maclean’s. Whether it will be published is at the discretion of the magazine, but nonetheless I felt it prudent that the students of Osgoode should know that there has been attempt to try and change the current performance ranking. My letter goes as this:

Dear Maclean’s Editor,

I am a third year law student at Osgoode Hall Law School. I recently read your article that ranked Canadian law schools and the methodology employed to base this ranking. After careful review, I feel compelled to write to you because I believe, notwithstanding the independent and non-reliance approach utilized for this ranking, the methodology is seriously flawed.Basing a large percentage of a school’s ranking on elite firm hiring is an invalid indicator to measure a school’s performance. Not to mention it has no bearing on the teaching environment, curriculum or the caliber of the school’s students.

At Osgoode we are taught that elite firm hiring is but one area we can venture to but not the only one. We have made great efforts to promote equality, diversity and fairness in our educational setting. There are many who easily fit the mold of the prototypical Bay Street practitioner in terms of high grades, intelligence, charisma and professionalism. However, many of these students choose a different career path either because they prefer to have a work-life balance or because they prefer to give back to their community, help public interest groups or service legal aid. Thus, measuring a school’s performance on elite firm hiring is no indicator of how good the school is nor does it gauge the kind of students it produces. Osgoode churns out a large number of graduates every year and each of them choose areas of law that best reflect their goals, values and ideas.

The promotion of the public interest is a ubiquitous sentiment at Osgoode. This has been most recently seen by the change of this year’s class curriculum. We now have a public interest requirement that must be completed by all law students in Osgoode before they graduate. The public interest requirement requires all students to complete forty hours of unpaid legal service to a particular group. Osgoode has set up an office to help students find these positions as well as to help them understand the purpose.

Osgoode takes pride in this new public interest requirement and Osgoode is the only law school inCanada that requires this for matriculation.

This new requirement is not the only area in which Osgoode promotes public interest work; we have a strong and vibrant Community and Legal Aid Services Program (CLASP). We also make an effort within the teaching faculty to promote pro bono work to the students. It is imperative that the moment a student walks into Osgoode that he/she is aware of the role they can play in the legal world.

When students first arrive at Osgoode they are all told what a privilege it is for them to be accepted into law school and in particular to Osgoode Hall Law School. At the same token we students are also told that this privilege must be respected and held to the highest degree. This means always giving back and helping others, being an ethical lawyer and representing the law profession in the best possible way.

Osgoode has a great social environment, diverse curriculum, distinguished teaching faculty, supportive administration and an approachable dean. To not consider this in a law school ranking, to me, is absurd. We shouldn’t measure a law school’s success or ranking on how many students get corporate jobs. We should measure it on how satisfied its students are with their experience at their law school of choice and the jobs they eventually get because of going to that school.

I appreciate the fact that I have based a lot of my points on my experience at Osgoode but I hope it will be something that you can consider for future rankings. Because I can tell you this, the majority of students leave Osgoode with a sense of achievement knowing they probably got the best law education, teaching experience and curriculum in the country.

There are obviously many more areas that I would like to discuss but for the sake of brevity I will keep it to this, whether Osgoode ranks first or last in a performance scale makes no difference to me. I know that I chose the right law school. The only concern I have is that many students may never have this opportunity or experience because they base their decision to attend a school on a ranking scale with superficial methodology.

Your opinion counts not to us as law students but to those who aspire to be great lawyers. It is your responsibility, as a media source, to hold this position with great accountability to your readers. I ask that the methodology employed for your first ever law school ranking be changed to incorporate a more comprehensive analysis of a school’s performance. Tantanda Via – the way must be tried.

Genuinely

Michelle Louise Simard