60 replies to this topic

[Ender]

University of Alberta.

1. Student Legal Services. Open to anyone who wants to participate. There are four projects: (1) Criminal, (2) Civil/Family, (3) Pro-Bono, and (4) Legal Education. Excellent means of obtaining some
practical experience, and you can volunteer every year if you want. By the end of your first month, your ability to hold a matter over will be equal to that of any seasoned lawyer; your trial skills, not so much.

2. Judge Shadowing Program. Each year you can sign up to shadow a Queen's Bench judge for the day as they work their cases. Participants get a tour of the courts and a
behind-the-scenes look at pre-trial conferences and chamber motions. Small groups of 3-4 ensure an intimate setting with ample opportunity to take the judge aside and ask them what they got on their LSAT. I think the judge also takes you to
lunch, which would be a good chance to bend their ear re: your judicial pipe dreams.

3. The Law Building. The law building--which, next to the NORAD command center in Cheyenne Mountain, is the only known structure
capable of withstanding a direct nuclear hit--allows you to spend less time worrying about a first strike scenario when you should really be studying for hypothetical tort scenarios.

4. Steve. Barrista extraordinaire and owner of the Hello My Friend cafe in the law center. Possibly the nicest man in the in the
universe. If Steve's essence could be captured and released into the world's water supply, there would be no more need for lawyers, as all conflict between people would come to an end.

5. The weather. These penguins are seen fleeing Edmonton to migrate to the warmer climes of Antarctica for the winter. Completing your JD here will allow you to turn up your
nose at all weather complainers, save for those hailing from Yakutsk, Siberia.

6. Ender lives here.

I choose to stop at six. There are lots of other great features about the U of A (e.g., exchange/combined program options, school paper, law review, clubs, events, etc.), but these things are common at most, if not all, law schools. Maybe another student can finish the list, as I just got here.

[SaulGoodman]

Ender, on 30 November 2011 - 11:00 PM, said:

University of Alberta.

1. Student Legal Services. Open to anyone who wants to participate. There are four projects: (1) Criminal, (2) Civil/Family, (3) Pro-Bono, and (4) Legal Education. Excellent means of obtaining some
practical experience, and you can volunteer every year if you want. By the end of your first month, your ability to hold a matter over will be equal to that of any seasoned lawyer; your trial skills, not so much.

2. Judge Shadowing Program. Each year you can sign up to shadow a Queen's Bench judge for the day as they work their cases. Participants get a tour of the courts and a
behind-the-scenes look at pre-trial conferences and chamber motions. Small groups of 3-4 ensure an intimate setting with ample opportunity to take the judge aside and ask them what they got on their LSAT. I think the judge also takes you to
lunch, which would be a good chance to bend their ear re: your judicial pipe dreams.

3. The Law Building. The law building--which, next to the NORAD command center in Cheyenne Mountain, is the only known structure
capable of withstanding a direct nuclear hit--allows you to spend less time worrying about a first strike scenario when you should really be studying for hypothetical tort scenarios.

4. Steve. Barrista extraordinaire and owner of the Hello My Friend cafe in the law center. Possibly the nicest man in the in the
universe. If Steve's essence could be captured and released into the world's water supply, there would be no more need for lawyers, as all conflict between people would come to an end.

5. The weather. These penguins are seen fleeing Edmonton to migrate to the warmer climes of Antarctica for the winter. Completing your JD here will allow you to turn up your
nose at all weather complainers, save for those hailing from Yakutsk, Siberia.

6. Ender lives here.

I choose to stop at six. There are lots of other great features about the U of A (e.g., exchange/combined program options, school paper, law review, clubs, events, etc.), but these things are common at most, if not all, law schools. Maybe another student can finish the list, as I just got here.

7. Think of your long term future. Alberta has a better legal market and better economic outlook than probably anywhere else in Canada. In addition, there is no PST in Alberta. Every dollar you earn goes a little farther. Gas right now is under $1 here, which is probably 15 cents cheaper than the price from the area where I grew up.

8. U of A has some really good profs. Klar, for example, has been cited by the SCC and is an author of a national casebook (his area is torts).

9. Rugby. It's a good time. If you like sports that involve running into others and hitting them, you'll enjoy rugby.

10. Friday hockey. Every Friday the ice on campus is rented and the law students play a pickup game of hockey. This is in addition to the two law hockey teams that play in the campus rec league.

Sorry, no fancy links. I'm sure the readers of this can google something like "hockey" to see what it is though.

@#3, I was actually talking to someone the other day about how I would feel safe in the Law building if Edmonton was carpet bombed. And really, who could put a price on the value of that?

[Denning Jr]

SaulGoodman, on 25 November 2011 - 11:07 PM, said:

U of A's first year tuition is 11.4 K. Not much of a difference. At 11k I think UBC's tuition would be a fair bit cheaper every school in Ontario (except for maybe Windsor; I have no idea what they charge for tuition).

hefeweizen, on 25 November 2011 - 11:10 PM, said:

Did it just make a big jump? I thought in 2010 it was $9.5K ... maybe I was misinformed.

That 11k number was off the top of my head, but here's my tuition over the last three years:

2009: $10,580.38
2010: $10,824.12
2011: $11,295.99


So ya, fairly decent jump. On the plus side my textbooks have gotten cheaper every year (good course selection ) so that has helped some....

[Bike Tester]

Bump in hopes of someone doing one for Queens, Ottawa, Osgoode or U of T. I'm really curious about the relative strengths of those schools as I have to end up picking one.

[kiron]

Bike Tester, on 23 December 2011 - 12:22 PM, said:

Bump in hopes of someone doing one for Queens, Ottawa, Osgoode or U of T. I'm really curious about the relative strengths of those schools as I have to end up picking one.

same here

[Hegdis]

I will take a very dated stab at Queen's.

1. University town with all of the benefits of a bar scene tailored to students. Thursday, Friday, Saturday night everyone is out.

2. The profs were extremely accessible and went to a lot of student events. Specifically Corbett and Stuart, when I was there. Not above having a couple beers with you, really fun, laid back guys. Flanagan was awesome too and I think he's still the Dean.

3. Once the renovations were done they were really nice. I work better in a pleasant, professional atmosphere and I liked the law building for that. It is also super central on campus.

4. For weekends and weeks off the trains can take you anywhere - Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto... If you are from out of province I found plenty of fellow students and their families more than happy to have you over on Thanksgiving or whatever.

5. Princess St. is really quite pretty, especially when it snows and you're sitting in the Indigo upstairs overlooking it all (probably this is a Chapters now). In the fall the trees are something else.

6. The food in Kingston is really exceptional. Even the bar food is good. Woodenheads, Chein Noir, even the Toucan had tasty meals. And there was a bakery down Princess that I loved - like a deli with a couple tables in the back. If it's still there.

7. The student body is made up of a variety of hockey fans. Habs, Leafs, and Sens -along with some very vocal Canucks and Oilers fans. Games are good social get togethers all year and there is a lot of friendly shit talking and bet making.

8. The Castle is a summer program that takes place in England in an actual castle. It's all international law and it's an incredible life experience - if you can afford it. Absolute best part of my schooling and to me worth the debt.

9. The clinical opportunities are really strong. Kingston houses a number of prisons and if you are into criminal law or social justice generally, it can't be beat. There is a course that gives you credits as well as a volunteer clinic that involves civil, crim and housing tribunal matters.

10. Since you are in a small town, the social aspect of Queen's s one of it's biggest sells. You spend a lot of time with your classmates and the bonds you form are strong. It is not a commuter school. It's a ghetto. And the ghetto is fabulous.

(anyone, feel free to update me on this list)

[JessieL]

Hegdis, on 23 January 2012 - 06:19 PM, said:

I will take a very dated stab at Queen's.

Your list almost makes me regret deciding not to apply to Queens!

[schroed]

Flanagan is still the dean and it's still an Indigo on Princess street . I too have found professors pretty personable, which has been nice. Other great food is the Works, Harpers, Five Guys, and even Ta-Ke sushi (but expensive).

[Woo Harris]

Thanks Hegdis, strongly considering Queen's, most of that list seems applicable to the current situation, at least based on recruitment material they have sent out. Such a tough decision but I am leaning more towards Queen's every day.

[dlb]

JessieL, on 23 January 2012 - 07:37 PM, said:

Your list almost makes me regret deciding not to apply to Queens!

Well damn...why didn't I apply to Queen's?!

[kiron]

Lol, I've been at Queen's for 6 years now (undergrad and Masters) and no way am I staying
But those points are all valid.

Edited by kiron, 24 January 2012 - 07:38 PM.

[erinl2]

kiron, if you have a look back through the Osgoode and U of T forums, you'll find similar discussions and posts by longtime members who attended each of those. Uriel, Pyke and I have posted extensively through the years about U of T and Whereverjustice has done the same about Osgoode. It just takes a little digging.

[Phoenix-Wright]

As a Queen's undergrad, I can attest to the fact that Hegdis's list is very accurate. Queen's has a great campus and Kingston can indeed be a fun and charming place to live.

[schroed]

kiron, on 24 January 2012 - 07:38 PM, said:

Lol, I've been at Queen's for 6 years now (undergrad and Masters) and no way am I staying
But those points are all valid.

I've met a few people who are upper years here and also did their undergrads at Queen's. I'm not sure I could do the same! However, it still speaks to how much people (at least certain people) like this place.

[Hegdis]

Phoenix-Wright, on 25 January 2012 - 06:31 PM, said:

As a Queen's undergrad, I can attest to the fact that Hegdis's list is very accurate. Queen's has a great campus and Kingston can indeed be a fun and charming place to live.

One thing I was impressed by was the quality of off-campus housing available. While some of the undergrad houses in the ghetto were pretty poor, all of the law students seemed to land pretty neatly on their feet. That or they took up in the Grad Res (is it still there?) which was a decent dorm kitty corner to the law school so you could wake up at 8:20 and make your 8:30 class.

[wickedsis]

So, uhhhh... when people say "unfortunately, hipsters and pretentious people" do they really mean "unfortunately, people who are more attractive and wealthier than me?"

I have a hard time imagining dyed in wool NYC hipsters, more interested in going to shows and drinking under bridges, doing well at UBC Law. But I can definitely imagine really attractive, well-dressed people at UBC Law. It's Vancouver. You're going to get a lot of rich folk.

[schroed]

Grad res in the JDUC is still there....definitely jealous of those who can walk across the street to class. But to be fair, Hedgis is right; there's some great off-campus housing close by-I love mine! It's just a matter of finding a place before others do first.

[orion88]

wickedsis, on 04 February 2012 - 03:55 AM, said:

So, uhhhh... when people say "unfortunately, hipsters and pretentious people" do they really mean "unfortunately, people who are more attractive and wealthier than me?"

I have a hard time imagining dyed in wool NYC hipsters, more interested in going to shows and drinking under bridges, doing well at UBC Law. But I can definitely imagine really attractive, well-dressed people at UBC Law. It's Vancouver. You're going to get a lot of rich folk.

LMAO have you never been to Vancouver, or UBC?

1) We were voted the worst dressed city because when it comes to dressing the majority of vancoverities (and ubc students) are lazy as hell.

* I will say this though, it's pretty hard to find someone from East Asia that isn't wearing designer clothing...now whether there knock off's or not is another matter entirely.

2) Attractive? I guess it depends how you define attractive. But Vancouver is a city, so yes, if you got downtown to Granville friday night you will probably labour under this illusion, but on the average day there are a lot more unattractive people than attractive people in Van.

3) What does being rich and attractive have to do with doing well in law school? Perhaps after graduating I can see the relevance, but in law school it's not going to be much help IMO.

4) UBC IS HIPSTER CENTRAL. PERIOD. Don't ask me why, it just is. We attract them like fruit flies to spoiling fruit...the only competition we have in that regard is probaly UVIC...

[West Coast Express]

orion88, on 04 February 2012 - 10:19 AM, said:

4) UBC IS HIPSTER CENTRAL. PERIOD. Don't ask me why, it just is. We attract them like fruit flies to spoiling fruit...the only competition we have in that regard is probaly UVIC...

The law school, however, is not. I could count the number of "hipsters" at UBC Law on two hands.

[Denning Jr]

West Coast Express, on 04 February 2012 - 11:45 AM, said:

The law school, however, is not. I could count the number of "hipsters" at UBC Law on two hands.

This is a relative statement. Law schools anywhere are WASP nests, so even mild deviations from the mean are noticeable.

As for hipsters, from urban dictionary.
hipster 3150 up, 1231 down
Referring to young people of around 18-30 years of age, who drink cheap beer (most often Pabst Blue Ribbon, on occasion Budwiser), smoke Parliaments, Lucky Strikes or hard to obtain foreign cigarettes (such as Gauloises) and take recreational drugs, coke being the most popular. Use a great deal of sarcasm, claim to be ironic. Are usually less than 5% body fat, drink copious amounts of coffee and eat children's cereal. Listen to Indie Rock, rely heavily on Pitchfork Media to tell them what's cool. Don't dance at concerts. Wear a mixture of thrifted clothing and items bought at American Apparel (commonly Tri-blend v-necks) and Urban Outfitters. Extremely tight jeans worn by both sexes, pairing these with either a band or b-movie t shirt and a plaid shirt/v-neck and a cardigan along with Nike hi-tops/Vans/Keds. Females often wear retro style dresses and racerback tank tops without bras. Eschew public transport and instead choose to ride fixed-break bikes. Often claim to know about literature and film - will have googled a good deal of Vonnegut and French New Wave cinema.


There's certainly a few of those at UBC law.

[wickedsis]

orion88, on 04 February 2012 - 10:19 AM, said:

LMAO have you never been to Vancouver, or UBC?

1) We were voted the worst dressed city because when it comes to dressing the majority of vancoverities (and ubc students) are lazy as hell.

* I will say this though, it's pretty hard to find someone from East Asia that isn't wearing designer clothing...now whether there knock off's or not is another matter entirely.

2) Attractive? I guess it depends how you define attractive. But Vancouver is a city, so yes, if you got downtown to Granville friday night you will probably labour under this illusion, but on the average day there are a lot more unattractive people than attractive people in Van.

3) What does being rich and attractive have to do with doing well in law school? Perhaps after graduating I can see the relevance, but in law school it's not going to be much help IMO.

4) UBC IS HIPSTER CENTRAL. PERIOD. Don't ask me why, it just is. We attract them like fruit flies to spoiling fruit...the only competition we have in that regard is probaly UVIC...

I guess I hang out with a very different crowd from you guys in the city, having grown up living in Shaughnessy. I went to UBC, and Vancouver is abnormally good-looking, well-dressed, and healthy amongst its upper-class, both East Asian and not. Spend any time in any other city in Canada, and you'd recognize how well-dressed some of these people are.That designer clothing is real. Those East-Asians are loaded.

Anyway, I never had a problem with hipsters as I don't run in that crowd at all. They didn't seem to be too academically successful, though, hence my wondering how they made it into the Law school. Oh well. I'll gladly smoke cheap cancersticks and debate wikipedia summaries with them. It'll be fun.

[jessicamelody]

someone please do western or osgoode!

[kiron]

I can do one for Calgary based on what the current students say:

1. Small class sizes so everyone should know everyone

2. No Provincial Sales Tax

3. Student Legal Aid, an awesome service and great for experience in helping out the community and first hand legal experience

4. Relatively tutition and lots of bursaries!

5. Located and have easy access to the 2nd largest legal market in Canada

6. Strong collegial environment (some on this forum debate this)

7. Awesome if you want to work in the energy and oil field

8. 99% articling rate (according to U of C website anyway)

9. Hall was refurnished back in 2008 so it's fairly modern

10. Living in a relatively young city and fast growing city!

[LikeThat12]

schroed, on 23 January 2012 - 07:49 PM, said:

Flanagan is still the dean and it's still an Indigo on Princess street . I too have found professors pretty personable, which has been nice. Other great food is the Works, Harpers, Five Guys, and even Ta-Ke sushi (but expensive).

There's a Five Guys in Kingston!?!?!?! Sold!

[schroed]

lol sorry for the off topic, but we have 3 pretty good burger places: Five Guys (greasy and delicious) as well as Harper's and The Works (more gourmet).

[Phoenix-Wright]

LikeThat12, on 01 March 2012 - 01:45 PM, said:

There's a Five Guys in Kingston!?!?!?! Sold!

Yeah, its really good. Queen's Law is thinking of including that as a selling point in their brochure for next cycle.

[Maven]

jessicamelody, on 23 February 2012 - 10:23 AM, said:

someone please do western or osgoode!

you really want Osgoode eh?

i'll hook you up...

#1 - the location
#2 - campus safety
.............hahahahahahah sikkkkkkkkkkkkkkke


i'll do it for real now (yes i actually go there)

#1 - The New Building - its awesomeness, nice big new library, lots of areas to sit and hang out, a caffe., etc., Yes, everything is branded, which some hipsters do not like, we haven't named the washrooms after a donor yet like harvard law school, when i make it big that will be my legacy. So yes, nice brand new building, consider that vs. listening to a drill and hammer at UofT law in the next few years.


#2 Clinical programs! larger in scope and variety than any other canadian law school has to offer and soon to be a manditory part of the ciriculum. So many ways to get involved, some programs combine external placements, others provide summer employment on top of committment during the school year.....they are a great experience and doing one means less actual law school courses that you have to take! trust me, after first year, you will want to see as few 100% exams as possible.

#3 course selection ------- osgoode has the largest number of law course offering you can find! You can take just about anything, if you find your passion early on you can really specialize. You can take joint- JD/graduate seminars with students from other departments, you can take some classes at ryerson if you live downtown, You can take so many cool seminars just for the learning experience, law of the arctic! JAG - military law! law of war! animal law! Yesssssssssssss!

#4 networking opportunities...........since we are in toronto (ok....a post-apocalyptic wasteland on the fringe of toronto), there are so many great opportunities to network, during lunch hour there are always leading academics, lawyers and business people that come down to speak at events at the law school, there are frequent tours of firms, student group conferences, workshops at downtown firms, etc. etc.

#5 Professors - osgoode has great professors and many of the leading academics who have written the text-books on certain areas of the law. The professors really help make the experience at osgoode. We also get a great line-up of practioners that work in toronto and are able to take the time to teach at osgoode.

#6 The people- The class is so diverse! dat holistic approach.... i believe it makes it a more enriching and interesting environment. Class discussions are really engaging with the different perspectives that students bring to the school. You have former actors, muscians, police, investment bankers, you have PhDs, people in their 40s, people straight out of undergrad, people from obscure and under-represented areas, even a few poli-sci majors . The class is as ethnically diverse as you will find at most canadian law schools as well. I was amazed during orientation week how many cool people i met

#7 extracurriculars----- because of the large and diverse class, we have a ton of student groups, we have legal journals, a newspaper, athletics, etc. there are a ton of ways to get involved at the school, you can really find a group of likeminded people with similiar interests. For example If travelling to cool places is your thing, we have the international legal partnerships program that allows you to be a legal intern doing interesting work in developing countries over the summer. We have a fasion show, We have a "mock trial", where the artistic members of osgoode put on a great show of acting/dancing/singing.

#8 reputation and job prospects----- osgoode still has a great reputation in the legal community and has a huge alumni base. we have a long history and it is a great school to be coming out of for employment prospects compared to most schools. The student bodies varies greatly in its career interests, so you won't be surrounded by purely a bunch of bay street gunners or people that want to save the manatees.

#9 the JCR - we have our own common room that serves beer, great place to hang out, skip class, get drunk, pre-drink then go downtown for an osgoode pub night, good times.........

#10 i'm slowing down here.......because i go there? good looking york undergrad girls walking around campus? i'm out of ideas folks. that's all!!

Edited by Maven, 01 March 2012 - 07:24 PM.

[KER_2012]

Maven, on 01 March 2012 - 07:21 PM, said:

you really want Osgoode eh?


#3 course selection ------- osgoode has the largest number of law course offering you can find! You can take just about anything, if you find your passion early on you can really specialize. You can take joint- JD/graduate seminars with students from other departments, you can take some classes at ryerson if you live downtown, You can take so many cool seminars just for the learning experience, law of the arctic! JAG - military law! law of war! animal law! Yesssssssssssss!

Is animal law actually a course??

[schroed]

Although I don't go to Oz, I have a friend who goes there and have heard a lot of good things #s 1, 5-8!

[Maven]

KER_2012, on 01 March 2012 - 07:24 PM, said:

Is animal law actually a course??

well maybe not a specialize course in it but there is legal anthropology(which i think touches on some animal law), other classes touch upon cruelty to animals, protection of endangered species/environmental, etc.