Osgoode Hall Law School
Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It 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.
For the building in downtown Toronto that originally housed the law school, see Osgoode Hall.Motto
Through law to justice
1889
York University
(1965–present)
Trevor C.W. Farrow
182
905[1]
The law school's alumni include three Canadian prime ministers, three Attorneys General, eight premiers of Ontario, four Mayors of Toronto, eleven Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, four of whom were Chief Justices, and one Academy Award nominee. The current dean of the law school is Trevor C.W. Farrow.[2]
History[edit]
Osgoode Hall was named for William Osgoode, an Oxford University graduate and barrister of Lincoln's Inn. He was the first person to serve as the chief justice of Upper Canada.[3][4]
The law school traces its origins back to the 1820s, and it counts the first Canadian prime minister (Sir John A. Macdonald) among its graduates.[5] It was reorganized in 1889, and the Law Society of Upper Canada permanently established the law school on the site now known as Osgoode Hall.[5] At the time, it was the only law school in Ontario, and this remained the case until the establishment of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1949.[6]
Ontario lawyers were originally required to attend Osgoode Hall in order to practise in the province.[7] In 1855, the Law Society began requiring members to attend lectures given at Osgoode Hall (the building). In 1862, a law school opened in that building, only to close in 1868. It frequently opened and closed throughout the late 19th century.[8] 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.[9]
The school signed an agreement of affiliation with York University in 1965.[10] It relocated from the Osgoode Hall building in downtown Toronto to York University's Keele Campus in 1968.[11]
Student life[edit]
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.[28]
