If you are at all available to meet for one day in Toronto to discuss an overview of general approaches to the LSAT, I think it would be extremely helpful. Please let me know if you are able to meet in January and at what cost it would be.”

The answer to the question is:

For  people  taking the June 12, 2012 LSAT we are offering you the  opportunity of a “Personal Early Bird Start”. What does this mean?

You are invited to take a three  hour private session featuring:

- Pre-Law Counseling

- Early Bird Logic Games and Logical Reasoning start

- anything else  that you want to talk  about

This may be done in a live meeting in downtown Toronto or  over the telephone. It  is  scheduled at a time that works for  you.

The cost  is an additional $250 over the cost of the Mastering The LSAT program. In other words the cost  of the Mastering The LSAT program with the “Personal Early Bird”  start is $999 + $250 = $1249.

The personal “Early Bird Start  is available without the taking the Mastering The LSAT course for $499.

To schedule your Private “Early Bird” Start call  416 410 7737.

Note: This is also available as a small group session – a group of friends, etc.

George Jonas, National Post · Oct. 19, 2011 | Last Updated: Oct. 19, 2011 3:09 ET

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/When+grow/5571289/story.html

Where the jobs are: More than 1,000 Canadians have applied to U.S. law schools over the last few years

Denise M. Champagne, The Daily Record of Rochester
Aug. 30, 2010

Competition for a limited number of law schools in Canada means more students are heading south of the border.

More than 1,000 Canadians have applied to U.S. law schools over the last few years, according to Wendy Margolis, director of Communications at the Pennsylvania-based Law School Admission Council, which administers more than 170,000 Law School Admission Tests annually worldwide.

Margolis said 7,310 students applied to the 15 member Canadian law schools this year, up 15.1 percent over the previous year. LSAC recorded a 2.2 percent increase in the number of applicants to U.S. law schools, 87,476.

Margolis attributed some of the overall increase to the economy, noting that graduate schools tend to become an appealing option for people who can’t otherwise find jobs. More than 200 law schools in the United States, Canada and Australia are members of the council.

About 13 of the 750 students enrolled this year at the University at Buffalo Law School hail from Canada.

One of them is second-year student Stephanie Le Coche, a Toronto native now living in Buffalo.

“There are a lot more law schools here,” she said of her own decision to head to Buffalo. “Even though the states are competitive, I don’t think it’s as competitive as the schools in Ontario.”

Le Coche said there are more opportunities to practice law in the United States, particularly in litigation, which she is considering. She noted that New York City – the financial capital of the world – also offers the most opportunities for students considering corporate law. She is interviewing for a 2011 summer associate position in Buffalo.

Le Coche’s undergraduate degree is in sociology and psychology. She is a graduate of York University in Toronto, but came to the United States because she eventually wants to practice law here.

“I was torn between going somewhere in Ontario, which would be close to home, and going somewhere in the states because I thought I always wanted to practice American law,” she said.

Buffalo is only about 90 minutes from her home and turned out to be a good choice, she said, but she wasn’t prepared for the cultural shock she experienced.

At first, it was just little things like different currency and gas being measured in gallons, not metrically. In Canada, school grades are numbered, as in ninth or 10th, so at first she didn’t know what people were referring to when they said “freshman” or “sophomore” years.

She quickly became labeled “The Canadian,” but she said she has found the people in Buffalo are nice and helpful.

“I think at first, they kind of looked at me like I was from another planet,” Le Coche said. “I kind of got that impression at the beginning of the year when I started asking questions that most Americans would know, so I couldn’t hide that I was Canadian. It took some getting used to , but I like it.”

To help future Canadians who may end up studying law in Buffalo, she is writing a paper on the challenges she faced. Topics include adjusting and settling in, obtaining a student visa to work in the United States and returning to Canada with an American law degree.

Le Coche also is resurrecting the Canadian Law Students Society at UB, which had been inactive in the last few years.

“We will have meetings about any issues that affect the Canadian students here,” she said, noting the group is not limited to Canadians. The focus will be on job opportunities, along with social events.

One of Le Coche’s friends is a student at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. Le Coche said her friend plans to practice in Canada, where the process to enter the bar includes a 10-month program similar to an apprenticeship. Upon successful completion, young attorneys then apply to Canada’s National Committee on Accreditation.

By most accounts, more Canadians are crossing the border into American law schools than Americans traveling to study in Canada.

Bob Linney, communications director with the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, said only 226 people who applied for an NCA certificate between June 30, 2009 and June 30, 2010 graduated from U.S. law schools. He acknowledged the countries’ licensing requirements are different and directed further questions to the federation’s website at www.flsc.ca.

Joseph E. Schneider, director of Post-Professional and International Education at the University at Buffalo Law School, said he doesn’t know of any American students who have decided they want to practice exclusively in Canada.

Many choose to learn about the enforcement of judgments in Canada and businesses that work on both sides of the border, and set up cross-border practices based in Western New York.

“Where a person comes from is not necessarily an indication of where they want to end up geographically,” Schneider said. “I actually get a fair amount of interest in our L.L.M. program from people outside of the U.S. I bring it up because it’s not always a safe bet to assume that just because somebody is a lawyer from Mumbai that that person plans on going back to Mumbai.”

Schneider said UB Law School does not have a formal relationship with any law schools in Canada, but such partnerships do exist. The University of Detroit Mercy in Michigan and Windsor Law at the University of Windsor, just north of the Michigan border, offer degrees in American and Canadian law.

Courses required to practice law in Canada include Canadian administrative law, Canadian Constitutional law, Canadian criminal law and procedure and foundations of Canadian law. The Michigan/Ontario program includes credit hours at both schools.

What does your LSAT score  measure? Your LSAT test score is a measure of how well you answer LSAT questions (on that particular test day). What does  a high LSAT score mean? A high LSAT test score means  that the person reads well. It is probable that a low LSAT scorer does not read well (although there are a number of other factors that might contribute to a low score). This makes sense because the LSAT is a test of how well you apply your reading and reasoning skills to LSAT questions. In a previous post, I suggested that the LSAT should be called the “R.E.A.D.” test (Reading Effectively and Deducing).

The Two Kinds of LSAT Preparation

“Formal LSAT preparation” = the process of specifically learning to improve the application of your reading and reasoning skills to actual LSAT tests, for the purpose of achieving your maximum  LSAT score

“Informal LSAT preparation” = the process of improving your general level of reading and reasoning skills so that you are starting your “Formal LSAT preparation” from a higher general level of reading and reasoning

Although the “Formal LSAT preparation” stage of your life is relatively short. The acquisition of reading and reasoning skills is a life long project. You will start your “Formal LSAT preparation” from the level of reading and reasoning skills that you have developed from a lifetime of reading and critical thinking. Different people start their “Formal LSAT preparation” from different levels. “Informal LSAT preparation” is a process of improving your reading and reasoning skills with a view to starting your “Formal LSAT preparation” from a higher level.

I once attended a MAPLA (Mid-West Association of Pre-Law Advisors) conference. There were a number of seminars about the LSAT. One adviser commented that she encouraged law school applicants to treat LSAT preparation (she meant “Formal LSAT preparation”) as a process of improving the skills that are necessary for success in law school and beyond. Both the LSAT and law school are about reading and reasoning.

What Can You Expect From LSAT Preparation Books, Courses and Tutors?

A good LSAT preparation program is dependent on the quality of the LSAT teacher. It will will start from your current  level of reading. A good LSAT preparation program CANNOT improve your general reading skills but it CAN improve your ability to better apply your existing reading and reasoning skills to LSAT questions and answer choices.

The LSAT Reading Comprehension section is not emphasized in most LSAT prep courses and books. This is underscored by the fact that there are few LSAT reading comprehension books. You are likely to find that practicing LSAT reading comprehension questions will improve your performance. This is also a fertile area for Pre-LSAT “Informal LSAT preparation”.

A good LSAT preparation program should teach you to simplify  LSAT passages and arguments. A good LSAT program should heighten your sensitivity to the LSAT language. Furthermore, by learning how LSAT questions are designed, you will learn to focus better on what you read.

How Long Should “Formal LSAT preparation” Be?

One of the most common questions I get is “how long should one prepare for the LSAT”. In terms of formal LSAT preparation, I would suggest a period ranging from six to twelve weeks (you can always add if necessary). I do not recommend that you start your “Formal LSAT preparation” too early. At the beginning (this is the truth) LSAT preparation is interesting. You will get your best improvements while the preparation is interesting. At a certain point LSAT questions  become tedious. The tedium will cause  mistakes that could be avoided. To put it another way: you want to peak at the right time. Remember that you can always add to your “Formal LSAT preparation” if necessary. You cannot subtract once you have started.When is the best time to take the LSAT? The answer is June or October.

It is essential that your “Formal LSAT preparation” includes the taking of lots and lots of actual LSAT tests.  Most of these actual LSAT tests be reserved for “Formal LSAT preparation”.

Remember that improvement implies that you are starting your “Formal LSAT preparation” from a specific level of reading and reasoning skills. What about improving your level of reading and reasoning prior to “Formal LSAT preparation”?

“Informal LSAT Preparation” – Pre-LSAT Prep

Since the LSAT is about the application of reading and reasoning skills,  taking steps to improve your general reading and reasoning skills will raise the level from which you will improve. LSAT preparation is not a short-term task.

How can you improve your level of reading and reasoning?

1. Reading Improvement – In order to improve your reading you need to: read, read a lot, read the right kind of material and read material that is challenging. Here are some suggestions for how to do this. Why not devote one hour a day to reading (just cut down on the computer time). For the “right kind of material” I  suggest reading “op-ed” pieces from newspapers (New York Times, Herald Tribune). I recommend the Economist Magazine (you can get a student subscription).  You will find that this is reasonably challenging.
2. Reasoning Improvement – Much of the LSAT Logical Reasoning section consists of questions that require you to analyze arguments. LSAT describes the task as evaluating “how the argument goes” – that is how the premises relate to the conclusion. A course in “critical thinking” might be of help here. Most schools offer one. Reading “op-ed” pieces will improve your  skills at recognizing good and bad reasoning. When it comes to LSAT Logic Games, a course in formal logic would help you understand some specific reasoning patterns that have appeared on the LSAT.

I have noticed that students who take English and philosophy come to “Formal LSAT preparati”on with a competitive advantage. This is because they have (without knowing it) been involved in a lengthy period of “Informal LSAT preparation” which is Pre-LSAT prep.

Copyright ©  2011 John Richardson. All Rights Reserved.

A few weeks ago, I spoke with John Richardson, who teaches LSAT prep in Toronto, about doing a blog post for our sites on why most LSAT prep courses—and their marketing material—tend to underemphasize reading comprehension.

Things have been a little busy lately, but sometimes delay is a good thing.  In this case, it allowed me to have lunch with Elise Jaffe, a former law firm colleague who is now the pre-law advisor at Hunter College in New York City.  Elise and John are always insightful and, while this post is my view, it owes a lot to those conversations.

There are several reasons why reading comp seems to be the forgotten stepchild in LSAT prep courses and marketing.  Some of them are merely commercial; others are inherent in the relatively short-term nature of LSAT prep, which is to say that most programs don’t address reading comprehension very well because—within the structure of most LSAT prep programs—it’s harder to address.  In combination with the limited objectives of most LSAT programs, the result is that reading comprehension feels like an afterthought.

I’ll talk about a little theory below.  The practical payoff is simple, though: Read—a lot—before you begin your intensive LSAT prep.  The more of a reader you are, the easier you’ll find reading comprehension especially, and logical reasoning to a lesser (but still significant) extent.

As Elise and John, in their own way, noted to me, taking a too-narrow view of the LSAT (which, I’ll add, is in the commercial interest of most LSAT prep programs) is positively damaging to performance.  Elise emphasizes that in one very important way, LSAT prep isn’t a short-horizon task.  It may be that you only “prepare for the LSAT” for a relatively short time but you start from somewhere; that is, you rely on a long personal development of reading and analytical skills.  To help develop those skills, Elise recommends to her students that, throughout their college careers, they become regular readers of the New York Times (relatively inexpensive with student rates) and at least one other respected news source, targeting op-ed pages in particular if they don’t have time to read the entire publication.  One of my first posts on this blog contained similar advice.

John’s R.E.A.D. principle is in a similar vein.  It’s a great “back-to-basics” reminder that what the LSAT, in its essence, is asking you to do is to understand and analyze the information it presents.  No one starts doing that from a blank slate.  Any taker relies on a better or worse history of doing exactly that, understanding and analyzing information as it’s presented.

I’m not recommending extending dedicated LSAT prep time—I think that too long spent preparing is just as unhelpful as too short a time, as I’ve said several times on this blog.  What’s important is the preparation you do before you start “preparing” for the LSAT.

A great LSAT prep program can maximize your reading ability but can’t create it from scratch (or nearly scratch).  Knowing and using the right techniques for you are important to maximizing your LSAT performance—but they’re not alchemy.  LSAT books that purport to teach you “how to read for the LSAT” are more harmful than beneficial—that’s another reason why I continue to believe that the best decisions I made in my own LSAT prep were to take all those books to the dumpster and to ignore all those programs and tutors that held out the possibility of great results (“crushing the LSAT,” “beating the LSAT,” etc.) without any pedagogically sound plan as to how to get to those results.

The basic fact is this. Takers of the LSAT have been reading (more or less well and more or less heavily) for a long time.  For example, although I didn’t start my LSAT prep anywhere near the 180 score I got on my only LSAT, I had the advantage that I was a heavy reader (and I had no idea what the LSAT books were trying to tell me about reading—they had nothing to do with how I read or should read, and I was pretty convinced that I was already a better reader than the books’ authors).  I didn’t read quite the way the LSAT wanted me to but I read a lot.  So, what I needed to do was to change the way I processed and analyzed information.  But I didn’t need to learn how to read, understand or process information at a reasonably high level.

When prospective clients take a diagnostic (or show me their actual LSAT after having taken another program), I worry more about the ultimate cap on their scores if reading comprehension is weak.  I’m upfront about that with them.  I think that’s my duty.  The bottom line is that I’m not qualified—nor, to my knowledge, is any other LSAT instructor—to teach remedial reading.  I can help tweak reading habits but 10 weeks—or, for that matter, 6 months—isn’t enough time to completely rebuild reading habits.  I can teach more efficient reading, better analysis of arguments and various other techniques specifically to maximize how any individual is already reading—but I can’t teach someone how to read.  And any LSAT book or instructor who tells you it or he can (especially in a few weeks) is either badly deceived, less than truthful or a severely underpaid sorcerer.

Even in making adjustments to how you read, the longer you have and the more dedicated you are, the better off you’ll be.  That’s the function of the pre-program that I offer to my clients.  The objective of that program is to get clients in the habit of reading in the way that the LSAT wants them to read without using up LSAT questions doing it, and giving ourselves more time to get it right.  Some of my clients are doing the pre-program (at no additional charge) for over a year—it’s just a few hours a week but it pays considerable dividends.

I don’t know of any other LSAT prep company that offers a similar program.  Why?  Well, it’s time and effort, for one.  And most LSAT prep programs are volume-based, so it’s not worth their effort.  But since the issue with those whose reading comprehension is weaker is more one of reading generally—and less one of 8 or 10 or 26 weeks of LSAT prep—these programs don’t emphasize reading comprehension.

They can’t, really.  And to the extent that mass-market LSAT prep intends to get its students a marginal improvement on a base score, they don’t have to—they can get enough small improvements through marginal moves.  Still, they should make the limitations of what they’re doing clear, in my opinion.  If what you want—and you should—is your best LSAT score, you should start preparing for the LSAT long before you start preparing for it, either in a dedicated pre-program like the one I offer clients or in a self-designed program.  If you do that, your LSAT-specific work will have greater impact.

That’s all in “LSAT mode.”  There’s a more important consideration.  As a lawyer, one of the two or three activities that will take up the largest proportion of your time will be—reading.  And you’ll need to be a very careful and efficient reader to be a first-rate lawyer.  While I am generally of the opinion that the LSAT has a single purpose—to help get your best law school admission with the most merit-based financial aid you can get—it’s important to keep the end goal in mind.  If you don’t like to read, you should think carefully about whether the law and being a lawyer are right for you.  And the most practice you get at analytical reading—of the type tested on the LSAT, among others—the better off you and your clients will be when you become a lawyer.

Note also that I came across an interesting tool to help you make your law school decision here. This  tool recognizes that rankings are one of a number of considerations when choosing a law school.

Lakehead University has won provincial approval to launch the law school it has long coveted, promising to gear its newest faculty to attract aboriginal students and focus on aboriginal law.

It is Ontario’s first new law school since 1969, and one of several recent efforts across Canada to craft programs and curricula around local cultural needs, from plans for an indigenous law degree at the University of Victoria to Cape Breton University’s newly minted chair in aboriginal business studies.

It is also Northern Ontario’s first law school, chosen to fill a regional need as well as a cultural gap. For years, Lakehead has argued the need to train local students close to home to maintain a strong pool of legal talent, drive economic expansion and serve aboriginal students, who already make up nearly 14 per cent of its student body.A first class of 55 law students will enroll in September, 2013, with priority going to Northern and aboriginal applicants. They will be able to take courses on aboriginal law, which can range from indigenous legal principles to treaty or land-claim law. They can also study a variety of legal issues common to rural and remote areas, and natural-resource laws relevant to the mining exploration efforts under way in the region’s “Ring of Fire.”

“We need better access to justice in the North,” Lakehead president Brian Stevenson said. “There was a very strong push on the university from the aboriginal community, as well as from the legal community.”

Currently, the region’s nearest options for legal education are to drive about 14 hours to Toronto or nine hours to Winnipeg. Northern firms have struggled to attract law graduates from southern schools and to lure back homegrown students who go south to study. That has left articling positions unfilled and spurred concern over who will replace retiring lawyers.

Dr. Stevenson is confident many graduates will stay and practise law in the North, trading on the specialized knowledge they gain, and cites the statistic that 60 per cent of Lakehead medical-school grads take a job nearby.

Terry Waboose agrees. The Deputy Grand Chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation thinks the region is “definitely under-serviced in terms of the legal profession – and it’s even more pronounced in first nations communities.”

A study of 2006 data by York University’s Michael Ornstein showed only 1 per cent of Ontario lawyers were aboriginal, though that number had nearly doubled since 2001.

By giving Lakehead the green light, Ontario ends the moratorium on new law schools it imposed in 2008 after being flooded with proposals. The province has promised a more controlled strategy for the way schools grow, but felt Lakehead is addressing a clear need.

“I kind of felt sorry for Lakehead when the moratorium came out,” said John Milloy, Ontario’s Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. “It was, by all accounts, the most well-developed proposal … but it just ran into interest coming from so many quarters that we needed that breathing space to sort some of this out.”

The province has promised $1.5-million to help Lakehead refurbish a historic local high school it took over in 2008, which will house the new law school. Lakehead also expects to receive an estimated $800,000 a year in new operating funds.

The University of Victoria, already a leader in indigenous legal education, hopes to offer a Bachelor of Indigenous Laws before long. UVic’s mantra is that all lawyers, aboriginal or not, must understand aboriginal legal issues better.

“It would probably be hard for a lawyer to work in British Columbia without touching first nations issues,” said John Borrows, who spent a decade as UVic’s chair in Aboriginal Justice and Governance. “It’s a way of thinking more generally about law, to see how the common law, civil law and indigenous legal traditions interact.”

That approach is becoming more widespread, said Larry Chartrand, an associate professor who teaches an indigenous law course at the University of Ottawa. Most of his students are not aboriginal, partly because “there’s not a lot of aboriginal students who get into law school.”

Cape Breton University’s history of consulting with local aboriginal leaders on their pressing needs led the school to create a first-of-its-kind research chair in Aboriginal Business Studies last year. CBU has more aboriginal students than any university in Atlantic Canada, but few study business.

“Our goal is to double the numbers, then double the numbers, then double the numbers,” said Kevin Brown, the inaugural chair. “This is the beginning of it, but it’s not going to happen overnight.”

Most people go to law school because they want to become a lawyer. Pre-law students spend much of their time asking the answerable question of: what are the chances of getting into law school? Furthermore, they worry incessantly about Canadian law school rankings. Yet, many pre-law students in Canada are unaware of the range of opportunities available to them. The purpose of this post is to (at the very least) make you aware of the range of opportunities available to  you. It is NOT to give specific advice about programs. Remember that the “trend is always your friend”. Think about my predictions. A global legal practice is becoming the rule rather than the exception.

First – What Should Be The Goal Of A Legal Education?

The purpose of law school is NOT to teach you the law of any specific jurisdiction. The world is getting smaller by the day. A legal professional will certainly be  called upon to address legal problems that transcend provincial, state or county borders. Therefore, the purpose of legal education is to teach you how to learn the law and apply it to the facts at hand. Any lawyer can tell you what the law is. The difference between a good and bad lawyer is that the good lawyer will be able to apply the law. Therefore, the fact that a law school is “located in Canada” does not mean that it should be teaching (at least exclusively) Canadian law.

Prediction: The law school of the future will be one that proudly claims to not teach the law of any particular jurisdiction.

Second – How Long Should Law School Be?

Law school is three years because it has always been three years. It doesn’t take three years to learn the basic research and reasoning skill taught in law school. It is therefore not a surprise that:

-          after first year, law school has few required courses; and

-          there are many joint degree programs that can be finished in three years but ensure that some of the three years will NOT be spent studying law. The Western J.D./MBA program is a good example of that principle.

Prediction: Law school will cease to be a three year degree.

Third – Is There A Reason To Attend Law School In Canada If You Want To Become A Lawyer In Canada?

Although people are “used to the idea” of attending law school in Canada, it is not a requirement. There are a large number of superb law schools outside of Canada (particularly in the U.S. and the U.K.). The Law Society’s rules make specific provisions for (see http://www.flsca.ca) for how to get your foreign law degree certified as being equivalent to a Canadian law degree. Furthermore, Ontario’s Fair Access To Regulated Professions Act, imposes clear rules on the the Law Society when it comes to certifying foreign law degrees.

You could  become a lawyer in Ontario by attending law school in Cambridge Ontario (if they had one), Cambridge Massachusetts (Harvard) or Cambridge U.K. That said, there is bit more work to do if you want to enter the lawyer licensing process in Ontario. At the present time those with a three year law degree from the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, are in a position to earn a certificate of equivalency.

(It is also worth noting that U.K. and Australian law schools do not require the LSAT and the expenses associated with LSAT preparation courses. On the home front, the ABA is reconsidering whether the LSAT should  be a requirement for law admissions in the U.S.  The are good reasons to believe that the GRE could become a substitute for the LSAT in the near future.)

Prediction: Within in a decade, more people will be admitted to the Ontario Bar with law degrees from outside of Canada than from law schools located in Canada.

Fourth – Wherever You Attend Law School, Is There A Reason To Get Just One Law Degree?

No. It is just as easy to get two or more degrees. Here are some examples:

-          UBC, Alberta, Ottawa, Windsor and Osgoode offer Joint law degree programs with U.S. law schools which allow you to earn both degrees;

-          McGill and Ottawa allow you to earn both a civil law degree and a common law degree in three years

-          In the U.K., there is the possibility of earning both an LL.B. and LL.M. in three years;

-          There are many more joint degree programs offered by different law schools

Prediction: More and more Canadian law schools are offering joint law degrees. Within a decade all Canadian law schools will offer joint law degrees. In other words, that is what law school will be.

Fifth – I Have My Law Degree, Now What?

The purpose of a law degree is to give you the academic qualification to become admitted to the bar. There is no reason why you cannot become admitted to the bar in Ontario, one or more U.S. states and the U.K. It’s relatively easy to do PROVIDED THAT YOU DO IT SOON AFTER GRADUATING FROM LAW SCHOOL!

Remember, that there is a requirement of good character to become  a lawyer  in Ontario and other jurisdictions.

You will, at a minimum, make yourself more employable.

Prediction: Membership of the bar in more than one country will become a presumption!

Conclusion: The world is your Oyster

There are lots of opportunities available to you. You owe it to  yourself to take advantage of them.

When people think of becoming lawyers, they typically think of:

- law school

- LSAT

- LSAT preparation

- grades

- law school letters of reference

- law school personal statements

It is important to also consider character.

How does one become a lawyer? The requirements are in an Ontario statute called “The Law Society Act”. There is only one statutory requirement (the Law Society makes up the rest in the form of regulations). That requirement is a requirement of “character”. To be specific that S. 27(2) of the Law Society Act states that:

The “Good character” requirement

“(2) It is a requirement for the issuance of every licence under this Act that the applicant be of good character. 2006, c. 21, Sched. C, s. 23 (1).”

So, what is meant by “good character”?

It is impossible to define character. That said, character is of vital importance to our personal lives, democracy, spiritual growth, etc. In fact, the late Sir John Templeton published a journal called “In Character“. Many believe that “character” should be included in  the curriculum of public schools.

The Character Question – Is It Really A Question of Good Character?

The requirement can’t  mean “good character”. It must mean that one can’t have “bad character”

It is impossible to provide a precise definition of what is meant by “good character”. I suspect that people only have an awareness of one’s character in extreme cases – that is character that is extremely good or extremely bad. When it comes to becoming a lawyer in Ontario, it is “bad character” that is the problem – “good character” is presumed. To put it another way, applicants for admission to the bar are not (in general), required to demonstrate that they have “good character”. I suspect that a large number of Ontario lawyers would NOT make the cut if a showing of “good character” were required.

What is “bad character” and when is it determined to be “bad”?

There are two problems with the current process.

1.      When one learns that there is a problem – this issue is decided by a Law Society panel after someone has been through law school and completed the lawyer licensing process (you would think that someone ought to be able to get a ruling in advance);

2.      What is the conduct that will create a problem – From the perspective of an outside observer, it would appear that these determinations are rather arbitrary. There do NOT appear to be any objective guidelines that somebody can look up. In 2006 I devoted a complete chapter in “Law School Bound” book to discussing the “question of character”.

Should the “Character Issue” be decided by the Law Society?

Canada is one of the last places where the legal profession is still self-governing. Most other countries (the U.K. is the most recent convert) have had the good sense to not allow lawyers to govern lawyers. Perhaps another body should be entrusted with the job of deciding the question of character. To put it another way:

Is it really in the interests of society that the Legal Profession be the ones to determine what is sufficiently good character to practice law?

At a minimum, this question should be considered.

Two Recent Ontario Examples:

First, An Example Of Meeting The “Good Character” test:

“From 1979 to 1993, she was charged five times with 39 offences, she says, including fraud, theft of money and credit cards, and forging documents. She got 18 months in jail. It’s not something she is proud of, she says.”

Obviously this applicant was convicted of at least one criminal offense.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1000599–law-society-accepts-former-escort-as-lawyer?bn=1

Second, An Example Of Not Meeting The “Good Character” test:

In this case the applicant was charged with criminal harassment, but the charges were apparently dropped.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/969073–would-be-lawyer-rejected-by-ontario-s-law-society-for-poor-character

The Role of Criminal Convictions …

It is obvious that criminal convictions are neither a sufficient nor necessary condition for being denied admission to the bar of Ontario. Much more is involved. The question is: what is that “much more”?

Shouldn’t People Have A Right To Know in advance …

The time has come for more transparency in the process. People should have a way of learning in advance what will or will not be a problem for bar admission.

Social Media And The Pre-Law Student

I know that most pre-law students are focused on “getting into law school”. They are not so much concerned with the “character question” than they are with knowing their “chances of getting into law school”.

If you read the two articles referenced in this article you will see that all of the applicant’s behavior was subjected to scrutiny. In the digital world, where social media is the rage, careers are (not so much made but destroyed) because of the reckless use of social media sites. You owe it to your future career to be thoughtful, careful and discrete about your public digital image. And yes, this principle can be applied to the world of law admissions!

Copyright © 2011, John Richardson. All Rights Reserved.