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Showing content with the highest reputation on 08/07/20 in all areas

  1. 3 points
    Was waiting until the end of the first week of August to ensure everyone has a fair shot at this! Giving away first year textbooks to an incoming College of Law student who has accepted their offer and is definitely attending this fall. You must give the books away to an incoming U of S student next year through this forum (publicly) and add one additional primary textbook (if the list changes or there is a new edition) or a secondary text you found useful (i.e. if no changes to the list or new editions; cannot be the Criminal Code). The hope is to extend this generosity to future years for as long as possible.After receipt of the textbooks, the recipient must make a post in this thread.These terms are to be explained to and carried out by future recipients as well.First person to message me and agree to these terms gets the books. I will not be in Saskatoon for the foreseeable future but we can figure out something that works best for both parties.
  2. 3 points
    I think you just need to be honest about why you want to go to these schools, and then massage that into something suitable for applications. E.g., an honest answer might be: "I want to go to the University of Ottawa because my francophone partner lives here, they won't move any further from Quebec, and I don't want to do long distance; also, I really like living here and I won't have to move, disrupt my life, or spend as much money if I go to Ottawa." It might be massaged into: "I really appreciate the bilingual nature of the University of Ottawa and I want to improve my French, etc. etc Also I have lived in Ottawa for several years and have been volunteering at X; I feel a strong connection with my community and I believe going to law school will help me better contribute and being even more a part of my community, etc etc."
  3. 3 points
    Very concerning rumours flying around from well-connected sources about a few Bay Street firms in serious difficulty. Worried about some good friends across the street that have been killing themselves to get ahead in places with an uncertain future. You think all these firms are generally the same, and then something like this happens and there's a huge spectrum from the sky falling to firms doing so well they want to incorporate work-from-home on a permanent basis. Bay Street is going to look very different on the other side of this. The same kind of tiers might still be there, but all you applicants are going to have much more variety in your choices. Some firms are going to come out stodgy and unfazed; others are going to completely roll over into coffee-shop drop-in bistros; some might be slashed to near-irrelevance or merge (I can think of two clear candidates)... what a time to be alive.
  4. 2 points
    Very fair point, but I think what @Turtles meant was to focus on "softs" like work experience and extracurriculars. I think OP would be well-served highlighting what they can contribute to the classroom and legal profession (as demonstrated by specific examples) and what inspired them to pursue law in the first place. These don't necessarily need to be excuses or exceptional circumstances (as indicated by your post - which I agree with everything you said regarding exceptional circumstances), but they need to highlight unique points/strengths. At my law school's admissions panel event, it was emphasized that the school already assumes candidates want to attend their law school (but this may be school specific?). From my own experience, I had an average/subpar LSAT (this depends on the school ofc) and wrote most my essays with the assumption that schools would not need convincing why I would choose them (granted, I made exceptions for some schools when I got a "vibe" that they promoted certain aspects of their school heavily - U of A was not one of these exceptions - but even then, I did not spend a lot of space on it.). Instead, I focused on conveying a cohesive and compelling story, giving specific examples of how certain experiences demonstrate a unique perspective/strength/interest in law and it all worked out in the end, as evidenced by my acceptance despite a subpar LSAT and average GPA. I have a lot to say about personal statements. OP (and I guess anyone applying), I'd be willing to give more information/advice over PM if you're interested.
  5. 2 points
    Update in case anyone needs this in future. After speaking with LSO, LSBC, and LawPro, here's what I found out. (Obviously not legal advice, double check with all of those places before doing anything yourself in case rules have changed etc.) First off, bad news: the rules have now changed regarding annual fees. If you want to keep your Ontario licence but practice outside the province, you will still have to pay 100% of the Ontario annual fee as well as 100% of the other province's annual fee. Which is... ridiculous, IMHO. But there it is. I needed to change my Ontario status to "practicing" before ordering my Certificate of Standing. BC requires you to be a practicing lawyer in your home jurisdiction if you want to be able to transfer without writing the licencing examinations. It's an easy fix, and is fine to do even if, like me, you're not technically "practicing" until you transfer and your new job starts. PM me and/or call LSO if you have any questions about that. LawPro thought I would need to change my insured status from "exempt" (because not practicing law) and get coverage for 30 days while awaiting the transfer, because LSBC would require it. I confirmed with LSBC that they do NOT require insurance coverage. They get that I'm only "practicing" for purposes of transferring, and do not require me to get coverage if I would otherwise have been exempted. It's complicated, and again, I highly advise speaking to LSBC on this. Rules can change. Anyway. It's a confusing process, but the ball is now rolling and hopefully it will be (relatively) smooth sailing from here on out. Hope this helps folks.
  6. 2 points
    Your LSAT and GPA are not ideal. Use every word in your personal statements to talk about why you are (otherwise) an ideal candidate, not why you would like to attend the school. That would be a wasted opportunity.
  7. 2 points
    Thanks for the update! Obviously disappointing not to get a second interview but at least I don't waste the next week thinking I still had a chance. 😀
  8. 1 point
    Hi everyone, I'm pleased to finally release a project that I've been working on since law school started last fall. It's a web app that builds off of my current one, but makes substantial improvements. It has the following features: Admissions FAQ - The number one thing that applicants come here for is to find answers to their common law school questions. I've compiled all of the information I've gleaned over the course of the last several years related to admissions from a variety of sources, including this website, practitioners, and a number of law school colleagues who've served on admissions committees. Hopefully it will help out new applicants! OLSAS GPA Calculator - Much like the old one, it calculates your OLSAS GPA, but it's cleaner, supports applicants who have grades from more than one university, and supports grades from US schools. It also saves your grades so you can edit them later. Admissions Predictor - I've expanded on the old utility and included some feedback about grades and LSAT that will be personalized to your stats. It even has a neat graph to go with it. And, it gives you your chances given the model I built from the data on this website. Personal Statement Assembler - One of the main problems I had when I applied was the fact that OLSAS is terrible with personal statements. It mangled what I typed if it contained certain special characters. Character counts were way different than the ones you got from Word if you pasted stuff in, so you ended up having to edit in-place. The editor times out after a while, so hitting save sometimes became a gamble. The personal statement assembler presents you with the prompts from each school and gives you a much nicer editor that counts characters like OLSAS and replaces special characters with their ordinary alternatives. It also saves your place regularly, so you don't end up losing everything by accident. It basically gets your personal statement ready to be pasted into OLSAS. You can see some screenshots of these features on the home page. There's even a neat feature where you can take the grades and test scores you entered and create an anonymized link so you can share them with people here (or elsewhere) and get feedback. Your schools, courses, and any identifying info will be redacted, and you can disable the link whenever you want. My goal with this is to make the law school application process as painless as possible. Hopefully this helps a bit. I'm always looking for feedback, so feel free to shoot me a message or reply! PS - I should note that this is a personal project and is not affiliated with Morgan or ls.ca, so if you have any questions about it, I'm the guy to contact! PPS - There's a Facebook page now. Spread the word if you like the site!
  9. 1 point
    With an 80% GPA you are going to have to have a stellar LSAT score and an exceptional Personal Statement. I would say you have a decent chance with a 168+ and a good chance with a 170+. I know there is not a big difference between a 80 and 83 average but, the difference does significantly impacts your chances and so you will have to really aim high for that LSAT.
  10. 1 point
    Those are good questions. Here are my thoughts: 1. Unless the UofA doesn’t recognize the school you got those 4-credit courses from, I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t count all four. 2. Are your 4-credit classes year-long? You’re right, the general rule is that the UofA includes all grades in the semester in which your 60’th credit lands, not the entire year. But I don’t know whether — if there is a year-long course in that Winter semester — they would only count Winter grades or both Fall and Winter. If you’re worried, it would be worth asking Admissions. 3. UofA considers all university-level classes in their calculation, regardless of whether they’re 1st year, 4th year or graduate/postgrad. Don’t worry about those 1xx/2xx classes! Good luck with your application!
  11. 1 point
    I don't think there was anything on my report that suggested I was of particular risk either. I occasionally let a balance linger on my cards, but they were almost always below 10% utilization. No new inquiries. No late payments. No collections. I'll call when I get some time to see if they have any particular reasons listed as to why they reduced it. In the last month on this forum we have also had a person with excellent credit get rejected for a Scotia PSLOC and another person whose cards weren't going to get renewed after the expiry date (however, he later contacted someone else and they said it was a mistake). It looks like Scotia, like with most banks, are tightening credit and reviewing their exposure. We are yet to have anything that has effected a large number of people yet though. It might just come down to dumb luck as to whether their discretion effects you negatively. --- Better name for this thread would probably be "Looks like Scotiabank is beginning to reduce credit card limits" for now.
  12. 1 point
    To expand on that, there are employers hiring outside the formal recruit who have summer law positions available that don't make articling available. Usually they're organizations (think government and companies) and an in-house experience can be quite rewarding.
  13. 1 point
    No problem! That's what I was told by LSO. I mentioned I had heard the fee is 50% when practicing in a different province, and the membership services person I was speaking to said "yeah that used to be the case, but the rules have recently changed". I took a peek at the rules regarding practice status and they've been updated to specifically say you need to be at 100% fee status if you're practicing in a new province. So there goes that money-saving plan, lol. Seems silly to me... LSO is trying to gouge more fees out of its licencees, but all they're doing is guaranteeing more lawyers will full-on surrender their Ontario licences when they transfer instead of keeping them at 50% status. As for how easy it is to get it back if you ever want to move back to Ontario, don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure you just go through the transfer process again, but in reverse. I guess your path will depend on how long you want to stay in the other province: if it's only for a year or so, it would probably cost less to keep up your Ontario licence than it would to go through the transfer process again; if it's longer, you'd actually be saving money by dropping it and then paying the transfer fees later. That said, I definitely recommend talking to the LSO and asking if it is indeed that easy to hop back to Ontario after surrendering your licence. I find often with the LSO logic dictates one answer, and the LSO gives another 😂
  14. 1 point
    Minute difference but one thing to note about those numbers. They mixed up the historic entries for Western and Queen's in the latest version. So under Western for 2018 you'll see 62 and Queen's 52. But if you go to the 2018 version it was actually Queen's that had 60 something and Western was in the 50s http://ultravires.ca/2018/11/toronto-2l-hiring-numbers/. Not sure if they've also mixed up the columns other years in the past but I would look for the actual report of each year instead of relying on the historic numbers column at the bottom.
  15. 1 point
    As in you can't have a non practising status in Ontario and practising in the other (so as to reduce the Ontario fee?) And if you do have to give it up, how easy or difficult is it to get it back? Thanks for sharing!
  16. 1 point
    We will count all of the courses in the Winter 2020 semester to identify the last 20 half-courses, but grades of D+ (or equivalent) and below, and credit/no credit from that term will not be used in the GPA. This means you may have fewer than 20 grades (half-courses) actually used in the GPA calculation, depending on your individual circumstances for that term.
  17. 1 point
    just dont. you’re already applying to their school and paying their application fee, thats enough demonstrated interest right there. concentrate less on why theyre a good fit for you and more on why youre a good fit for them.
  18. 1 point
    I'd also like insight on the firms, but I do know that Agro Zaffiro, Camporese and Sullivan Festeryga are predominantly insurance defence (and personal injury for Camporese). This makes up the majority of their practice.
  19. 1 point
    "If you require immediate assistance, please contact a representative via telephone at 215.968.1001. For inquiries regarding Accommodated Testing, please call 1-855-384-2253. Call Center Hours: 8:30 am to 6:00 pm (ET). Access your www.LSAC.org account for up to the minute information.” I just sent them an email and received this auto-response. I hope this helps you!
  20. 1 point
    I edited to add my credit score. It’s currently 819 per scotiabank’s website. I’ll update here if my credit limits are reduced
  21. 1 point
    Being appointed to a judge position is a long process. You have to practice law for a minimum of 10 years and be in good standing (having a good reputation helps too). You apply for a position, a committee reviews all the applications and creates a short list of candidates to interview. After interviews, reference checks etc the committee makes a shorter list of recommended candidates and the Attorney General choses the candidate who will receive the position from the recommended candidates. I think the role of the Attoney General in the process may have recently changed, or been removed completely. It isn't easy and all the judges I've met had a long and successful legal career before becoming a judge. Many of them were crown 'prosecutors' (/attorneys).
  22. 1 point
  23. 1 point
    My friends at mid-size and small firms are still going into the office a few times a week or are pressured to do so. While I echo other posters’ advice to move out unless your grandparents need you to take care of them, I would first recommend you get the input from your future colleagues. Some offices or groups are face time heavy, others could not care as long as your billables are good. Get as much info as you can and try to make the decision that is right for you. However, you asked for my opinion, so the short answer is that if I were you and I were told that face time is important, I’d move out and keep my grandparents safe.
  24. 1 point
    https://www.mcgill.ca/law/bcl-jd/admissions-guide You'd be doing yourself a huge favour by reading through the admissions guide.
  25. 1 point
    LOL. When I saw your initial post, my first thought was how badly your inbox was about to get flooded.
  26. 1 point
    RIP my inbox. I guess some more historical context might be useful to those of you who don't remember what it was like in 2008 because you were literally children.* When Goodman & Carr folded, and Heenan Blaikie after it (I guess in context those were kind of comparable to... McMillan and Norton Rose today? Ish?), a lot of their talent was poached by other law firms and basically all of their articling students were taken on by other Bay Street firms. Kind of an unspoken obligation. Again, far from saying that anything like that is going to happen -- it almost certainly won't, probably not even close -- but because we have some catastrophic thinkers out there, just remember that your absolute, meteor-strike worst-case scenario might be that if the firm folds you'll end up at Torys. Ugh. (Kidding, I'm kidding. Don't @ me.) * I don't know if I shared this here, but we were at a firm event just before Covid and there was a trivia question about '90s music. They played Bittersweet Symphony and the question was, "which band played that song?" We answered, The Verve. The new associates were like, "we didn't know that". And the olds were like, "no worries, you were probably thinking The Verve Pipe, but that's a different band. In any event, one-hit wonder, can't blame you if you don't remember." And they were like, "No, we've never heard that song."
  27. 1 point
    Even though well-placed, they're still just rumours; I don't want to be out here getting on the wrong side of some good old-fashioned trade libel. Since a lot of you weren't here 12 years ago, just a quick reminder that just because a firm is having a hard time doesn't mean the students are in trouble. In the last couple of recessions, we saw some emergency mergers that actually caused students to be "upgraded" into better firms... international buyouts that catapulted some "mid-tier" and regional firms into international juggernaut status... we saw some lower-billing senior associates and overpaid senior partners move from firm to firm... and generally when financial difficulties hit law firms the result was lower hiring at the OCI stage and not necessarily lower hireback. For many firms, mine included, cutting on hireback or new hires is more of a last resort. If you've just got a job at a Bay Street law firm, you should be the opposite of panicking, even if your firm happens to be one of (what are hopefully a very few) that are going to have to make some changes. As I say, I'm worried about my friends on the brink of partnership; you jerks are probably going to be fine.
  28. 1 point
    That was a very frustrating time on the internet.
  29. 1 point
    Everyone had awful hot takes about that case. See e.g.: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/court-throws-out-law-barring-self-induced-intoxication-as-defence-to-violence https://www.google.com/amp/s/beta.ctvnews.ca/local/toronto/2020/6/5/1_4971355.html
  30. 1 point
    IIRC, CP24 was also responsible for reporting the ONCA case of Sullivan & Chan as effectively allowing intoxication as a defence to sexual assault, when in fact the cases were not even about sexual assault. A lot of stupid petitions went around calling on the Ontario AG to "overturn" ONCA's ruling. It looks like a lot of really intelligent people are working at CP24.
  31. 1 point
    Actually both you and Bloc are wrong in your cost calculations. Neither one of you have calculated the income foregone while attending law school. Also, what you are both doing is calculating the true cost of law school, not the opportunity cost. True cost = actual cost + opportunity cost. Both you and Bloc have added some actual costs (ie tuition) and called it an opportunity cost. The real opportunity cost of tuition is not what you pay for tuition, but rather what else you could have done with that money. I apologize if this all seems overly pedantic, but my undergrad was in economics.
  32. 1 point
    We meet again, lol. At risk of derailing the thread a bit, thanks. To add something constructive for OP: since you're regularly scoring 170+ on PTs, for blatantly apparent reasons I have limited advice to give you on studying. But since the one edge I do have is that I've taken the LSAT already, and October is coming up quickly, I will advise you to not stress out. This sounds like an obvious statement. But I was woken up by horrible nausea at 5:30 AM the day of, and would recommend avoiding having this happen to you. I got myself to relax once I let myself understand that I can just take the damn thing again if I need to and life carries on no matter what. I didn't score my best, but well enough that I'm giving this round a try. As other posters have said, even if you also wound up not at the top of your game, you might still be competitive. Keep working hard on studying, but enjoy the rest of your summer and the start of your final year where you can.
  33. 1 point
    LSAC has just announced that beginning with the October 2020 LSAT they are reinstating the retake limits first established in September 2019, but that have been suspended for all tests from May through August of this year. For those unaware, here are the restrictions being resurrected for multiple attempts: • You can sit for the LSAT three times in a single testing year (LSAC's year goes from June 1 to May 31). This applies to cancellations as well as to kept scores. After three attempts you have to wait until the following June before you are permitted to test again. • You are allowed five attempts within any five year period (the period in which LSAC reports scores to law schools). After your fifth LSAT you must wait until five years have passed since your first test before being allowed to retake. • You can take the LSAT seven times in total. After that no further attempts are allowed. These limits apply regardless of whether future tests are Flex or in-person, but will not be enacted retroactively: the May, June, July, and August 2020 LSATs do NOT count toward these limits, but tests from September 2019 through February 2020, and tests after August 2020 all will. So plan accordingly as you map out your testing timeline—taking the LSAT solely for experience now comes with additional consequences. In other LSAT World news, we will release a PodCast episode shortly that breaks down the scoring info above and the ongoing July 2020 missing-score debacle. Here's the link if you want to give it a listen, Episode 62 when it posts in an hour: https://www.powerscore.com/lsat/podcast/
  34. 1 point
    In BC we call them K files. They can be the most complex and frustrating cases because so often the parties continue to complicate the file by continuing to engage with each other - sometimes by mutual agreement, sometimes one side only, sometimes they have to because kids, etc. And then they call you, Crown or defence, and expect to direct your response to an ever-evolving situation. And what they want you to do changes the next day. Often it is clear cut, but more often it isn’t. The only thing defence can do is look at the file they have and try to keep their client from stupid breaches. Crown have a tougher time because the public interest in prosecuting the file along with the chances of conviction is a moving target, especially if the complainant is calling every week to revise their version of events or report the latest text message breach or ask Crown to remove the no-contact condition. Give any of us a nice clean bank robbery any day. K files are a whole other level of criminal law.
  35. 1 point
    I am going to be blunt here. Law schools are not charities. You say your dream is to be a lawyer, yet that is not evidenced by anything I have seen here. You have a dismal GPA and subpar LSAT score. Contrary to all the advice you have received here, you do not want to a) attempt to raise your LSAT score, b) attempt to raise your GPA, or c) apply later on once you've gained some experience. You say you do not want to waste your 20s way, but what else do you have going for you; what are your alternative plans? Why are you this quick to give up on your "dream?" Maybe law school isn't for you. You can look into policing but there is also law clerk, paralegal, and legal assistant programs. Moving forward, my only advice is to put in some more effort to reach your goals, whatever they may be. Failing to reach your goals, then putting the blame on all these external factors is not the way to go about impressing people (including law school admissions). How have you overcome these struggles and adversity to prove yourself? Why do you deserve a seat in a law school? Your "only" con for Windsor is not just your GPA. What are your extracurriculars and community involvement like? Do you have any special accomplishments; artistic and athletic accomplishments; additional languages you speak, etc.? Do you have a public interest or social justice background? Essentially, if your stats are on the low-end, what have you done to prove to them that you deserve a seat in their law school? If you're saying you should be looked at as a charity case because you suffered from illnesses, took care of an ailing parent, lived in poverty, and worked full-time during your summers offer (and part-time during the school year), this is really not going to go down well with anybody.
  36. 1 point
    How many of those years have occurred since early March? P.S. If BlockedQuebecois is reading: no need to educate me on how time works, again. I'm just joking.
  37. 1 point
    If any online school suggests otherwise then get written confirmation from the NCA before you attend. A lot of these places might sell you lines like “this is the future” but I don’t recommend actually betting your own future on their promises.
  38. 1 point
    Most, if not all, schools make more offers than there are spots available. They have experience with the yield number vis a vis offers. It isn't until they get down close to that yield number that they will then go to the waitlist. Those on the waitlist are applicants that they will accept if initial offers are not accepted. It does make sense. As for ranking the waitlists, many schools do not divulge ranking numbers but that doesn't mean that there isn't a ranking system in place for the school.
  39. 1 point
  40. 1 point
    To add onto Diplock's point. My friend who's been working his keester off trying to get into a Canadian med school as an Ontario resident (it's a thing; way tougher if you're an ontario resident vs another province) and he's been a bubble candidate for years is now considering the US. He's been a bit too non chalant about the massive debt he'd take on and the quality of school he'd be open to. For example, one school had a 35 percent match rate in the U.S. To which I said you're gambling, and the number one rule of gambling is that the house wins. Except this time, you're betting 300 grand for worse odds than a black jack table. It was tough love. But it made him take a step back. And I don't think another approach would have worked. There's a time and place for kindness and tough love.
  41. 1 point
    As a mean guy, I approve of this topic and I hope the mods read it and stop deleting my posts!
  42. 1 point
    I did it. Got Called in Ontario on a Tuesday, moved to Vancouver the same Friday. As @Chuckles64 noted, it was an expensive administrative pain in the ass, but it's so, so nice to be on the West Coast. If you're thinking about surrendering your Ontario license, get on that process as soon as you're admitted in BC. Surrendering takes forever. Granted, some Vancouver firms like having lawyers who can practice in multiple jurisdictions and might pay your fees in both BC and ON, but I wouldn't bank on it. Protip - once you're insured in BC, contact LawPro asap and tell them you're covered in another jurisdiction so you don't have to pay ON and BC insurance fees. I paid for 5 unnecessary months of overlap because I thought it was tied to my ON surrender process, not my BC admission. Ugh. Also, the Call ceremony is going to feel weird. It's SO CHILL. Like, uncomfortably chill. Like, people who are in the building will just swing by and watch for a hot second and then get back to whatever it is they were at the courthouse for. Tres bizarre. I also found it disconcerting when people were congratulating me on my Call in BC - I literally did nothing but pay and show up, all the hard work was done ages ago. And they congratulate you on becoming a lawyer and you're like "thaaaaanks but I've been a lawyer for X months / years somewhere else?" May have just been me but it felt odd and I sort of wish they had a transfer-only Call ceremony. Aaaanyway, come on down, everything is green and the weather is great! Well... when the rain stops.
  43. 1 point
    I made this exact transition. Good news and bad news: Good news: you may have misread the transfer procedure. My experience is that you only need to write the BC exam if you are transferring to BC from a non-reciprocating jurisdiction. Ontario is a reciprocating jurisdiction. Check here: https://www.lawsociety.bc.ca/becoming-a-lawyer-in-bc/transfers/transfer-to-bc-from-another-canadian-jurisdiction/ Bad news: you're going to have to pay something like $2,500 in administrative fees to LSBC to transfer over. Good news: other than the fee its relatively painless Bad news: unless you surrender your Ontario license, if practicing law in BC you will still need to pay 50% of your LSO fees (if you can't find a job and have no income, don't worry, LSO will find it in their heart to only charge you 25% for the right to not practice using your Ontario license) Good news: when Ontario friends complain about sub -20 temperatures you can respond that you feel their pain and had to suffer the indignity of putting on a light sweater that morning. Bad news: trying to surrender your Ontario license may take months (or over a year), during which said fees still accrue. Good/Bad news: you get to / have to sit through another call to the Bar ceremony. Shoot me a PM if you have any questions about my experiences in transferring over.
  44. 1 point
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