Osgoode Hall Law School
- See also Osgoode Hall for the downtown Toronto building that originally housed the law school
| File:Osgoodecrest.png | |
| Motto | Per jus ad justitiam<br\>(Through law to justice) |
|---|---|
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1889 |
| Dean | Patrick Monahan |
Academic staff | 141 (51 F/T, 90 adjunct) |
| Undergraduates | 867 |
| Postgraduates | 107 |
| Location | , , |
| Campus | Urban/Suburban |
| Sports teams | Owls |
| Website | osgoode.yorku.ca<br\> |
Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, is a Canadian law school, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Established by The Law Society of Upper Canada in 1889, Osgoode is the largest faculty of common law in Canada and, until 1957, was the only accredited law school in Ontario. The school was at the centre of the debates over the principles of modern legal education in the 1950s. Its graduates have entered practice in each of Canada's common law provinces. Osgoode Hall Law School provided many of the founding members of the bar in the prairie provinces. According to statistics published in the Official Guide to Canadian Law Schools by the Law School Admission Council, the median undergraduate GPA of accepted students is 3.80, and the median LSAT score is 160 (83rd percentile).
History
For its first seven decades, Osgoode Hall Law School was located at Osgoode Hall at the corner of Queen Street and University Avenue near the University of Toronto. Despite this, the law school remained unaffiliated with the University and unconnected with the University of Toronto Faculty of Law . The university's faculty of law was established in the same year as the Osgoode Hall Law School. However, the Law Society of Upper Canada maintained control of professional legal education in Ontario until 1957. Thus the University of Toronto has traditionally had a small undergraduate student body in comparison with Osgoode Hall. In 1969, after a decision by the Ontario Ministry of Education requiring law schools to be affiliated with a university, the Osgoode Hall Law School moved to York University.
The buildings known as "Osgoode Hall" (the earliest dating from 1832) remain the headquarters of the Law Society and house the Ontario Court of Appeal. The structure at Queen and University is still known as Osgoode Hall.
Academics
Admission: The median lsat for first year admission has varied from year to year and is currently set at the 85th percentile with any applications with a lower LSAT requiring special consideration by a branch of the admissions committee. However, the philosophy of the law school is that LSAT scores alone do not foretell which applicants will bring the greatest intelligence and skill to the legal profession. As one of the most prestigious law schools in Canada, Osgoode Hall at York University seeks out the most competitive and brightest candidates based on a combination of many factors including gpa, lsat score, prior degrees, and difficulty of prior education among others.
Osgoode Hall offers a joint LLB/MBA program with the Schulich School of Business at York University, and a combined law and environmental studies degree. In 2006, the Financial Times (UK) ranked the Schulich School of Business 1st in Canada, and 18th in the world.
Osgoode is also the home of the largest Graduate Program in Canada and with the only Professional Development Program in Canada. The law school houses the largest law library in the Commonwealth.
In 2005, Osgoode Hall Law School signed a memorandum of understanding with the New York University School of Law. Both schools plan to offer joint-degree programs where students can earn an American JD and Canadian LLB in four years, spending two years at each institution.
Canadian Lawyer magazine, in its 2006 Law School Alumni Survey, ranked Osgoode Hall Law School first in Canada, on the basis of rankings given to schools by alumni.