Aspiring lawyers could soon have more choices when it comes to higher education in Ontario. The province currently has eight law schools approved by the Law Society of Ontario: Lakehead University, Toronto Metropolitan University’s Lincoln Alexander School of Law, York University’s Osgoode Hall law School, Queen’s University, University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, University of Western Ontario and University of Windsor. But that could soon change as both Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Guelph want to create their own law schools. Laurier’s proposed program would be set up at its Brantford campus. Laurier’s program would offer a solution for people who aren’t able to take on a full-time course load. “One of the things that makes us really innovative and unique is that we are talking about a part-time by design program, because some of the community leaders in smaller communities, they may already have a job or have family responsibilities,” Kelly Gallagher-Mackay, an associate professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, said. “They want the legal education and the skills to let them serve their community at that level, but they need to keep working. We’re really trying to make it accessible for students.” Meanwhile, officials at the University of Guelph envision a program that works alongside their already established schools. “Our law school will be, for example, the first in Canada to have a food law specialization of food law program that will have courses that deal with the unique problems that people living in rural and non-metropolitan communities face,” Byron Sheldrick, University of Guelph’s interim Provost and VP academic dean of record for the proposed college of law, said. If the schools are approved, they would help fill a geographic gap. “Speaking as someone who grew up in this area, that’s something that would have appealed to me at the time that I had gone to law school,” Kristopher Kinsinger, a lawyer at SV Law in Guelph, said. “Practically speaking, if you’re from the Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Hamilton area and you’re interested in going to law school, you’re facing a prospect of packing up and moving your life for the better part of three years just to get that education.” Fulfilling a rural need The separate proposals come as legal systems in many rural areas face backlogs. “We have an access to justice failure because we don’t have legal education opportunities here in our region,” Gallagher-Mackay said. “So, you can stay at home where we have the greatest need and still learn these incredible skills.” Established law practices in Ontario are also facing what is known as “the greying of the bar” as many lawyers in rural areas are aging. “The lawyers that are [in rural areas] are getting older. The average age is about 67,” Sheldrick explained. “They are looking to retire, and they can’t recruit young graduates or new lawyers. We’re optimistic that we can actually show our students that there are really rich and rewarding careers outside of places like Bay Street in the GTA.” Both universities have said their schools would emphasize the importance of practicing law in those underserved communities. What happens next? Both proposals still need approval. The Federation of Law Societies of Canada approves all Canadian common law programs to ensure nationwide requirements are being met. Approval is also needed from the Law Society of Ontario, the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance and the provincial government. “The final stage of approval is the Law Society,” Sheldrick said. “The members of the Law Society that are called ‘benchers’ will actually vote on the proposal to approve it.” The University of Guelph hopes to open its school for fall 2028. “We’re about ready to submit that proposal,” Sheldrick said. “I’m hoping by the end of November, we would be submitting that to the Law Society. Then by June or thereabouts we might be hearing we might be approved. We also have to go through out own internal governance processes – so it has to go to the University of Guelph Senate.” Meanwhile Laurier is a little further along in the process and also hopes for a fall 2028 start. “We’ve got approval from our Senate in principle, and we’ve got our proposal in front of the Federation of Law Societies,” Gallager-Mackay said.
