| Schulich School of Law | |
| Top Free Label: | Named for |
| Top Free: | Seymour Schulich |
| Established: | October 30, 1883 |
| Type: | Public Law School |
| Motto: | Latin: Lex Fons Lucis |
| Mottoeng: | "Law is the source of light" |
| Faculty: | 119[1] |
| Dean: | Sarah Harding |
| Students: | 500 |
| City: | Halifax |
| Province: | Nova Scotia |
| Country: | Canada |
| Campus: | Urban |
| Parent: | Dalhousie University |
| Nickname: | Dal Law |
| Website: | law.dal.ca |
The Schulich School of Law is the law school of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Founded in 1883 as Dalhousie Law School, it is the oldest university-based common law school in Canada.[2] It adopted its current name in October 2009 after receiving a $20-million endowment from Canadian businessman and philanthropist Seymour Schulich.[3]
Today, the Schulich School of Law is the largest law school in Atlantic Canada, with 500 students enrolled each year (170 in first-year) and a faculty of Rhodes, Fulbright, and Trudeau scholars.[4]
The Dalhousie Law School was founded by an 1883 endowment by George Munro for a chair in constitutional and international law at Dalhousie University.[5] [6] Munro proposed Richard Chapman Weldon to lead the new faculty, at a salary of $2,000. Chapman was Professor of Mathematics at Mount Allison, and had been educated at Yale and Heidelberg.
Though Munro's endowment would not fund further professorships, it would allow a group of lawyers and judges to receive a $100 annual stipend for lecturing to Dalhousie's students. Further donations from other benefactors allowed the university to secure 2,800 books for its library.
The school was initially housed in two large ground-floor rooms of the Halifax Academy. Two years later, Wendon and a friend, Benjamin Russell, personally bought the late Sir Brenton Halliburton's house on Morris Street, which housed the law school until 1887.
Weldon emphasised the responsibility that lawyers had to contribute to public service: Weldon aspired to treat the study of law as a full-time, liberal education. It was not, as Osgoode Hall was, an outpost for the province's professional law society where law was seen as "merely a technical craft",[7] nor did it follow the expectation of legal training that was dominant in French Canadian universities. Thus, the founding of the Dalhousie Law School was experimental and innovative in Canadian law. Indeed, the establishment of a university common law school was so radical – and its subsequent influence so great – that legal historians cite Dalhousie Law School as the basis for law school today.[8]
In his Story of Legal Education in British Columbia, a book that chronicles the establishment of the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law sixty-two years after Dalhousie Law School first opened, W. Wesley Pue writes:In discussing the motivations that led to the establishment of a full-time common law school, Weldon described the "'legitimate ambition' of 'generous spirits who wish their country well' to build a law school 'that shall influence the intellectual life of Canada as Harvard and Yale have influenced the intellectual life of New England.'"[9]
Based on Weldon's comments in his inaugural address at the opening of the law school, it's unsurprising that the Schulich School of Law has shared a storied connection with Harvard University. Although Dalhousie was influenced early on by the Harvard Law School, it placed a decidedly unique emphasis on the subjects of public law, constitutional history, and international law, fields that were notably absent from Harvard's curriculum in the 1880s.[10]
The school was ranked in the top three Canadian law schools in Corporate Knights 2011 Knight Schools Survey.[11] Maclean's 2013 ranking of Canadian common law schools placed the school sixth out of 16. The Schulich School of Law was also the first Canadian law school awarded the Emil Gumpuert Award by the American College of Trial Lawyers for trial advocacy training.
In 1966, the school moved to its current home, the Weldon Law Building, on Dalhousie's Studley Campus. On August 16, 1985, a lightning strike caused a short in Weldon's electrical system, which started a fire that destroyed most of the Sir James Dunn Law Library.[12] The library reopened four years later in 1989.
Refurbishments to the Weldon Law Building took place in 2004 with the addition of the James and Barbara Palmer Wing and in 2016 with the Facade Renewal Project. In phases one and two of the Facade Renewal Project, windows were replaced, walls were insulated, and stonework was reinforced on the third and fourth floors of the building.[13] In phases three and four, construction was focused on the building's first and second floors. Here, crews removed existing stonework, installed an accessible ramp to the school's entrance on University Avenue, and redid the school's front entrance.[14]
Inside the building, the centre staircase that existed between the first and second floor has been removed to make way for the creation of modern administrative office space on the second floor to provide a new and improved area for the administrative staff. The faculty's mosaic laid initially at the top of the stairs on the second floor and which weighs close to 2,500 lbs. was preserved and laid outside of the new administrative space.[14]
In January 2011, the Senate voted to change Dalhousie's law degree designation from a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) to a Juris Doctor (JD).[15] Students attending the Schulich School of Law today can undertake a regular JD degree or concentrate their JD in one of four specific areas: health law, business law/corporate law, marine and environmental law, and law and technology.
The school also offers a variety of combined-degree programs for undergraduate students:[16]
The Schulich School of Law also gives 20 to 30 aspiring professors and jurists who wish to enhance their knowledge of law and specialize in a particular areas/areas of law the option to pursue a postgraduate degree at the school:[17]
As an accredited law school in Canada, graduates are eligible to proceed to bar admission[18] and articling programs throughout the country.[19] Further information on bar admission for accredited Canadian law school graduates[20] and the National Committee on Accreditation (NCA)[21] for foreign-trained law graduates is available at the Federation of Law Societies of Canada website.[22]
At the Schulich School of Law, GPAs are weighed at 60 per cent and LSAT scores at 40 per cent. In 2016, 170 students were admitted from a pool of over 1,300 applicants, of which 55 per cent were women and 45 per cent men.[23] The average age of applicants was 25. The Schulich School of Law's two application deadlines are November 30 and February 28.
The Indigenous Blacks & Mi'kmaq (IB&M) Initiative at the Schulich School of Law was established in 1989 to increase the representation of these community members in the legal profession. The initiative develops scholarships in the areas of Aboriginal and African Canadian legal perspectives, promotes the hiring and retention of graduates, and provides eligible students with financial and other types of support.[24]
The law school is home to the Health Law Institute, the Law and Technology Institute, and the Marine and Environmental Law Institute.
The Marine and Environmental Law Institute directs the academic specialization for the Marine & Environmental Law Program (MELP). In addition to its publication activities, the Institute provides advisory services to agencies around the world.[25]
Core curriculum and course offerings include Biotechnology, Internet law, Privacy Law, Electronic Commerce, Intellectual Property, and the Commercialization of Research.[26]
The Schulich School of Law's interdisciplinary Health Law Institute works alongside Dalhousie's Faculties of Medicine, Health Professions, and Dentistry. [27]
The Dalhousie Legal Aid Service was founded in 1970. It provides legal services to the Halifax area and brings together third-year law students, practising lawyers, and community actors. It is the oldest clinical law program in Canada and the only community law clinic in Nova Scotia. Students can receive academic credit and gain practical legal experience through the Legal Aid Service, which emphasizes the development of professional skills and the refinement of substantive and procedural knowledge in a real-life context.[28]
Law student life at Dalhousie is known for its collegiality and tradition. The student-run Domus Legis Society (better known as Domus Legis) was founded in 1965 and is Canada's oldest social society for law students. ("Domus Legis" is derived from Latin and means "House of Law.") It was created by Dalhousie law students "to promote good fellowship among congenial men and women at the Faculty of Law of Dalhousie University; to encourage a high standard of professional work; and to assist by every honourable means the advancement of its members."[29]
Domus Legis functions independently from the university administration and receives support from alumni and Canadian law firms. The society adheres to a constitution and is run by an annually elected executive of students from the Faculty of Law. Despite its independence, Domus Legis has close customary ties to faculty, alumni, visiting justices, and the Dean, who is given honorary designation as Member #1.
Over the years, traditions have grown to include the customary signing of the Domus Legis Society's walls by law graduates and visiting dignitaries. The last of this tradition is proudly displayed in the Weldon Law building student lounge with the signature "Homeless Class of 2005." The original building that housed the society was located at 1255 Seymour St., which was demolished in January 2004.
Despite their headquarters' demolition, Domus Legis's traditions live on in the weekly Domus Night, which takes place every Thursday, and the annual Halloween party, which attracts law students and members of other faculties. Efforts to acquire a new home for Domus Legis continue along with alumni support. Domus Legis membership is open to all Schulich School of Law students.
The Dalhousie Law Students' Society (LSS) is the elected student government of the Schulich School of Law. It is composed of seven executive members, with representatives from each section in first year, three representatives each from second and third year, a Black students' representative, an Aboriginal students' representative, a chair, and a secretary. The society represents the student voice in all aspects of the law school, including social, financial, athletic, and academic.[30]
The Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies (DJLS) is a non-profit academic law journal that publishes work from current law students and recent alumni. Established in 1991, the DJLS promotes reflection and debate on contemporary legal issues. As one of the only publications of its kind in Canada, the journal serves as a unique vehicle for law students to publish their work. The DJLS is published once per academic year and maintains a broad subscription base that includes law firms, law school libraries, corporations, government departments, alumni, and legal professionals from around the globe. It is also indexed in the HeinOnline database.[31]
An entirely student-run publication, the DJLS is managed by an editorial board. More than 70 student volunteers assist in its production and publication. It is distinct from the Dalhousie Law Journal, a peer-reviewed publication produced by Schulich School of Law faculty members.[32]
The Weldon Times is a law student run newspaper established in 1975.
The Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University has produced a number of accomplished alumni over the course of its history, including over 300 judicial appointments to every level of court in every province of Canada. The law school's alumni, for example, constitute 20 per cent of the Federal Court of Canada and 25 per cent of the Tax Court of Canada.[33]
Notable alumni include: