Mailing address: 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 5E1
Physical address: 401 Red River Road, Thunder Bay, Ontario
Phone: 807.346.7862
Internet: www.law.lakeheadu.ca
View Important Information for Applicants to Ontario Law Schools
Introduction
The Faculty of Law at Lakehead University was approved in 2011, with the inaugural incoming class beginning September 2013. Located in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and situated in the historic Port Arthur Collegiate Institute which was built in 1909, the law campus overlooks Lake Superior and the Sleeping Giant.
The Faculty of Law is committed to providing the highest quality legal education to its students and to preparing its graduates for the practice of law in smaller centers and in rural regions of Canada where there is a shortage of legal practitioners.
Our vision is to prepare law students to serve their community.
The Faculty of Law at Lakehead addresses realities of northern and rural practice by
- providing an Ontario law school that has an emphasis on working with Aboriginal peoples in order to address the legal needs of Aboriginal communities in the North,
- providing an educational focus on legal issues related to the resource based Northern Ontario economy, and
- redressing declining participation in sole and small law-firm practice.
Our special focus will be on skills training throughout the three-year JD program, applying the theory directly to the practice of law.
Student Body
Our inaugural class comprises approximately 55 percent students from Northern Ontario (NW and NE Ontario combined), as well as an additional 14 percent from small-town and regional Ontario and Canada.
Thirteen percent of our students are of Aboriginal heritage and we strongly encourage Aboriginal students from across Canada to apply to our program. Twenty-five percent of our students have master's degrees.
We do not have any international students and, as our mandate is to train lawyers for the North, it is unlikely this will change in future years; however, we do accept applications from prospective students that fit our mandate.
Faculty
Our full-time professor-to-student ratio will be 1:15—our classes will be small and professors will know their students by name. For our inaugural year, we have five full-time academic staff (including the Dean) plus a Head Librarian of Law who will also teach—making a professor-to-student ratio of 1:10. Three more professors will be hired before the 2014 school year, with a final two added by 2015. All of our professors are tenure-tracked faculty.
Curriculum
The first-year program for all students is mandatory. Students are split into two sections for the majority of their classes. Every student will have mandatory Aboriginal law courses in both first and second year, and Aboriginal law will be woven into all courses where appropriate.
Our curriculum is unique in that it fuses theory with practice. Our first-year courses have tutorials, which will be led by the professors and experienced practitioners. Essential and fundamental lawyer skills will be honed in the tutorials, such that the theory of the law comes to real life.
In the upper years, our curriculum will focus on natural resource law, Aboriginal law, and essentials of small-practitioner lawyering. Skill training will build upon the basic foundation provided in the first year. The Civil Practice course will take a raw-fact situation from commencement of an action on through to appeal. Core required courses include Civil Practice, Evidence, Administrative Law, Business Organizations, Aboriginal Law, Essentials of Small-Firm Practice, and the Business of Law. Upper-year electives are currently in development, but will cover a broad spectrum of interests. We also intend to develop strong clinical experience courses and placement opportunities. At the end of the day we seek to prepare our graduates, as best we can, for the practice of law.
Tuition, Financial Aid, and Scholarships
Tuition for 2013/14 has been set at $15,014 plus ancillary fees.
Entrance scholarships of up to a third and half tuition are offered to our top candidates based on GPA and LSAT scores.
We have an open bursary application process during the summer, and in 2013 we granted over $60,000 in bursaries to students demonstrating financial need. Our priority is securing more scholarship and bursary funds.
Career Services
Our mandate is to prepare graduates for the practice of law in smaller centers and in rural regions of Canada where there is a shortage of legal practitioners. However, with a focus on skills training and practical application of the law throughout the three-year program, our graduates will be a valuable asset to any firm, whether on “main street” Canada, Bay Street, or Wall Street.
We will develop our Career Services program to assist all our students in finding summer, articling, and career opportunities that suit their goals and aspirations.
Admission and Applications
All applicants must apply through the Ontario Law School Application Service (OLSAS). View Important Information for Applicants to Ontario Law Schools.
We review all files holistically: we assess GPA (percentage scores) and all transcripts, best LSAT, personal statement, references, and an autobiographical sketch to determine best fit for law and our program. Competitive applicants will have a 75–80 percent plus average in their overall undergraduate programs. The Admission Committee assesses applications in light of all the above criteria.
We strongly encourage Aboriginal applicants from across Canada to apply to our program. Lakehead University is committed to improving Aboriginal representation in the Canadian legal community.
Applications open in August and close November 1.
First-round offers are usually extended in early January, and then rolling admissions will continue until the class reaches capacity, usually in midsummer.
For the inaugural class, we received over 1,100 applications.
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