Transforming legal education

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of talking with former Ryerson President Terry Grier. We were celebrating the naming of an arch in the Ryerson Quad in recognition of his work that made Ryerson the strong, innovative university it is today.

President Grier and I spoke about the challenges Ryerson faced under his leadership in the early 1990s. It was a fiscally challenging time for the province, there was a newly elected government looking for economic solutions, and Ryerson was a polytechnic hoping to chart new paths and to offer a new type of post-secondary educational experience. He told me that in the face of these challenges, he did what Ryerson has always done - he pushed forward despite the odds and pursued full university status for Ryerson.

Twenty-five years later, it is easy to look back and see the wisdom and strength in his decision.

New challenges

This winter, Ryerson University was again at a crossroads. After many years of planning, hard work, and broad consultations with students, lawyers, employers and other stakeholders from across Ontario, the future of the proposed Ryerson Law School was in question.

Following approvals by the Quality Assurance Council, the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, the Law Society of Ontario (LSO), the Ryerson Board of Governors and the Ryerson Senate, the provincial government announced that students attending Ryerson law school would not be eligible for OSAP.

One of our greatest strengths at Ryerson is our willingness to take risks. Ryerson has always challenged the status quo and we know that we cannot achieve our goals if we choose to stand still.

That’s why, last December, we announced that we are moving forward with our plan to open a law school at Ryerson in the fall 2020.

In a matter of weeks, students from around the world will be writing LSATs with the option of attending Ryerson Law; and in August, the admissions process for Ryerson’s first ever class of law students will begin.

Transforming legal education

We don't see Ryerson as a competitor to other law schools in Ontario, nor should we. There is a need for tradition, but at Ryerson if there’s one thing we know it’s that there's also a need for change.

Ryerson is offering a different type of law school, one based on experiential learning, increasing access, and a response to the call for practice ready professionals. Technology, innovative business practices, and entrepreneurship are firmly embedded in the curriculum so that our graduates can set up their own legal practices or go to work in small businesses around the province, as our Law Practice Program (LPP) graduates have done.

LSO approves integrated practice curriculum

We also know that there is a shortage of articling positions, which is why Ryerson worked with the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) to create an alternative to articling with the Law Practice Program (LPP). The LPP at Ryerson is in its fifth year, and continues to have a 100 per cent placement rate for our students.

On April 25th, the LSO unanimously approved the application by Ryerson University to have its Juris Doctor (JD) program designated as an Integrated Practice Curriculum (IPC). That means students who graduate from Ryerson law will not be required to article or complete the Law Practice Program in order to be licensed as lawyers.
 
Ryerson Law will meet the genuine need for a new generation of lawyers with the technology, financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills to practice more efficiently.  Our law school graduates, trained to meet the needs of small businesses and ordinary citizens across Ontario in a tech-savvy and entrepreneurial fashion, will provide much needed access to legal services in a more innovative and cost effective way.

Preparing for the future

We know from our broad consultations with students, lawyers, employers of lawyers, and other stakeholders across the province that there is an access issue in the legal community. There remains a large unmet need for legal services and a need for a different type of lawyer.

The search for the inaugural dean of our faculty of law is well underway and we will soon be launching a new marketing campaign to build greater awareness of our plans.

While it is true that we face some challenges in opening a law school, there is no reason that these challenges cannot be overcome. Challenges bring opportunities, and Ryerson must proceed with plans that are in line with and that strengthen our long-term vision and reputation.

Mohamed Lachemi
President and Vice-Chancellor