Osgoode Hall Law School is a publicly funded, Toronto-based legal education institution which offers preparation toward securing the ability to professionally practice law in Canada. In addition, Osgoode Hall Law School also offers programs in conjunction with law schools in New York and Massachusetts.
The Osgoode Hall Law School Dean is Lorne Sossin. As of 2010, the Osgoode Hall Law School class size includes 867 undergraduate students and 107 postgraduate students. Osgoode Hall Law School at one point provided for legal practitioners to be empowered as Bachelors of Laws, and at the moment provides instead for the degree, as is often used in the United States legal establishment, as Juris Doctor (J.D.).
Specializations of Osgoode Hall Law School comprise such various subjects as human rights law, international law, constitutional law, and Charter law. The institution has been open to students since it was established in 1889. Currently it offers various clinical programs, such as the Community and Legal Aid Services Programme, the Osgoode Business Clinic, the Innocence Project, and the Advanced Business Clinic. Osgoode Hall Law School admissions policies take a “holistic” approach, tempering the continuing importance of academic success markers such as LSAT and GPA with contextual and experiential factors.
The basic degree provided by Osgoode Hall Law School is not accepted in Quebec, but students can choose to pursue a joint Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) and Bachelor of Civil Law (LL.L) oriented program toward practicing law in both English and French-speaking areas of Canada, this as a cooperative effort with the Université de Montréal.
