THE LAWYERS WEEKLY
October 1, 2010 | 21
BUSINESS
CAREERS
LEGAL EDUCATION
A look at the past, present, and future of legal education in Canada | Part 2 of a 3-part series
Present
PHOTO B Y DARIN DUECK
Demand for law school spots high
CHRISTOPHER GULY
Long gone are the days when
getting into law school and finding an articling position after
graduation in Canada was
largely based on good grades.
Law students today face an
admissions and articles placement process as competitive as
the legal environment in which
many hope to practise.
But over time, the calibre of
students and the training they
receive have arguably become
higher and more diversified.
The students have got to be
good, considering that it’s more
difficult to be accepted by a
Canadian common law school
than it is at virtually any other
law school in the English-speak-ing world, according to Brent
Cotter, former dean of the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Law, who has kept an eye
on admission trends over the
past three decades.
He says that last year, there
were about 24,000 applications
for 2,696 places at Canada’s 16
common law schools. Since most
people apply to more than one
law school, he estimates that
roughly 10,000 people would
have sought admission to a Can-
adian law school — or nearly 500
more than in 1985 when about
2,200 students were enrolled in
Canadian common law schools.
