Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the Journal of Law and Social Policy, and the Osgoode Hall Law Journal. A variety of J.D. LL.M. and Ph.D. degrees in law are available. Osgoode is widely considered to be one of the top law schools in Canada.
The law school's alumni include two Canadian prime ministers, four attorneys general, eight premiers of Ontario, four mayors of Toronto, eleven justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, four of whom were chief justices, and one Academy Award nominee. The current dean of the law school is Trevor C.W. Farrow.
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History
Osgoode Hall was named for William Osgoode, an Oxford University graduate and barrister of Lincoln's Inn. He was the first person to serve as the chief justice of Upper Canada.
The law school traces its origins back to the 1820s, and it counts the first Canadian prime minister (Sir John A. Macdonald) among its graduates. It was reorganized in 1889, and the Law Society of Upper Canada permanently established the law school on the site now known as Osgoode Hall. At the time, it was the only law school in Ontario, and this remained the case until the establishment of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1949.
Ontario lawyers were originally required to attend Osgoode Hall in order to practise in the province. In 1855, the Law Society began requiring members to attend lectures given at Osgoode Hall (the building). In 1862, a law school opened in that building, only to close in 1868. It frequently opened and closed throughout the late 19th century. The law school at Osgoode Hall was only titled "Osgoode Hall Law School" in March 1924, when the Law Society of Upper Canada formally assigned it that name.
The school signed an agreement of affiliation with York University in 1965. It relocated from the Osgoode Hall building in downtown Toronto to York University's Keele Campus in 1968.
Rankings and reputation
Osgoode Hall is one of the most elite law schools in Canada. Times Higher Education ranked Osgoode Hall Law School 43 in the world in 2021. In 2022, Osgoode's joint JD/MBA program with the Schulich School of Business was named among the top 10 business and law programs in North America by FIND MBA.
In the 2008 rankings published by Canadian Lawyer Magazine, Osgoode was ranked first in Canada and was awarded high marks for the quality of its professors, flexible curriculum, and the diversity and relevance of course offerings. The faculty has been described as the "strongest in the country," and rank number one in Canada for faculty journal citations.
In 2011, 2012, 2013, Maclean's magazine has ranked Osgoode second amongst Canadian law schools.
In 2025, Osgoode Hall Law School ranked 4th overall in Canada and 2nd in Ontario based on rankings from Times Higher Education The school remains highly competitive with about 2600 applicants a year and an acceptance rate of 8-10%.
Original building and current facilities
For its first eight decades, Osgoode Hall Law School was located at Osgoode Hall at the corner of Queen Street and University Avenue. The structures at Queen and University (the earliest dating from 1832) are still known as Osgoode Hall. They remain the headquarters of the Law Society of Upper Canada, house the Court of Appeal for Ontario, the Divisional Court of the Superior Court of Justice, the offices of the Law Society of Ontario and the Great Library of the Law Society.
Currently, the law school is located on the Keele Campus of York University, in the Toronto suburb of North York. In May 2007, then-dean Patrick J. Monahan announced plans for an extensive renovation and extension of Osgoode Hall Law School involving a renovation of the existing building, and the addition of an additional wing.
The building was designed by architect Jack Diamond with the construction of the renovated building beginning in the summer of 2009. The project had been majorly funded by a $2.5 million gift by Ignat Kaneff, and the building has been renamed in his honour. The law school is referred to by York as its faculty of law. Osgoode's Professional Development offices and classrooms are based at 1 Dundas Street West in Downtown Toronto, overlooking Sankofa Square.
Student life
The Legal & Literary Society, Osgoode Hall Law School's official student society, coordinates student activities both on and off campus. The organization also funds the student newspaper, Obiter Dicta, along with over fifty student clubs, with notable examples including the Osgoode Hall Criminal Law Society and the Osgoode Constitutional Law Society (OCLS), which was founded in 2014.
Osgoode hosts Professional Development Programs (OPD) which are located in downtown Toronto at 1 Dundas Street near the original Osgoode Hall building.
Notable alumni
Prime Ministers
William Lyon Mackenzie King
Arthur Meighen
Supreme Court of Canada justices
John Robert Cartwright, former Chief Justice
Peter Cory, former Puisne Judge and former Chancellor of York University
Sir Lyman Duff, former Chief Justice
Frank Joseph Hughes, former Puisne Judge
Wilfred Judson, former Puisne Judge
Andromache Karakatsanis, current Puisne Judge
Patrick Kerwin, former Chief Justice
Bora Laskin, former Chief Justice
Malcolm Rowe, current Puisne Judge
Wishart Spence, former Puisne Judge
Michelle O'Bonsawin, current Puisne Judge
Other judges
John Arnup, Moderator for United Church of Canada, Justice at Ontario Court of Appeal
George Ethelbert Carter
Kim Carter, Chief Military Judge of the Canadian Forces
(Jack Sydney George) Bud Cullen, Judge at Federal Court of Canada
Charles Dubin, former Chief Justice of Ontario
Daniel Dumais (LL.M.), Emeritus Lawyer distinction from Barreau du Quebec, Puisne Judge of Superior Court of Quebec
Asher Grunis, President of the Supreme Court of Israel
Sydney Harris (judge), activist lawyer and judge, President of the Canadian Jewish Congress
Bill Hastings, Chief Justice of Kiribati, Chief Censor of New Zealand, District Court Judge of New Zealand
Russell G. Juriansz, first South Asian appointed to Ontario Court of Appeal
Harry S. Laforme, Justice at Ontario Court of Appeal
Patrick LeSage, Chief Justice of Ontario Superior Court of Justice
Malcolm Archibald Macdonald, Chief Justice of British Columbia
Mark MacGuigan, Attorney General of Canada, Justice of the Federal Court of Appeal
Goldwyn Arthur Martin, QC, Justice at Ontario Court of Appeal
Premiers
Bill Davis, 18th Premier of Ontario
George Drew, 14th Premier of Ontario
Ernie Eves, 23rd Premier of Ontario
Howard Ferguson, 9th Premier of Ontario
Leslie Frost, 16th Premier of Ontario
William Howard Hearst, 7th Premier of Ontario
Rachel Notley, 17th Premier of Alberta
John Robarts, 17th Premier of Ontario
Government
Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety
Todd McCarthy (politician), Member of Provincial Parliament for Durham, Parliamentary Assistant to the President of the Treasury Board, Deputy Government Whip
John Black Aird, former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Canadian Senator and founding partner of Aird & Berlis LLP
Lincoln Alexander, 24th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
Daniel J. Arbess, member of Council on Foreign Relations
Oliver Mowat Biggar, co-founder of Smart & Biggar, first Chief Electoral Officer of Canada
Leonard Braithwaite, member of Ontario Parliament
Lionel Chevrier, Attorney General of Canada, President of Privy Council of Canada, High Commissioner to the UK
Ward Elcock, Director of Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Gordon Fairweather, Attorney General of New Brunswick, first Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission
Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance of Canada
Hugh Guthrie, Attorney General of Canada, Minister of National Defence
Ross Hornby, former Ambassador of Canada to the European Union
Ron Irwin, former Ambassador to Ireland
James Kelleher, Solicitor General of Canada, Member of the Canadian Senate
Law
Austin Cooper, criminal lawyer, defended Keith Richards in Toronto
Marlys Edwardh, civil rights
Fraser Elliott, founder of Stikeman Elliott, President of the Art Gallery of Ontario
J. S. Ewart, lawyer, advocate for Canadian independence
Edwin A. Goodman, founding partner of Goodmans
Randal Graham, law professor, novelist
Edward Greenspan, criminal lawyer
Gordon Henderson, President, Canadian bar association, Chancellor, University of Ottawa
Marie Henein, criminal lawyer, defended Jian Ghomeshi
Jeffry House, refugee law, war resisters
Gord Kirke, sports and entertainment lawyer
M. David Lepofsky, disability and human rights lawyer
John Rosen, criminal lawyer
Stuart Alexander Henderson, successfully defended Gunanoot
Business
Sir Edward Wentworth Beatty, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Marshall A. Cohen, Director at Barrick Gold Corporation & Toronto-Dominion Bank, member Trilateral Commission
Dame Moya Greene, Former CEO of Canada Post, Former CEO of Royal Mail
Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
Charles Peter McColough, CEO and Chairman of Xerox Corporation, member of Council on Foreign Relations
John A. McPhail, founder and president of Great Lakes Power Company
Jagoda Pike, former publisher of the Toronto Star
Arthur Richard Andrew Scace, Chairman of Bank of Nova Scotia, director of Canadian Opera Company
Kathleen Taylor, Chair of Royal Bank of Canada
John S. D. Tory, founder of Torys and Director of A.V. Roe Canada
Arts
Morley Callaghan, novelist
Murray Cohl, co-founder of the Toronto International Film Festival
Jeff Deverett, lecturer and film producer
Daniel Iron, film and TV producer
Jerry Levitan, Oscar nominee
Tom MacInnes, poet
Aaron Schwartz (Canadian actor)
Science/medicine
Robert Elgie, Ontario Minister of Labour, became a neurosurgeon after becoming a lawyer
Scholarship
Payam Akhavan, international human rights
Constance Backhouse, legal scholar and historian, President of the American Society of Legal History
Deborah Coyne, constitutional law and international relations
Giuseppina d'Agostino, intellectual property
Michael Geist, internet and privacy law
Colleen Hanycz, principal of Brescia University College from 2008-2015, current university president of La Salle University
James C. Hathaway, international refugee law
Michael Mandel, law professor, international criminal law
Lyal S. Sunga, international humanitarian law, international human rights law, international criminal law.
Paul C. Weiler, Emeritus Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Alan Young, law professor, civil liberties
Gus van Harten, law professor, administrative law
Sportspersons
George Dudley, inductee of the Hockey Hall of Fame and executive for the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association
Notable professors
Louise Arbour, Supreme Court Justice, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Governor-General designate of Canada
John Borrows, Indigenous legal scholar
Jean-Gabriel Castel, private international law, decorated member of French Resistance
Leslie Green, philosopher and legal scholar specializing in jurisprudence, also Emeritus Professor at Oxford University
Peter Hogg, Canadian constitutional law, authored most-cited book at Supreme Court of Canada
Gord Kirke, sports and entertainment lawyer
Deborah McGregor, Whitefish Bay Ojibway environmentalist, educator
Obiora Chinedu Okafor, international and human rights law, also UN Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity
Angela Swan, contract law scholar, Officer of the Order of Canada
David Vaver, intellectual property law, also Emeritus Professor at Oxford University
Stephanie Ben-Ishai, insolvency, contract law, and corporate and commercial lawyer and author.
Popular Culture
Main character in Canadian legal drama, This Is Wonderland is an graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School.