The University of Ottawa Faculty of Law (French: Faculté de droit de l'Université d'Ottawa) is the law school at the University of Ottawa, located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1953, the faculty is today divided into Civil Law and Common Law sections, the two formally recognized legal traditions in Canada.
The law school has produced a diverse array of successful alumni. These include the current Chief Justice of Canada Richard Wagner, and deans of several law schools.
The faculty is home to several specialist research centres, including the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics; the Public Law Centre; and Centre for Law, Technology and Society.[2]
The faculty is very highly rated and maintains close links with the legal communities in Quebec, Ontario, and abroad. The Faculty of Law is also home to two elite bilingual law journals, one produced by the civil law section and the other produced by the common law section, which have significantly contributed to the development of law by the Supreme Court of Canada.[3]
History
Fauteux Hall is home to the Faculty of Law
The law school was established in 1953 on the initiative of Gerald Fauteux, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. It began as an exclusively civil law faculty, designed to train lawyers who would enter the Quebec legal system, particularly in order to practice in the Outaouais region just across the Ottawa River. In 1957, the faculty began training students in common law as well; the two sections were then divided, each with its own programs, faculties, and deans. Graduate programs were introduced that same year by the civil law section; the common law section followed suit in 1981.[4]
Although the school has, since 1970, had a system in which students enrolled in either the common or civil law section could receive accreditation in the other legal system, it was not until 1994 that this system was formalized into the National Program. In doing so, the faculty became one of the first in Canada to offer bi-juridical training in both the common law and civil law.[5]
The Norton Rose Classroom
The Faculty of Law's current building, Fauteux Hall, was named in honour of Gerald Fauteux and was constructed in 1973. During the 2006 fall semester, then-University of Ottawa president Gilles Patry announced that Fauteux Hall would undergo extensive renovations in 2009. Due to funding cutbacks, a new law building expansion was cancelled; instead, interior renovations were completed in 2012, including substantial changes to the entrance atrium and the Brian Dickson Law Library, and the construction of the Norton Rose Fulbright classroom. Construction of the Ian G. Scott Courtroom, a fully functional courtroom where sitting judges hear regular cases, was also completed in the Brooks Building, which is across the street from the main Faculty of Law building and houses extra classrooms, offices, and spaces for the Faculty of Law's various centres.[6]
Admissions
Common law section
Third floor, Fauteux Hall
In the Common Law Section, applicants are expected to have completed a three- to four-year undergraduate degree. Acceptance to the common law program is highly competitive. Successful applicants generally have an A− (3.70) undergraduate grade point average and a competitive LSAT score.[7] The program also requires a personal statement and two reference letters, and claims to use a holistic admissions approach, taking into account a variety of factors including work experience, prior education, and other exceptional circumstances.[8]
According to the Faculty of Law LSAC page, the English-language common law program received 2637 applications in 2019, of which 320 were admitted; an admission rate of 12%. The French-language common law program, including the Programme de droit canadien, received 185 applications in 2019, of which 80 were admitted.[9]
Civil law section
Tsampalieros Atrium, Fauteux Hall
In the Civil Law Section, which teaches the legal tradition practised in Quebec, applicants need only have obtained a Diploma of Collegial Studies (DEC) before applying. The Civil Law Section's requirements are generally considered to be less stringent than those of the Common Law Section, since applicants are normally assessed only based on the previous post-secondary grades they received in college or university. Nevertheless, a minimum A− (80%) average is now required for admission from university; students applying directly from CEGEP, however, face stricter requirements.[10]
Language requirements
The language of instruction depends on the program: while the civil law program is instructed entirely in French, the common law program is available in either English or French, with students permitted to take classes in both languages if they wish. In compliance with university policy, all written work may be submitted in either language, with the exception of the French common law program, in which all written and oral work must be submitted in French.
Academics
Graduates of the common law section receive the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree, while civil law graduates receive the Licentiate in Law (LL.L.) degree. On May 3, 2010, the Senate of the university approved a motion to change the designation of the common law degree from LL.B. (Bachelor of Laws) to J.D. (Juris Doctor). The Faculty of Law equally offers Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) degrees in both sections. The faculty is unique among Canadian institutions in that it grants the LL.D. as its terminal research/professional degree, and not a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in law or a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.). Most universities only grant the LL.D. honoris causa.
Joint programs
The following is a list of several joint programs offered by the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law:
The bilingual Programme de droit canadien (PDC) allows only 18 to 20 students a year to simultaneously earn a J.D. and a LL.L. degree in three years.
The National Program allows students in either common law or civil law to separately complete a degree in the other legal system in four years.
The LL.L./DVM program allows students enrolled in the civil law section to receive a specialized degree in international development and globalization.
The J.D./Sciences Politiques program allows students to enroll in common law from high school. It is a six-year program, with the first two years and the final year spent in Political Science and years three to five in Common Law.
Tuition fees
Tuition at the University of Ottawa's Law School varies according to the program being studied. Students enrolled in the civil law program pay the lowest fees, with the tuition rates 2012–2013 set at $8,833.46; this stands in contrast to the common law program, where annual tuition rates for 2014–2015 are $16,772.40. Students in the National Program pay $10,077.70 for their extra year of study.[11] Students enrolled in the Dual J.D. program with an American law school pay what the University of Ottawa has termed "regular Canadian law student rates during the entire program," meaning the regular common law tuition fees at the school.[12]
The Faculty of Law is well known for its successful mooting program and track record of international successes. The moot team has won the Vis Moot, the Oxford Intellectual Property Moot, and various other competitions, outperforming rival schools like Harvard Law School in many cases.
Offerings in areas of practice including environmental law, health law, criminal law, tax law, and technology law have become highly developed, with diverse practical and academic offerings being made available to students in those areas. The school is also known for its strong focus on public-interest law. More recently, there have been efforts to bolster offerings in business and corporate law with the creation of the new Business Law Clinic.
Maclean's magazine last released its annual law school ranking on September 19, 2013, and has not released any rankings for law schools since then. In that evaluation, Ottawa's common law program was ranked 10th overall in Canada, scoring particularly well (3rd overall) in the category for Supreme Court clerkships.[13] The civil law section was ranked 3rd in Canada among other civil law schools (the majority being in the province of Québec).[14] In 2019, the law school was ranked 5th in Canada according to University Magazine.[15]
It was ranked in Times Higher Education 2024 ranking as the 58th best law school in the world and consequently the 4th best law school in Canada.[16]
Notable faculty
Constance Backhouse, Canadian legal scholar and historian, University Research Chair and President of the American Society of Legal History
