I don’t have an answer but this is something that should matter in the grand scheme of things. I know someone that graduated law school 10 years ago, still has their line of credit and has been dumb enough to not establish an emergency fund. If they get let go from their firm, they are effectively fucked.  If you can find any way to minimize your debt, do it. Prioritize your private debt in contrast to government student loans.  I think that our law schools need to be more proactive in having a mandatory session on finances in orientation. We no longer have rock bottom interest rates and financial instability will impact your ability to practice as a lawyer. I think in at least one province you have to report if you have filed a consumer proposal and will be marked with a restriction on practice.  I commend you for thinking about this now instead of afterwards. I am trying to pay off my line of credit that I have used before I am done law because it stresses me out that much. Applying for bursaries and scholarships as much as I can.   

I think that sometimes people answer questions without knowing what they are talking about. CIPP/C holds some weight. I have been told as much by lawyers practicing in privacy law. It demonstrates knowledge, and indicates a commitment to the practice area.  Unlike a course based certificate, CIPP/C you have to pass a knowledge based exam. It’s not something that someone can accomplish in a weekend to pad their resume.    I can’t speak for the other certificates. The CSC is stupidly easy I hear (well that was many years ago I heard that so things might have changed). If you are not interested in securities work it may be pointless but otherwise the privacy stuff is relevant to everywhere you work unless you have a privacy officer that takes care of it all (but still good to know). A lot of privacy law work is breach management/reporting. Older has a monthly privacy call if you are interested in this and it’s quite good. 

J'ai été accepté a L'UdeM ce soir a minuit. Je suis une ppliquante universitaire avec un baccalaureat en science politique. Terminé avec 3.5/4.0 de McGill. J'ai accepté l'offre et je vous souhaite tous une tres bonne chance 🙂

uOttawa's median is around 3.7/158 (I heard some professors said the median in recent years increased a little bit.) Still, your cgpa is strong and you shouldn't worry to much about it. Just try to score above 158 and write a good personal statement, then you will be fine!

Hi Everyone! I am a third year and have a cGPA of 3.61, I am a bit worried since usually a competitive GPA is 3.7. I have decided to slow down with school and do five years to help higher my GPA since I have to work. My dream school is UOttawa. What LSAT score would I need to get a spot there? It is worth mentioning I have incredibly strong softs, a triple major writing a thesis on law, and great future recommendation letters.  

Arguing and clarifying a position was not a sign of disrespect at all.  Thank you for pinpointing other aspects. 

While it's entirely fair to want to see how working in a firm/being a lawyer is before shelling out a bunch of time and money for law school, I don't think becoming a legal assistant or paralegal for that sole purpose is the way to do it. It's just a completely different job. It's like trying to become a dental hygienist to get experience in a medical office before you decide whether you want to become a plastic surgeon. I'm exaggerating here but I'm sure you get the idea. I think the better way to hear about what being a lawyer is like is to research what lawyers say about their lives, read some case law, get coffee with lawyers if you can, that kind of thing. It's not that you can't go to law school if you're a legal assistant first, but you're adding in an extra totally different job between what you do now and lawyerhood when it's unnecessary.  Depending on what province you're in, specific education for legal assistant/paralegal/etc roles may be required. It's great that you're getting interviewed, but that doesn't really refute the "spamming" thing, at least from my past experience interviewing for roles I had no business in. I agree that offering to volunteer in this context is a bit odd. Firms want reliable and knowledgable assistants. This isn't to say you're not knowledgable, but someone willing to take on such a role full time for free is odd, and someone doing it only casually wouldn't really appeal, so either way it comes across differently than I'm sure you intend.