Canadian BigLaw by Law School Forum

[someone99]

Here's some information about BigLaw composition in Canada: http://lawstats.xtreemhost.com/index.php

Specifically for Bay Street OCI recruitment, look at the chart on page 11 here: http://issuu.com/ultra.vires/docs/uv-no ... ipBtn=true

[someone99]

It should be noted that Victoria, Osgoode Hall and Ottawa are the law schools in Canada that are probably the most focused on social justice.

[Attorney]

York over U-Toronto and McGill huh? I honestly would not have seen that coming.

Actually, having found the Bay Street numbers, it looks like Toronto is at least tied with Osgoode. McGill is surprisingly weak. Too many francophones perhaps.

[serdog]

It should be noted that Victoria, Osgoode Hall and Ottawa are the law schools in Canada that are probably the most focused on social justice.

UVIC places very well outside of BigLaw, indeed many students find work by way of UVic Co-op program, with MUCH lower debt then our US counterparts we tend not to have a BigLaw or bust mind set. Also UVic general place super high in clerkships (sending large number of grads to SCC often ranking with Mcgill and UofT)

[someone99]

York over U-Toronto and McGill huh? I honestly would not have seen that coming.

Actually, having found the Bay Street numbers, it looks like Toronto is at least tied with Osgoode. McGill is surprisingly weak. Too many francophones perhaps.

When you account for class size, Osgoode is actually a distant third after U of T and McGill in Canada. For just Bay Street, Osgoode is a distant second after U of T.

[Binnie]

It's important to understand what these numbers mean. For example- one poster above originally thought that this showed that Osgoode placed best on Bay St. Of course, it only appeared that way because Osgoode has a lot more students. On a per capita basis, U of T does much better than Osgoode. In addition, UVic puts 1/3 of its students into co-op, which leads to a lot of government and other legal jobs across Canada and internationally (notably Bangkok and Paris), which lowers its chances. Finally, and probably most importantly, Canadian schools are very regional. As a result, the Ultra Vires results are obviously biased towards Ontario schools. McGill, U of A, UBC, UVic, Dal, and all the rest- which have relatively more students seeking local placements in their respective markets- presumably do better than U of T and Osgoode in their respective markets.

[Noval]

York over U-Toronto and McGill huh? I honestly would not have seen that coming.

Actually, having found the Bay Street numbers, it looks like Toronto is at least tied with Osgoode. McGill is surprisingly weak. Too many francophones perhaps.

Most McGill grads either come from Europe/Asia/U.S. and go back home after they graduate or they are French Canadians who plan to stay in MTL after graduation as MTL BigLaw basically guarantees them a job somewhere even with a 2.7(The only real competition McGill grads got when applying to MTL Jobs are basically from UdeM, other French Law Schools are pretty mediocre).

Also, many students don't have BigLaw in sight, as they will never have the amount of debt the average U.S. Grad will have and will enjoy much greater job prospects.

Though if you want Bay Street, and you're not from UofT, good networking will make a much bigger difference than anything else.

Every Canadian Law School worths it and places very well, if you want BigLaw, you can get it, from Moncton Law to UofT, from UQAM to UdeM, you just need the motivation to do so.

The only Law School to avoid in Canada is Thompson River, which is opening in kamloops(aka the middle of no where) and officially got the title of "Canada's first TTT".
Or maybe UBC, as it's full of gunners(Mostly Asians), if you don't want an horrible student-life and to study with complete sociopaths, don't go to UBC.