Canadian Official Guide

Josephine-Spencer Niblett Building, London, Ontario N6A 3K7
Phone: 519.661.3347
Internet: www.law.uwo.ca | E-mail: lawapp@uwo.ca

View Important Information for Applicants to Ontario Law Schools.

Introduction

Western University, founded in 1878, is one of Canada’s top research-intensive universities. It delivers “The Western Experience,” an exemplary learning experience that engages the best and brightest people, challenging them to meet ever-higher standards in the classroom and beyond. Our main campus, considered to be Canada’s most beautiful, spans 400 acres. From our home in London in the heart of southwestern Ontario, and outward across every continent, Western prepares future leaders to succeed. With a population of more than 366,000, London provides both the vibrant “big city” experience and the safe and clean atmosphere of a small community. Affectionately known as the “Forest City” due to its numerous trees and public parks, London boasts an extensive trail system that runs along the Thames River right onto Western’s campus.

Western’s Faculty of Law offers a three-year Juris Doctor degree as well as combined graduate and undergraduate degrees in a number of disciplines. As Canada’s premier business law school, Western’s vision of business law is international, interdisciplinary, and innovative in its approach. For students interested in careers in other areas of law, our depth of faculty expertise, our rich array of academic, practical, and international educational opportunities, and our keen appreciation for the breadth and diversity of all dimensions of the modern law school curriculum, make the program at Western Law an exciting, dynamic, and enriching experience. Our students succeed in career paths as diverse as our course offerings. We have an abiding commitment to a vision of law that is mindful of the goals of human development and the demands of social justice.

Faculty

Academic excellence is at the heart of Western Law, and it starts with our 34 full-time and 64 part-time or adjunct professors. Our faculty scholarship is wide-ranging and boasts expertise in corporate law, international law, torts, insurance law, intellectual property, constitutional law, and legal ethics, among other areas. Our professors make important contributions to the law and public policy in Canada and the world through their scholarly research. They also value collegiality, providing students with significant opportunities to interact with them as academic and professional mentors.

Curriculum and Degree Programs

• JD: 90 credits required to graduate
• Over 100 courses offered
• Advanced courses offered in all areas of law
• Extended-time JD program available

Undergraduate Combined-Degree Programs

(leading to both degrees in six years)

• HBA (Business)/JD
• BESc (Engineering)/JD
• BSc (Computer Science)/JD
• Honors BA (History)/JD
• BA (Kinesiology)/JD
• Honors BA MIT (Media, Information, and Technoculture)/JD
• Honors BA (Political Science)/JD

Graduate Combined-Degree Programs

• JD/MSc (Computer Science)
• JD/MSc (Geology or Geophysics)
• JD/MA (History)
• JD/MBA (Business Administration)
• JD/LLM (University of Groningen, the Netherlands)

Other Combined Programs

• Western/Laval University (where students can obtain both common law and civil law degrees after a combined four years of study at both institutions)
• Diplôme de Français Juridique (offered with the Department of French and designed to meet the needs of students wishing to achieve a high level of fluency in written and spoken French for professional reasons)

Graduate Programs

Master of Laws (LLM)

Guided by dedicated research-focused faculty, students can pursue studies in areas as diverse as Business Law, Information Law, Intellectual Property, Environmental Law, Criminal or Tort Law, Legal History or Philosophy, International or Human Rights Law, Aboriginal Rights, or Trade Law. Graduates are well positioned to pursue careers in academia, to grow in their chosen professions, or to pursue further degrees.

Master of Studies in Law (MSL)

The MSL provides the opportunity for a university graduate (without prior legal training and who is not seeking entry into legal practice) to explore a range of areas of law on a full-time or part-time basis. Students can select either a thesis-based program (five courses and thesis) or a course-based program (eight courses and major research paper).

Doctor of Philosophy

Western also offers an intellectually stimulating environment for the pursuit of a PhD. The primary aim of the program is to prepare promising scholars for careers in legal academics. Graduates of the PhD program are also well-positioned for the workplace, government, or nongovernmental organizations that focus on law and legal policy.

Students who have been admitted to the LLM, MSL (thesis-based), or PhD program are eligible for admission to the collaborative graduate program in Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction, which provides interdisciplinary instruction in this area of law.

Special Programs and Practice Experience

The Small-Group Program

All first-year students take a core course in a small group of approximately 18 students, where they are introduced to basic legal skills and are provided with an invaluable support system, and individualized attention from their professors. This is further enhanced by teaching assistants who conduct hands-on legal research instruction in the library, assist with skills learning, and act as mentors.

January Term

Unique to Western Law is its January term where the month is devoted to the development of practical skills for first-year students, who focus on their legal research, writing, and advocacy training, and participate in a moot court exercise. Upper-year students choose one limited-enrolment course from a broad range of options, many of which are taught by distinguished visiting professors.

International Exchange and Internship Programs

Western Law values and embraces the international experience, believing that in this era of globalization, exposure to another legal system is of tremendous importance. Our extensive exchange and international law internship programs provide students with an enhanced perspective and a keen understanding of the rule of law beyond our borders. Western Law has established exchange partnerships with 24 leading law schools around the world. Each year, we send students to law schools in the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, and Québec. Through our thriving international summer law internship program (ISLIP), students have the opportunity to intern with government departments, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and private industries, where they further hone their ability to succeed and prosper in an increasingly interdependent global system.

Intensive Courses

Western Law offers a number of one-week intensive courses taught by world-renowned visiting professors. These courses change every year, allowing students to engage in in-depth study of topics including business law, public law, common law, and legal theory. Enrolment in intensive courses is limited to facilitate interaction and individual attention.

Advocacy Competitions

Western Law runs numerous advocacy competitions where students develop practical skills and receive feedback about their performances from lawyers and judges. In addition to the competitions below, students also have the opportunity to participate in external competitions.

• Borden Ladner Gervais LLP Client Counselling Competition
• Borden Ladner Gervais LLP Labour and Employment Law Competition
• Chaitons LLP Corporate Restructuring Advocacy Competition
• Cherniak Cup Trial Advocacy Competition
• First-Year Appellate Competition
• Harrison Pensa LLP Contract Drafting Competition
• Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP Labour Law Advocacy Competition
• Lenczner Slaght Advocacy Competition in Legal Ethics and Professionalism
• Lerners LLP Cup (Appellate Advocacy)
• Torys LLP Negotiation Competition

Business and Law Speakers Programs

Western Law annually hosts a number of the world's pre-eminent business and legal scholars who visit the school to deliver special lectures on their recent scholarship. Students enrolled in the Torys LLP Business and Law Pre-eminent Scholars seminar have the opportunity to learn from and engage with these internationally renowned academic and business leaders as part of their JD studies.

Clinical Programs

Community Legal Services (CLS) provides legal services to the London community and to Western students from within the law school and through two outreach offices. Under the supervision of lawyers, students taking clinical courses handle cases dealing with a variety of areas of law. Students handle all aspects of the case from interviewing a client to drafting pleadings to conducting a trial. Approximately 100 law students work in CLS during the academic year, helping persons with low incomes with nowhere to turn for help, and receiving invaluable experience that will enable them to be better lawyers when they enter the profession.

The Dispute Resolution Centre (DRC) is a division of Community Legal Services that provides mediation services to members of the community who wish to resolve disputes without recourse to the courts. Many participating students receive formal academic credit for their work in CLS and the DRC.

The Western Business Law Clinic provides small start-up and early-stage businesses with student legal assistance overseen by practising lawyers who act as mentors. Aspiring London entrepreneurs connect with law students who work to motivate small businesses by providing them with high-quality economic development strategies.

The Sport Solution Clinic is a student-run AthletesCAN program that provides assistance to Canadian National Team athletes in resolving sport-related issues, including National Sport Organization procedures, team selection, athlete funding, discipline, harassment, doping procedures and appeals, athlete agreements, and sponsorship contracts.

Pro Bono Students Canada is a national program that was launched at Western in 1998/99. Law student volunteers are matched with community agencies that need legal services but cannot afford them. Volunteers complete legal research or other law-related projects for member organizations under the supervision of a lawyer mentor.

Research

The Tort Law Research Group consolidates Western's reputation as a leader in the study of tort law. Western has a long tradition of tort law scholarship beginning with Professor Emeritus GHL Fridman, a pioneer in the study of Canadian tort law. Currently, one-quarter of all Western Law faculty members teach and publish in this area, including a leading treatise, The Law of Torts in Canada, and a leading casebook, Cases and Materials on the Law of Torts.

The Public Law and Legal Philosophy Research Group, an interdisciplinary initiative at the highest level, facilitates collaboration between Western’s public lawyers and philosophers and visiting scholars from throughout the world. Themes are explored through national symposia, culminating in the publication of edited collections by Cambridge University Press.

The Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, edited by Western professors, is published biannually. Articles include abstract issues of legal and political thought as well as more concrete legal matters.

The Western Journal of Legal Studies is a student-run, online, open-access law review focusing on novel and useful contributions to Canadian and international law by students across Canada.

The Canada/United States Law Institute is a joint venture established in 1976 by Western Law and Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio. The Institute’s mandate is to foster mutual understanding and improved relations between Canada and the United States, achieved in part by exposing students and faculties at both law schools to the legal systems of the other country.

Library

The John & Dotsa Bitove Family Law Library supports the teaching program and research activities of the Faculty of Law (both at the JD and graduate levels), the legal information needs of other faculties and departments at Western, and the local legal community. Its resources include

• experienced, knowledgeable library staff (three librarians and four library assistants);
• an excellent collection of primary Canadian, US, and UK legal materials, periodical literature in legal and related fields, and a large and growing treatise collection;
• access to well-respected online services, such as LexisNexis Quicklaw, Westlaw Canada, CCH Online, Justis, Canada Law Book, and many others; and
• a convenient public computing cluster for scanning, PC computing, specialized CD-ROM product access, and printing.

Career and Professional Development Office

The Career and Professional Development Office provides support and resources to help students realize their career objectives. In addition to online and print resources, the office provides individual career counselling/coaching and runs a variety of programs including résumé and cover-letter writing workshops, networking seminars, job-search information sessions, and career-exploration programs. The two largest programs are Western Law’s annual Career Conference, which gives students the opportunity to meet with a wide range of employers including national and regional law firms, government offices, nonprofit agencies, and in-house legal departments, and our Toronto “On-Campus Interview” (OCI) program. We also participate in joint OCI programs for summer and articling positions in Vancouver, Calgary, and Eastern Canada. Western Law graduates have been extremely successful in obtaining excellent employment opportunities both within Canada and abroad.

Student Life

The Student Legal Society (SLS) represents all Western Law students to promote their interests and organize professional, academic, athletic, and social activities through more than 35 clubs and committees.

Law students can also take advantage of all Western University has to offer, including health and wellness support, additional clubs, and Campus Recreation Center activities: aquatics, dance, fitness, and intramural sports.

Admissions

Academic Requirements

• Minimum of three years of full-time university study (or equivalent)
• Competitive GPA: 80 percent (A-) or higher
• Competitive LSAT score: 160 (80th percentile or higher)
• Highest LSAT score is used
• Oldest LSAT score accepted: June 2009

Other Requirements

• Two letters of reference (one must be academic)
• Personal statement
• Autobiographical sketch
• Verifiers
• Résumé (for Mature applicants)
• Relevant substantiating documentation for Access applicants

Other Considerations

• Employment
• Community involvement
• Extracurricular activities
• Awards, honours
• Rigorous research and writing experiences
• Leadership experience
• Graduate degrees

Categories of Admission

• General
• Discretionary: Aboriginal, Access, Mature
• Canadian Armed Forces (direct applicants)

Upper-Year Admission

• Transfer
• Advanced Standing
• Letter of Permission
• National Committee on Accreditation applicants

Application

• Through the Ontario Law School Application Service (OLSAS)
• Deadline for first-year applicants: November 1
• Deadline for upper-year applicants: May 1
• Fee: $90
• Offers of admission are made on a rolling basis beginning in December

Annual Expenses and Financial Aid

• Full-time tuition and fees (for 2013/14): $16,709
• Estimated books and supplies: $1,500
• Living and other expenses will vary depending on individual needs
• Performance and need-based entrance scholarships are available for over one-half of the entering class
  
• Financial aid is available through the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), bursaries, and loans

Profile of Incoming Class of 2012

• Enrolled students: 175 (drawn from over 2,700 applications)
• Female: 51 percent
• Male: 49 percent
• Average age: 24
• Mean GPA: 81 percent
• Mean LSAT score: 162
• Half of the Canadian provinces represented
• Diverse group of undergraduate programs represented

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