The Queen's University Faculty of Law is a professional faculty of

Queen's University at Kingston Queen's University at Kingston, commonly known as Queen's University or simply Queen's, is a public university, public research university in Kingston, Ontario, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's holds more than of land throughout Ontario and ...

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. According to the most recent ranking of law schools conducted in Canada by Macleans, Queens Law School is considered to be one of Canada's top law schools, tied for third with McGill. While the tradition of legal education at Queen's University heralds back to 1861, the

law school A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for b ...

as it currently exists was officially established in 1957. Past and current professors at Queen's such as William Lederman, Toni Pickard, Gary Trotter, Allan Manson, Nick Bala and Don Stuart are routinely cited in Supreme Court of Canada and other appellate decisions. As consultants, advisors, and project directors, Queen's Law professors have made substantial contributions to various provincial and national law commissions, as well as national and international organizations. Queens Alumni have gone on to play important roles as lawyers, judges, and politicians. Queen's Law School is housed in Sir John A. Macdonald Hall. The building was inaugurated by Prime Minister

John G. Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker (September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an election v ...

in 1960, and was completely renovated in 2003. It houses the William R. Lederman Law Library, named after the former dean and respected scholar, which contains over 150,000 legal volumes.

History

The first faculty of law at Queen's University was established in 1861, two years later awarding its first honorary Doctor of Laws degree to

John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (10 or 11January 18156June 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 until his death in 1891. He was the dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, and had a political ...

who would go on to serve as Canada's first

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. The first Dean of Law, Alexander Campbell, was also a "

Father of Confederation The Fathers of Confederation are the 36 people who attended at least one of the Charlottetown Conference of 1864 (23 attendees), the Quebec Conference of 1864 (33 attendees), and the London Conference of 1866 (16 attendees), preceding Canadian ...

". This early faculty only lasted a few years and efforts were made to revive the law school in 1880 although, again, after graduating a number of students the law school closed after a number of years largely because the

Law Society of Upper Canada The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; ) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC; ), its name was changed by statu ...

refused to recognize degrees awarded outside of

Osgoode Hall Osgoode Hall is a landmark building in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original -storey building was started in 1829 and finished in 1832 from a design by John Ewart (architect), John Ewart and William Warren Baldwin. The structure is n ...

. The modern law school was founded in 1957 with James Corry, Stuart Ryan and Daniel Soberman as the founding members of the faculty. In 1958, William Lederman, the pre-eminent constitutional law scholar of his era, became the first dean of the new law school. Prime Minister Macdonald, a Scottish immigrant, settled in Kingston where he practiced as a lawyer. While in office, he led the Confederation effort, persuaded three provinces to join Canada, dissuaded American expansionism, and promoted unity between Canada's linguistic and religious factions. In honour of Macdonald's significant contributions to the foundation of Canada, the law building was originally named Macdonald Hall. The name was changed in 2020 amid concerns about Macdonald's role in the establishment of the

Canadian Indian residential school system The Canadian Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by various Christian churches. The sch ...

. Queen's Law continues to be a unique institution within the Canadian legal academic environment by, for instance, running the only Canadian legal study abroad program at the Queen's University campus at

Herstmonceux Castle Herstmonceux Castle is a brick-built castle, dating from the 15th century, near Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England. It is one of the oldest significant brick buildings still standing in England. The castle was renowned for being one of the fi ...

in East Sussex, England. The funnest graduating year was 1999. The Faculty of Law of Queen's University at Kingston's Arms were registered with the

Canadian Heraldic Authority The Canadian Heraldic Authority (CHA; ) is part of the Canadian honours system under the Monarchy of Canada, Canadian monarch, whose authority is exercised by the Governor General of Canada. The authority is responsible for the creation and gran ...

on April 20, 2007. The crest of Queen's University's Faculty of Law consists of a sword and the scales of justice superimposed on the Cross of St. Andrew. Professor Stuart Ryan, one of the law school's founding faculty members, gave the school its motto – Soit Droit Fait. The phrase has a double meaning. It is a statement of the power and creative potential inherent in the law that was used by medieval kings when assenting to bills passed by Parliament – "let the law be made." It is also an expression of the commitment to justice and decency implicit in the ideal of legality – "let right be done."

Academics

Admissions

Most accepted applicants have completed a four-year university program. The preference is to accept those applicants who have an honours undergraduate degree, and many admitted students have attained graduate degrees as well. Acceptance into Queen's Law is highly competitive, with about 2,400 applicants vying for around 160 positions. The average LSAT score of accepted applicants is 163 and the average undergraduate GPA is 3.8 in the general category. The Faculty Board and Queen's University Senate voted to change the LL.B. degree to a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

(J.D.) designation to reflect the fact that the vast majority of Queen's Faculty of Law's graduates enter the program with at least one university degree.

Joint degrees

The faculty of law at Queen's University currently offers a Juris Doctor program ( J.D.) and a graduate program in law (

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

). In addition, combined degree programs include a Master of Industrial Relations (M.I.R.), Master of Public Administration ( M.P.A.), Master of Arts in economics (

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

) and a

Queen's School of Business Smith School of Business (formerly Queen's School of Business) is a business school affiliated with Queen's University at Kingston. It is located at the university's Goodes Hall. Since July 2021, the school's dean has been Wanda Costen. The Sch ...

Master of Business Administration (

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

). The faculty of law also has a doctoral program.

Clinical programs

Practical experience is a major component of legal education at Queen's, with mandatory advocacy courses and a large proportion of the student body being engaged in one of the school's five pro bono legal clinics: Queen's Legal Aid, the Prison Law Clinic, the Queen's Business Law Clinic, Queen's Elder Law Clinic, and Queen's Family Law Clinic. The Clinics are located a short distance from the Queen's campus in downtown Kingston. In these programs students gain practical legal training and experience in the realm of social justice and advocacy. Queen's Law is the only university in Canada with a prison law clinic.

International opportunities

Queen's Law also offers exchange programs, visiting scholars and guest lecturers from law schools and legal institutions around the world, and the International Law Spring Program at the International Study Centre (ISC) at

in East Sussex, England. The International Law Spring Program at Herstmonceaux Castle offers an academic program in international law taught by practitioners and academics from around the world. The international law certificate program is split into three streams: International Public Law, International Business Law and Comparative International Law, and is open to accredited law schools in Canada and the United States and international universities with which Queen's is an exchange partner. Taking advantage of the ISC's location, the International Law Spring Program includes a number of field trips to international institutions in Europe including the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

in Geneva, the Canadian Mission to the European Union in Brussels, the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague, the United Nations Office in Geneva, and the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

in Paris, among other key institutions.

Alumni

Queens has produced some of Canada's most famous and influential lawyers, from judges to politicians: * Justice

Harvey Brownstone Harvey Brownstone (born July 24, 1956) is a retired judge of the Ontario Court of Justice and the first openly gay judge in Canada. He is also a bestselling author and host of a television and internet talk show. His interview program "Harvey Br ...

(1980) – Canada's first openly gay judge, Ontario Court Justice, author of "Tug of War", host of "Family Matters with Justice Harvey Brownstone" (CHCH TV 2011-2013), now host of "Harvey Brownstone Interviews" *

Jock Climie Jock Climie is a Canadian retired Canadian Football League player who played the slotback position primarily with the Ottawa Rough Riders, and Montreal Alouettes. He is also a former sportscaster with Canadian sports television channel TSN as p ...

(1998) – Lawyer, former

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division and five in the West Division. The CFL is the highest pr ...

player * Justice Thomas A. Cromwell (1976) – Retired

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

Justice * Justice

David Stratas David W. Stratas (born 1960) is a Canadians, Canadian jurist. He has served on the Federal Court of Appeal (Canada), Federal Court of Appeal since 2009 and the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada since 2012. Biography David W. Stratas was bo ...

(1984) – Current

Federal Court of Appeal The Federal Court of Appeal () is a Canadian appellate court that hears cases concerning federal matters. History Section 101 of the Constitution Act, 1867 empowers the Parliament of Canada to establish "additional Courts for the better Admi ...

Justice * Mike Gillis (1989) – General Manager of the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. The Canucks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conferenc ...

David Lloyd Johnston David Lloyd Johnston (born June 28, 1941) is a Canadian academic, author, and statesman who served as the 28th governor general of Canada from 2010 to 2017. Johnston was the special rapporteur appointed to investigate reports of foreign inter ...

(1966) – President of the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

–

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The monarch of Canada is also sovereign and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and resides in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the Advice (constitutional la ...

* Dhaman Kissoon – barrister and cricketer * Jean L. MacFarland –

Court of Appeal for Ontario The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently mistakenly referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal) (ONCA is the abbreviation for its neutral citation) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Ha ...

* David Paul Smith (1970) – Canadian Senator * Catherine Latimer - Executive Director & Order of Canada * Justice

Grant Huscroft Grant A. Huscroft is a Canadian jurist and legal scholar. He has served as a justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario since 2014. Biography Huscroft was educated at the University of Western Ontario (BA 1980), Queen's University (LL.B. 1984), ...

*Justice David Watt *Justice Heather Forster Smith *

Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (born June 15, 1984) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. A member of the Liberal Party, Erskine-Smith has been the member of Parliament (MP) for Beaches—East York since he was first elected in 2015. Before entering ...

Konrad Von Finckenstein Konrad Winrich Graf Finck von Finckenstein, (born April 4, 1945) is a Canadian public servant who has worked in the areas of trade, commercial, competition and communications law. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2022. He has served s ...

*Justice Jean MacFarland * Yolande James *

Derek Sloan Derek Nathaniel Sloan (born November 11, 1984) is a Canadian politician who represented the riding of Hastings—Lennox and Addington from 2019 to 2021. Shortly after being elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2019 Canadian federal ...

Gerry McNeilly Gerry McNeilly (born 1950s) is a lawyer who was the Ontario's Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) from its creation in 2008 (opened 19 October 2009) to 1 April 2019 when the position was filled in an interim capacity by the p ...

, Director of Ontario’s Office of the Independent Police Review * Peter MacKinnon *

John Gerretsen John Philip Gerretsen (born June 9, 1942) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2014 who represented the eastern Ontario riding of Kingston and the Islands. He s ...

* John McKay *

Michael Lynk Stanley Michael Lynk (born 1952) is a Canadian legal academic. He is currently an associate professor at the University of Western Ontario. From 2016 to 2022 he was the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Terr ...

* Kevin Davis * Diana Buttu *

Ron McCallum Ronald Clive McCallum AO (born 8 October 1948) is an Australian legal academic. He is an expert in labour law, and has served as a professor and dean of law at the University of Sydney. He is the first totally blind person to be appointed to a f ...

* Don Mitchell * William Gladstone Ross *

Randeep Sarai Randeep Singh Sarai (born April 15, 1975) is a Canadian politician who was elected as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada to represent the federal electoral district Surrey Centre during the 2015 Canadian federal electio ...

* Bradley C. S. Watson * Paul-Matthieu Grondin * Michael Fakhri * Robert Amsterdam *

David Tilson David Allan Tilson (born March 19, 1941) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 2002, and served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Duff ...

Faculty

* William Lederman – OC (January 6, 1916 – July 26, 1992) was a Canadian constitutional scholar and the first dean of Queen's University Faculty of Law.

References

External links

Queen's Law School WebsiteCanadian Lawyer magazine's 2005 ranking of Canadian Law SchoolsCanadian Lawyer magazine's 2005 Canadian lawyer's compensation survey

CanLII - Canadian Legal Information Institute
{{Coord, 44.2275, N, 76.49690, W, display=title Law schools in Canada

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

Queen's University Faculty of Law