Osgoode Hall Law School - History

History

For its first seven decades, Osgoode Hall Law School was located at Osgoode Hall at the corner of Queen Street and University Avenue near the University of Toronto. The law school was not affiliated with the University of Toronto since law schools at that time traditionally were not connected with a university. The Law Society of Upper Canada maintained control of professional legal education in Ontario until 1957. In 1969, after a decision by the Ontario Ministry of Education requiring law schools to be affiliated with a university, the Osgoode Hall Law School relocated to New Osgoode Hall, on the campus of York University.

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 and house the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

The law school is responsible for numerous firsts in legal education in Canada. Osgoode was the first law school to introduce curricular streams in 2001, giving a student the opportunity to graduate with a concentration in a particular area of law, namely International, Litigation or Tax. Osgoode was the first law school to establish a combined law and business degree. Osgoode was the first law school to establish a combined law and environmental studies degree. Osgoode was the first law school to establish a student-staffed community legal services clinic (Parkdale Community Legal Services, in 1972). Osgoode was the first law school to develop innovative intensive programs and clinical teaching programs. In 2007 Osgoode's Intensive Program in Aboriginal Lands, Resources and Governance won the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) Award for "Outstanding Program" in recognition of "high quality" of education. (http://www.yorku.ca/mediar/archive/Release.asp?Release=1287)