Osgoode Hall Law School

Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The law school is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the Journal of Law and Social Policy, and the Osgoode Hall Law Journal. A variety of LL.M. and Ph.D. degrees in law are available.

Its alumni include two Canadian prime ministers, eight premiers of Ontario, and ten Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, four of whom were Chief Justices. The current dean of the law school is Mary Condon.

History

Osgoode Hall was named for William Osgoode, an Oxford University graduate and barrister of Lincoln's Inn who was the first to serve as the chief justice of Upper Canada.

Osgoode Hall can trace its history back to the 1820s, and count the first Canadian prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald among its graduates. In 1889, it was reorganized and the Law Society of Upper Canada permanently established the Law School on the site now known as Osgoode Hall. At the time, Osgoode Hall was the only law school in Ontario and this remained true until the establishment of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1949.

Ontario lawyers were originally required to attend Osgoode Hall in order to practise in the province. The Law Society began requiring members to attend lectures given at Osgoode Hall (the building) in 1855. In 1862, a law school opened in that building, only to close in 1868. It frequently opened and closed throughout the late 19th century. The law school at Osgoode Hall was only titled "Osgoode Hall Law School" in March 1924, when the Law Society of Upper Canada formally assigned it that name.

The school signed an agreement of affiliation with York University in 1965. It relocated from Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto York University's Keele Campus in 1968.

Rankings and reputation

Osgoode Hall is one of the most elite law schools in Canada. Times Higher Education ranked Osgoode Hall Law School as a top-50 law school in the world in 2022. Its long and distinguished history has led to a lay prestige that is unmatched by any other Canadian law school. In 2022, Osgoode's joint JD/MBA program with the Schulich School of Business was named among the top 10 business and law programs in North America by FIND MBA.

In its most recent rankings, Maclean's magazine has ranked Osgoode second amongst Canadian law schools. In the 2008 rankings published by Canadian Lawyer Magazine, Osgoode was ranked first in Canada, and was awarded high marks for the quality of its professors, flexible curriculum, and the diversity and relevance of course offerings. The faculty has been described as the "strongest in the country," and rank number one in Canada for faculty journal citations.

In the 2022-2023 year, 3600 applicants applied for the 290 spots available in the first year program, resulting in an acceptance rate of around 8%. The only North American law school with a lower rate of acceptance is Yale Law School.

Original building and current facilities

For its first eight decades, Osgoode Hall Law School was located at Osgoode Hall at the corner of Queen Street and University Avenue. The structures at Queen and University (the earliest dating from 1832) are still known as Osgoode Hall. They remain the headquarters of the Law Society of Upper Canada, house the Court of Appeal for Ontario, the Divisional Court of the Superior Court of Justice, the offices of the Law Society of Ontario and the Great Library of the Law Society.

Currently, the law school is located on the Keele Campus of York University, in the Toronto suburb of North York. In May 2007, Dean Monahan announced plans for an extensive renovation and extension of Osgoode Hall Law School involving a renovation of the existing building, and the addition of an additional wing. The building was designed by architect Jack Diamond with the construction of the renovated building beginning in the summer of 2009. The project had been majorly funded by a $2.5 million gift by Ignat Kaneff, and the building has been renamed in his honor. The law school is referred to by York as its faculty of law. Osgoode's Professional Development offices and classrooms are based at 1 Dundas Street West in Downtown Toronto, overlooking Yonge-Dundas Square.

Student life

The Legal & Literary Society, Osgoode Hall Law School's official student society, coordinates student activities both on and off campus. The organization also funds over fifty student clubs, as well as the student newspaper, Obiter Dicta.

Osgoode hosts Professional Development Programs (OPD) which are located in downtown Toronto at 1 Dundas Street near the original Osgoode Hall building.

Notable alumni

Supreme Court of Canada justices

• John Robert Cartwright, former Chief Justice
• Peter Cory, former Puisne Judge and former Chancellor of York University
• Sir Lyman Duff, former Chief Justice
• Frank Joseph Hughes, former Puisne Judge
• Wilfred Judson, former Puisne Judge
• Andromache Karakatsanis, current Puisne Judge
• Patrick Kerwin, former Chief Justice
• Bora Laskin, former Chief Justice
• Malcolm Rowe, current Puisne Judge
• Wishart Spence, former Puisne Judge
• Michelle O'Bonsawin, current Puisne Judge

Other judges

• John Arnup, Moderator for United Church of Canada, Justice at Ontario Court of Appeal
• George Ethelbert Carter
• Kim Carter, Chief Military Judge of the Canadian Forces
• (Jack Sydney George) Bud Cullen, Judge at Federal Court of Canada
• Charles Dubin, former Chief Justice of Ontario
• Daniel Dumais (LL.M), Emeritus Lawyer distinction from Barreau du Quebec, Puisne Judge of Superior Court of Quebec
• Asher Grunis, President of the Supreme Court of Israel
• Sydney Harris (judge), activist lawyer and judge, President of the Canadian Jewish Congress
• Bill Hastings, Chief Justice of Kiribati, Chief Censor of New Zealand, District Court Judge of New Zealand
• Russell G. Juriansz, first South Asian appointed to Ontario Court of Appeal
• Harry S. Laforme, Justice at Ontario Court of Appeal
• Patrick LeSage, Chief Justice of Ontario Superior Court of Justice
• Malcolm Archibald Macdonald, Chief Justice of British Columbia
• Mark MacGuigan, Attorney General of Canada, Justice of the Federal Court of Appeal
• Goldwyn Arthur Martin, QC, Justice at Ontario Court of Appeal
• Roy McMurtry, Chief Justice of Ontario, Attorney General of Ontario, Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
• James Chalmers McRuer, Ontario Court of Appeal, Chief Justice at High Court of Justice of Ontario
• Charles Terrence Murphy, Judge at Ontario Superior Court, President of North Atlantic Assembly
• Willy Mutunga, former Chief Justice of Kenya
• Dennis O'Connor, Associate Chief Justice of Ontario
• George Bligh O'Connor, Chief Justice of Alberta from 1950 to 1956
• James O'Reilly, Federal Court Judge
• Coulter Osborne, arbitrator, Associate Chief Justice of Ontario
• John Richard, NAFTA Adjudicator, Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Appeal
• Lorne Sossin, Justice at the Ontario Court of Appeal
• Charles Allan Stuart, Justice of the Supreme Court of Alberta
• Michael Tulloch, Justice at the Ontario Court of Appeal
• Karen M. Weiler, past Judge Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada, Justice at Ontario Court of Appeal
• Sharon A. Williams, Judge ad litem at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
• Warren Winkler, Chief Justice of Ontario

Prime Ministers

• Sir John A MacDonald
• William Lyon Mackenzie King

Premiers

• Bill Davis, 18th Premier of Ontario
• George Drew, 14th Premier of Ontario
• Ernie Eves, 23rd Premier of Ontario
• Howard Ferguson, 9th Premier of Ontario
• Leslie Frost, 16th Premier of Ontario
• William Howard Hearst, 7th Premier of Ontario
• Rachel Notley, 17th Premier of Alberta
• John Robarts, 17th Premier of Ontario

Law

• Austin Cooper (lawyer), criminal lawyer, defended Keith Richards in Toronto
• Marlys Edwardh, civil rights
• Fraser Elliott, founder of Stikeman Elliott, President of the Art Gallery of Ontario
• Edwin A. Goodman, founding partner of Goodmans
• Randal Graham, law professor, novelist
• Edward Greenspan, criminal lawyer
• Gordon Henderson, President, Canadian bar association, Chancellor, University of Ottawa
• Marie Henein, criminal lawyer, defended Jian Ghomeshi
• Jeffry House, refugee law, war resisters
• Gord Kirke, sports and entertainment lawyer
• M. David Lepofsky, disability and human rights lawyer
• John Rosen, criminal lawyer
• Stuart Alexander Henderson, successfully defended Gunanoot

Business

• Sir Edward Wentworth Beatty, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway
• Marshall A. Cohen, Director at Barrick Gold Corporation & Toronto-Dominion Bank, member Trilateral Commission
• Dame Moya Greene, Former CEO of Canada Post, Former CEO of Royal Mail
• Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
• Charles Peter McColough, CEO and Chairman of Xerox Corporation, member of Council on Foreign Relations
• Jagoda Pike, former publisher of the Toronto Star
• Arthur Richard Andrew Scace, Chairman of Bank of Nova Scotia, director of Canadian Opera Company
• Kathleen Taylor, Chair of Royal Bank of Canada
• John S. D. Tory, founder of Torys and Director of A.V. Roe Canada

Arts

• Morley Callaghan, novelist
• Murray Cohl, co-founder of the Toronto International Film Festival
• Daniel Iron, film and TV producer
• Jerry Levitan, Oscar nominee
• Tom MacInnes, poet
• Aaron Schwartz (Canadian actor)

Science/medicine

• Robert Elgie, Ontario Minister of Labour, became a neurosurgeon after becoming a lawyer

Scholarship

• Payam Akhavan, international human rights
• Constance Backhouse, legal scholar and historian, President of the American Society of Legal History
• Deborah Coyne, constitutional law and international relations
• Giuseppina d'Agostino, intellectual property
• Michael Geist, internet and privacy law
• Colleen Hanycz, principal of Brescia University College from 2008-2015, current university president of La Salle University
• James C. Hathaway, international refugee law
• Michael Mandel, law professor, international criminal law
• Lyal S. Sunga, international humanitarian law, international human rights law, international criminal law.
• Paul C. Weiler, Emeritus Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Notable professors

• Jean-Gabriel Castel, p…