Queen's University Faculty of Law
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| Queen's University, Faculty of Law | |
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| Motto: | Soit Droit Fait (Let Right Be Done) |
| Established: | 1957 |
| Type: | Public |
| Dean: | William Flanagan |
| Faculty: | 70 |
| Students: | 500 |
| Location: | Kingston, ON, Canada |
| Website: | http://law.queensu.ca |
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The Queen's University Faculty of Law is a faculty of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Queen’s University’s Faculty of Law has enjoyed a long tradition of academic excellence, vibrant community spirit, and a commitment to social justice and global perspective that have placed it within the first rank of Canadian law schools. While the tradition of legal education at Queen’s University heralds back nearly 150 years, the law school as it currently exists was officially established in 1957.
Faculty members from Queen's have been honoured with major teaching and research awards, and are recognized nationally and internationally as leading experts in their fields. Past and current professors at Queen's such as William Lederman, Toni Pickard, Gary Trotter, Alan Manson, Nicolas Bala and Don Stuart are routinely cited in Supreme Court of Canada and other appellate decisions. As consultants, advisors, and project directors, Queen's Law professors have made substantial contributions to various provincial and national law commissions, as well as national and international organizations.
Queen’s Law School is housed in Sir John A. Macdonald Hall, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister John G. Diefenbaker in 1960. Sir John A. Macdonald Hall was completely renovated in 2003. It houses the William R. Lederman Library, named after the former dean and respected scholar, which contains over 150,000 legal volumes and is undergoing significant refurbishment in 2008.
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[edit] History
Queen’s University was established by Royal Charter granted by Queen Victoria in 1841, pre-dating the founding of Canada by 26 years. In 2007, Queen’s University tied for second in Canada in the Medical/Doctoral category (the top tier of Canadian universities) within the Macleans’ University Rankings; placed first in the Globe and Mail University Report Card; and ranked 88th in the world in the Times Higher Education Supplement rankings of the world’s universities.
The first Faculty of Law at Queen’s University was established in 1861, two years later awarding the first honorary Doctor of Laws degree to Sir John A. Macdonald who would go on to serve as Canada’s first Prime Minister. The first Dean of Law, Alexander Campbell, was also a “Father of Confederation.” This early faculty only lasted a few years and efforts were made to revive the law school in 1880 although, again, after graduating a number of students with LL.B. degrees the law school closed after a number of years largely because the Law Society of Upper Canada refused to recognize university law degrees. The modern law school was founded in 1957 with William Lederman, the pre-eminent constitutional law scholar of his era, as its first dean.
Kingston was the long-time home of Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald; as a lawyer, he advocated many famed cases in this city. In honour of its relationship to this Prime Minister, the Queen’s University Faculty of Law is housed in Macdonald Hall on Union Street, designated to symbolize the union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada in 1841.
In 2007, the Faculty celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of this founding and its tradition of educating leading members of the Canadian and international legal community. Notable for its commitment to community and academic excellence, Queen’s Law continues to be a unique institution within the Canadian legal academic environment by, for instance, running the only Canadian legal study abroad program at the Queen’s University campus at Herstmonceux Castle in Sussex, England.
The crest of Queen’s University's Faculty of Law is a sword and the scales of justice on top of a white X and a shield. Professor Stuart Ryan, one of the law school's founding faculty members, gave the school its motto – Soit Droit Fait. The phrase has a double meaning. It is a statement of the power and creative potential in herent in the law that was used by medieval kings when assenting to bills passed by Parliament – “let the law be made.” It is also an expression of the commitment to justice and decency implicit in the ideal of legailty – “let right be done.”
[edit] Academics
[edit] Admissions
Most accepted applicants have completed a four year university program. The preference is to accept those applicants who have an honours undergraduate degree, and many admitted students have attained graduate degrees as well. Acceptance into Queen’s law is very competitive, with a few thousand applicants vying for around 160 positions. The average LSAT score of accepted applicants is 161 and the mean undergraduate average (for the last two years) is 82%.
The Faculty Board and Queen's University Senate recently voted to change the LL.B. degree to a Juris Doctor (J.D.) designation to reflect the fact that the vast majority of Queen's Faculty of Law's graduates enter the program with at least one university degree.
[edit] Joint degrees
The Faculty of Law at Queen’s University is known for its vibrant and collegial learning environment. It currently offers a bachelor's degree (LL.B.) and a graduate program in law (LL.M.). In addition, combined degree programs include a Masters of Industrial Relations (M.I.R.), Masters of Public Administration (M.P.A.), and a Queen's School of BusinessMasters of Business Administration (M.B.A.). The Faculty of law is also in the process of developing a doctoral program effective in 2008.
[edit] Clinical Programs
Practical experience is a major component of legal education at Queen's, with mandatory advocacy courses and a large proportion of the student body being engaged in Legal Aid and other clinical programs. In these programs students gain practical legal training and experience in the realm of social justice. Queen's Law is particularly renowned for its clinical correctional law programs where students are directly involved in legal assistance to prisoners under the supervision of members of the faculty of law.
[edit] International Opportunities
Queen's law school also offers an increasingly global perspective, including an extensive offering of exchange programs, a continuous stream of visiting scholars and guest lecturers from law schools and legal institutions around the world, and the hallmark International Law Spring Program at the International Study Centre (ISC) at the historic Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England.
The International Law Spring Program at Herstmonceaux Castle offers an intensive and integrated academic program in international law taught by prominent practitioners and academics from around the world. The international law certificate program is split into three streams: International Public Law, International Business Law and International Intellectual Property Law (beginning 2009), and is open to accredited law schools in Canada and the United States and international universities with which Queen's is an exchange partner.
Taking advantage of the ISC’s location, the International Law Spring Program includes a number of field trips to international institutions in Europe including the World Trade Organization in Geneva, the Canadian Mission to the European Union in Brussels, the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague, the United Nations Office in Geneva, and the OECD in Paris, among other key institutions.
[edit] Alumni
Notable Queen's Faculty of Law alumni include:
- Michael Beatty (LL.B. 1994) -- CEO of Pratorian Trust Company
- Jock Climie (LL.B. 1998) -- Lawyer, former CFL player
- Douglas Cunningham (LL.B.) -- Lawyer and Ontario Superior Court Justice
- Justice Nancy Flatters (LL.B. 1981)
- Mike Gillis (LL.B. 1989) -- General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks
- Yolande James (LL.B. 2003) -- First black Minister in the province of Quebec
- David Lloyd Johnston (LL.B. 1966) -- President of the University of Waterloo [1]
- Justice Jean MacFarland (LL.B. 1971) -- Ontario Court of Appeal
- John Sims -- Deputy Attorney General for Canada
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- [1]Law School Website
- Canadian Lawyer magazine's 2005 ranking of Canadian Law Schools
- Canadian Lawyer magazine's 2005 Canadian lawyer's compensation survey
- CanLII - Canadian Legal Information Institute
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