TORONTO, January 9, 2008 -- Osgoode Hall Law School has been ranked the number one law school in Canada in Canadian Lawyer magazine’s 2008 Law School Survey.  It is the second time in three years that Osgoode has taken top honours in the annual survey, winning previously in 2006. (See attached 2008 survey.)

The magazine’s report on Canada’s law schools appears in the January issue that came out this week.  Osgoode was ranked number one, ahead of 13 other law faculties across the country including the University of Toronto (#2) and the University of New Brunswick (#3).

The magazine took a different approach to its survey this year, calculating grades based on alumni survey results, and then averaging them with the marks from the 2006 and 2007 surveys. Osgoode received high marks for its curriculum and faculty, and was strongly recommended by Osgoode alumni as a great place to get a legal education.  It also noted that Osgoode had listened to its alumni over the past few years and made changes that have led to a dramatic improvement in the law school’s standing with recent graduates.

“I want to sincerely thank our alumni who participated in the 2008 survey for ranking us tops again,” said Osgoode Dean Patrick Monahan.  “We are proud of the survey results, which confirm that the Law School’s recruitment of several new faculty members as well as our curriculum improvements and ongoing efforts to renovate our facilities are having a positive and beneficial impact on students.”

York University president and vice-chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri said "this is great news for Osgoode Hall Law School, and great news for York University.  Being ranked the leading law school in Canada by Canadian Lawyer magazine twice in the past three years is a testament to the quality and dedication of the faculty, and to the leadership of Dean Monahan."

Canadian law school graduates, who had been called to the bar within the last five years, were eligible to participate in the survey, which ranked the quality of their alma maters in seven categories: curriculum; faculty; professors; testing; facilities; practice relevance of their education to their actual law practice and overall recommendation.

To celebrate the ranking and say thank you to the members of the Osgoode community including alumni, the Law School hosted a celebration on the morning of Wednesday, January 9, 2008 that included the unveiling of a Number One banner that will hang in the Law School for the next several months as well as the distribution of Number One cupcakes and laptop tags.  Speakers included Osgoode Dean Patrick Monahan, student leaders Victoria Creighton and Jessica Catton, and alumni representative Ngai On  Young of Cooper Sandler & West, a 2004 Osgoode graduate who also served as coach of the Osgoode team that won last year’s prestigious Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP Gale Cup Moot.

Osgoode Hall Law School is the largest common-law law school in Canada with a proud history of more than 100 years of leadership and innovation in legal education and legal scholarship.  A total of about 900 students are enrolled in Osgoode’s three-year Bachelor of Laws (LLB) Program.  Osgoode’s Graduate Program in Law is also the largest in the country and one of the most highly regarded in North America.  The Osgoode Professional Development Program, which operates out of its own centre in downtown Toronto, offers numerous specialized part-time LLM Programs that run on varying cycles as well as Continuing Legal Education (CLE) courses.

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For more information, please contact:

Virginia Corner

Communications Manager

Osgoode Hall Law School of York University

416-736-5820

vcorner@osgoode.yorku.ca