High marks for Osgoode Hall Law School

York’s Osgoode Hall Law School has been ranked first in Canada in “faculty quality”, based on the intellectual impact of its professors’ research, and second overall – up from third position last year – in the third annual ranking of Canadian law schools released by Maclean’s magazine this week. 

Right: The Osgoode Hall Law School building

Osgoode shared the second spot with McGill University’s Faculty of Law and the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law took the top spot.

The magazine’s assessment of faculty quality is derived from the frequency with which a school’s faculty’s publications are cited in legal periodicals. The University of Toronto was second in this category and law schools at the University of British Columbia and Queen’s University tied for third position for faculty quality. 

Osgoode also took top spot for "national reach" – one of four measures of "graduate quality" that was used in the Maclean’s law school ranking. The national reach indicator is a measure of the extent to which leading firms outside a law school’s region hire its graduates. 

“The national reach indicator reinforces our leadership position as a national law school with exceptional and diverse alumni who are working at law firms across the country,” said Osgoode Interim Dean Jinyan Li (right). “Of course, we also know that there are a wide range of other career opportunities open to Osgoode graduates including with government, public boards and agencies, legal clinics, universities and business corporations.”

Li added that she is “very proud” of the law school and the outstanding quality of its faculty, students and staff. 

More detailed data about this year’s Maclean’s law school ranking can be found here.