Fighting the fight against a lack of information on Canadian Law Schools.
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After a brief visit to Calgary, I am back in Lotus Land. As mentioned, I met with Blakes and Bennett Jones while I was away. I must say that this did give me a little more insight into the way firms are a little different. Blakes had me meet with an associate to have a little chat and then an articling student showed me around the office and introduced me to a few other people. The office was pretty laid back, most people didn't even have suits on and everyone seemed happy to be seeing a potential student. Bennett Jones had me in and an articling student showed me around. Although she was very nice and answered any questions I asked and we generally had a very good conversation, I didn't meet very many other people in the office (except a partner with a foosball table in his office) and some of the people I met didn't even get up from their desks to shake hands. They looked pretty hard at work. I still see Bennett Jones as being the more sophisticated place to work, but Blakes was very friendly and laid back and that could be a nice thing too. It will be interesting to see what the other firms I visit will be like.
My application is finally "active" for a spot in Ottawa in the Department of Justice, it will be interesting to see how that process works. It is goddamn impossible to get anyone there to respond to an e-mail.
The Maclean's list of the top 100 employers in Canada came out this week. There was a whopping one law firm on the list. That lucky honour went to Stikeman Elliott. Something to think about.
Hope everyone who checked out there Telescores last week did well. Time to get those apps in everyone. Good luck.
Comments-[ comments.]
6:48 p.m.
Wednesday, October 23, 2002
Applicant Numbers Up
Word around is that the number of applicants to UBC is up somewhere from 25-40%. Bad news if you are looking to get into law school because more applications means higher qualifications for getting into law school. (Unless of course you fit into the discretionary or aboriginal category in which case your path is as easy as always). I have only random anecdotal evidence that the same can be said for schools around the rest of the country. I think a lot of this has to do with a bit of the slowdown in what I would call the "corporate" economy. Although there is still growth in the economy, for those of us in the white collar or aspiring white collar sector there has been a bit of a slow down with the dot com burst and the fall out from 9-11. With the same kind of crazy money making opportunities not available people are looking to law school a) to weather the turndown in the economy with a little education and b) to get into the perceived security of a legal education (emphasis on the perceived.) Either way, people looking at the admissions number better be ready to add 2-3 points onto the median LSAT and probably .1-.2 on the median GPA.
On a totally unrelated note, there was a woman from U of T law in the Girls of Canada Lingerie issue of Playboy. Apparently she is married and will be articling at Goodmans and is smoking hot. I'll have to take everyone's word for it, honest.
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7:37 p.m.
Saturday, October 19, 2002
Technical Difficulties
That's what I have been having with the service I use to set up this site. It is usually pretty good, but has been a bit shaky lately. In any case there isn't much new to report. The biggest thing happening around here is the minor furor over the budget of the Law Students Association. One of the executive has tried to resign over it, but the President wouldn't accept her resignation. The disruption is over the allotment to the hockey team. As a member of the hockey team I am somewhat indirectly involved. All I can say is that I am glad I got my student politics jollies out in undergrad. My Natural Resources project may be due on the 4 of November so that should make for some fun late nights. I'll try and post more regularly so keep visiting.
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2:17 a.m.
Thursday, October 10, 2002
The JD v. LLB debate
Currently there is a curriculum review here at UBC law. Inevitably this will contain some discussion on the continuing debate of whether UBC, and by extension other Canadian law schools, should issue the LLB degree upon completion of law school, or the JD degree. This debate has largely been heightened by the U of T's decision to offer the option to students to receive a JD upon completion of law school.
For those of you who don't know, when you graduate law school in Canada you receive the degree LLB or loosely translated into Bachelor of Laws. In the vast majority of the US schools (all those approved by the ABA) you receive a JD or juris doctor. See the history behind this divergence at this website. And then vote in the new poll.
Other than that, the hockey team is .500 with a win on Tuesday, so is volleyball and the rugby team won its first game last Sunday. I will be going to Calgary for a wedding at the end of October and while I am there I will be stopping into the office of Blakes and Bennett Jones for a quick visit. Did I mention how ridiculous this wait is? Hope the LSAT went well for all those writing and good luck with your apps.
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5:48 p.m.
Thursday, October 03, 2002
Nothing Much New
There isn't really anything much new to report these days. Our first rugby game is this Sunday and we lost our first hockey game on Tuesday 4-3. We should have won, what can I say.
Other than that, the only issue swirling these days is what to do with classes while the entire second year class takes days off for interviews with Vancouver firms. Some faculty apparently think they should just declare a reading week during that week since so few of the students from second year will be at school, as opposed to off getting interviews with firms. I think this is a bit of an overreaction, but I'll take some free days with no classes.
Must be October LSATs coming up soon as well. Good luck everyone.
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6:27 p.m.