Official Canadian Law School Rankings Forum

[someone99]

Common Law:

1.
Toronto

2.
McGill / Osgoode

4.
UBC

5.
Victoria

6.
Queen's

7.
Dalhousie

8.
Ottawa

9.
Alberta

10.
Western

11.
Calgary

12.
Saskatchewan

13.
Manitoba / New Brunswick

15.
Windsor

16.
Moncton


Civil Law:

1.
Montreal

2.
Ottawa

3.
Laval

4.
UQAM / Sherbrooke



From Canada's Maclean's Magazine (LinkRemoved), in co-operation with Professor Brian Leiter.

[law dog 2013]

Canada Sucks, Top 10 Reasons Ranked:

1. Canadians often are condescending about Americans, yet Canadians are no more than colder, snootier Americans.

2. Canadians often feel they have a local "cuisine" that is noteworthy, but it merely bad America junk food. Take
poutine, nothing more than soggy French fries shipped north of the border and two weeks later smothered with
spaghetti sauce or gravy. Get me some chili cheese tots asap, before I puke!

3. Canada is really cold. So cold there are plastic plants out in the summer.

4. Canada is really, really, really cold. So cold you can walk outside and feel your eyelids instantly freezing.

5. The province of Alberta bills itself as the "Texas of Canada," yet there are no deserts, no cacti, no Mexicans, no
Tex-Mex, no beaches, no spring break, and no sense of irony about it.

6. Canadians often feel they are better than Americans, yet they drive the same cars, wear the same clothes, watch the
same TV and movies, and love potato chips even more than Americans do.

7. Canadians apparently are incapable of irony (see 5 and 6). Thus, they have no understanding of any recent Western
cultural achievements. Instead, they believe the rest of the West (especially America) to be stupid. (See taste in
poutine; they are definitely onto something.)

8. Ottawa is the coldest capitol in the world, and Montreal is the world's snowiest city.

9. In Canada, everyone has great health care, but their teeth are terrible. (This is because Canadians love their uniquely
Canadian bad American junk food so much they have all decided to wear it in on their teeth for perpetuity, in
celebration of their un-ironic Canadianness.)

10. More people are depressed and on heroin in Vancouver than anywhere else in the world, and it is also the world
capitol for bestiality.

[A'nold]

I wonder if Canadian law schools allow transfer students........I'd definitely shoot one to U of T and Osgoode.

[law dog 2013]

I wonder if Canadian law schools allow transfer students........I'd definitely shoot one to U of T and Osgoode.

Don't do it! You are teetering on the edge of a great abyss....

[crazycanuck]

I wonder if Canadian law schools allow transfer students........I'd definitely shoot one to U of T and Osgoode.

They do. I saw a profile of a lawyer working at one of the big national firms who transfered from Cooley to Osgoode. Not sure how common transferring is though.

Also, there aren't too many people in Canada who care about law school rankings... including recruiters for the most part.

Lawdog13 is an idiot.

[freeflowfox]

lawdog13 is an idiot

Seconded...

[law dog 2013]

My brother is married to a Canadian, and he confirmed all of this.

Canada is actually a pretty cool place, but a lot of this stuff goes on, and it's pretty funny, imo.

Lighten up!

[crazycanuck]

My brother is married to a Canadian, and he confirmed all of this.

Canada is actually a pretty cool place, but a lot of this stuff goes on, and it's pretty funny, imo.

Lighten up!

Your brother is also an idiot. It clearly runs in the family.

[law dog 2013]

Clearly you miss the point. If my brother is really married to a Canadian and confirmed all mentioned on list, he'd probably have a hard time liking liking Canadians, so he'd probably not have married one. Yet he married one. Make sense? No. It's facetious, a joke.

Apparently I've offended you. Obviously you lack a sense of humor. True humor includes the ability to laugh at oneself, even if you are Canadian.

Isn't there a Just for Laughs Festival every year in Montreal?

[crazycanuck]

Clearly you miss the point. If my brother is really married to a Canadian and confirmed all mentioned on list, he'd probably have a hard time liking liking Canadians, so he'd probably not have married one. Yet he married one. Make sense? No. It's facetious, a joke.

Apparently I've offended you. Obviously you lack a sense of humor. True humor includes the ability to laugh at oneself, even if you are Canadian.

Isn't there a Just for Laughs Festival every year in Montreal?

I don't go. Laughing is for idiots.

[letsgojayhawks]

Canada Sucks, Top 10 Reasons Ranked:

1. Canadians often are condescending about Americans, yet Canadians are no more than colder, snootier Americans.

2. Canadians often feel they have a local "cuisine" that is noteworthy, but it merely bad America junk food. Take
poutine, nothing more than soggy French fries shipped north of the border and two weeks later smothered with
spaghetti sauce or gravy. Get me some chili cheese tots asap, before I puke!

3. Canada is really cold. So cold there are plastic plants out in the summer.

4. Canada is really, really, really cold. So cold you can walk outside and feel your eyelids instantly freezing.

5. The province of Alberta bills itself as the "Texas of Canada," yet there are no deserts, no cacti, no Mexicans, no
Tex-Mex, no beaches, no spring break, and no sense of irony about it.

6. Canadians often feel they are better than Americans, yet they drive the same cars, wear the same clothes, watch the
same TV and movies, and love potato chips even more than Americans do.

7. Canadians apparently are incapable of irony (see 5 and 6). Thus, they have no understanding of any recent Western
cultural achievements. Instead, they believe the rest of the West (especially America) to be stupid. (See taste in
poutine; they are definitely onto something.)

8. Ottawa is the coldest capitol in the world, and Montreal is the world's snowiest city.

9. In Canada, everyone has great health care, but their teeth are terrible. (This is because Canadians love their uniquely
Canadian bad American junk food so much they have all decided to wear it in on their teeth for perpetuity, in
celebration of their un-ironic Canadianness.)

10. More people are depressed and on heroin in Vancouver than anywhere else in the world, and it is also the world
capitol for bestiality.

This is exactly why I left America for Canada...sick of people like this.

On another note, this rankings surprise me. I was under the impression that UVic was considered to be better than UBC. And is there really that big of a difference between UBC and Ottawa? Aside from the enviro and Asian focus at UBC and the French option at Ottawa, I assumed they were regional equals.

[crazycanuck]

Canada Sucks, Top 10 Reasons Ranked:

1. Canadians often are condescending about Americans, yet Canadians are no more than colder, snootier Americans.

2. Canadians often feel they have a local "cuisine" that is noteworthy, but it merely bad America junk food. Take
poutine, nothing more than soggy French fries shipped north of the border and two weeks later smothered with
spaghetti sauce or gravy. Get me some chili cheese tots asap, before I puke!

3. Canada is really cold. So cold there are plastic plants out in the summer.

4. Canada is really, really, really cold. So cold you can walk outside and feel your eyelids instantly freezing.

5. The province of Alberta bills itself as the "Texas of Canada," yet there are no deserts, no cacti, no Mexicans, no
Tex-Mex, no beaches, no spring break, and no sense of irony about it.

6. Canadians often feel they are better than Americans, yet they drive the same cars, wear the same clothes, watch the
same TV and movies, and love potato chips even more than Americans do.

7. Canadians apparently are incapable of irony (see 5 and 6). Thus, they have no understanding of any recent Western
cultural achievements. Instead, they believe the rest of the West (especially America) to be stupid. (See taste in
poutine; they are definitely onto something.)

8. Ottawa is the coldest capitol in the world, and Montreal is the world's snowiest city.

9. In Canada, everyone has great health care, but their teeth are terrible. (This is because Canadians love their uniquely
Canadian bad American junk food so much they have all decided to wear it in on their teeth for perpetuity, in
celebration of their un-ironic Canadianness.)

10. More people are depressed and on heroin in Vancouver than anywhere else in the world, and it is also the world
capitol for bestiality.

This is exactly why I left America for Canada...sick of people like this.

On another note, this rankings surprise me. I was under the impression that UVic was considered to be better than UBC. And is there really that big of a difference between UBC and Ottawa? Aside from the enviro and Asian focus at UBC and the French option at Ottawa, I assumed they were regional equals.

They are which is why no one gives a shit about rankings.

[someone99]

New link (LinkRemoved), in case the old one was a draft and disappears in the future. Rankings are definitely not as important in Canada as they are in the U.S., since most schools north of the border tend to be more regional, but reputation is still somewhat of a factor when it comes to hiring.

I wonder if Canadian law schools allow transfer students........I'd definitely shoot one to U of T and Osgoode.

Both U of T and Osgoode accept transfer students, but I think that only Osgoode accepts transfers based on compassionate reasons (perhaps to maintain their bleeding-heart liberal image). However, the number of spots can vary from year to year, and I've heard that these two schools receive the greatest number of transfer applications in all of Canada, so it can be competitive.

[someone99]

2010 Rankings


Common Law:

1.
Toronto

2.
Osgoode

3.
McGill

4.
Queen's

5.
UBC

6.
Dalhousie

7.
Victoria

8.
Western

9.
Ottawa

10.
Alberta

11.
Saskatchewan

12.
Calgary / New Brunswick

14.
Manitoba

15.
Windsor

16.
Moncton


Civil Law:

1.
McGill

2.
Montreal

3.
Laval

4.
Ottawa

5.
UQAM / Sherbrooke


From Canada's Macleans Magazine (LinkRemoved) using methodology created in co-operation with Professor Brian Leiter.

[sundance95]

Post medians or GTFO

[20160810]

Post medians or GTFO

No, you

[im_blue]

Post medians or GTFO

1. Toronto 3.8 / 167 (based on best 3 years out of 4)
2. Osgoode 32% in 90th percentile = 164, so medians are roughly 3.6 / 162-163
4. UBC 3.8 / 164

[sundance95]

Post medians or GTFO

1. Toronto 3.8 / 167 (based on best 3 years out of 4)
2. Osgoode 32% in 90th percentile = 164, so medians are roughly 3.6 / 162-163
4. UBC 3.8 / 164

Canadian law schools are TTT.

Dunno about that, Toronto looks competitive with Berkeley.

couldn't resist

[niederbomb]

NYU
Chicago
Berkeley
Toronto
Penn
Michigan
Virginia
Northwestern
McGill
Duke
Georgetown
UCLA
Vanderbilt
Osgoode

[someone99]

Post medians or GTFO

Canadian law schools are completely different than American schools, and as such, the two sets can't really be compared. Medians don't mean nearly as much north of the border, especially since different schools use different methods of both determining and weighing GPA and LSAT scores, and many schools look a lot more at soft factors when granting admission. In terms of numbers, no Canadian school is comparable to the elite American ones (except for possibly U of T), but we also only have a couple of crappy schools as opposed to over a hundred of them.

[Mal]

Those medians are from last year, they have since increased.

Macleans rankings are terrible. And they don't make sense from the American perspective because ranking doesn't necessarily correlate with employment prospects. For example, Calgary (12) has some of the best employment prospects in Canada.

The schools are also regional, it is insane to go to UofT over UBC for Vancouver. Not only does it not place as well, but it is twice the cost ($23k vs 10k).

Toronto does allow international transfers btw.

PS. The Canadian legal market increased hiring during the recession for 2L summer positions in Toronto. There are about half as many per capita law seats in Canada as the USA. Further, our economy is one of the strongest in the world.

[imbored25]

Canada Sucks, Top 10 Reasons Ranked:

1. Canadians often are condescending about Americans, yet Canadians are no more than colder, snootier Americans.

2. Canadians often feel they have a local "cuisine" that is noteworthy, but it merely bad America junk food. Take
poutine, nothing more than soggy French fries shipped north of the border and two weeks later smothered with
spaghetti sauce or gravy. Get me some chili cheese tots asap, before I puke!

3. Canada is really cold. So cold there are plastic plants out in the summer.

4. Canada is really, really, really cold. So cold you can walk outside and feel your eyelids instantly freezing.

5. The province of Alberta bills itself as the "Texas of Canada," yet there are no deserts, no cacti, no Mexicans, no
Tex-Mex, no beaches, no spring break, and no sense of irony about it.

6. Canadians often feel they are better than Americans, yet they drive the same cars, wear the same clothes, watch the
same TV and movies, and love potato chips even more than Americans do.

7. Canadians apparently are incapable of irony (see 5 and 6). Thus, they have no understanding of any recent Western
cultural achievements. Instead, they believe the rest of the West (especially America) to be stupid. (See taste in
poutine; they are definitely onto something.)

8. Ottawa is the coldest capitol in the world, and Montreal is the world's snowiest city.

9. In Canada, everyone has great health care, but their teeth are terrible. (This is because Canadians love their uniquely
Canadian bad American junk food so much they have all decided to wear it in on their teeth for perpetuity, in
celebration of their un-ironic Canadianness.)

10. More people are depressed and on heroin in Vancouver than anywhere else in the world, and it is also the world
capitol for bestiality.

God Bless America