TRU Law – a Comprehensive Law School Review for Students

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TRU Law is one of Canada’s many prestigious law schools. Located in beautiful British Columbia, it caters to students from all over Canada and the world. In this article, you will learn about admissions requirements, enrolment statistics, tuition fees, scholarships, and the curriculum of TRU Law.

Find out about your options for the 2-Year Senior Status Law Degree.

Law School Summary

Below you will find characteristics and qualities that make this law school different from other Canadian legal education providers.

Strengths of Thompson Rivers University Law

TRU Law School’s strengths lie in its internal law-related opportunities. Here are some of its main ones:

TRU community legal clinic, where students gain insights into the legal profession in their advisory work on:

• Residential tenancy disputes;
• Employment standards;
• Civil claims under $35,000 CDN;
• Human rights claims; and
• Provincial Court criminal charges.

Mooting – TRU tasted victory at the final of the 2015 Law Mooting Competition for BC’s Law Schools. Since then it has also exposed its mooting talent to the world stage via participation in the:

• Donald G.H. Bowman National Tax Moot (competitive Tax Law);
• Jessup Moot (Public International Law);
• Kawaskimhon Moot (Aboriginal and Indigenous Law);
• MacIntyre Cup (Criminal Law); and
• Wilson Moot (advanced Constitutional Law).

The mentorship program connecting first year law students with lawyers. In 2016, 63 entry-level students were paired with lawyers around Kamloops, British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta. Such initiatives give law students formidable advantage in terms of networking and career guidance.

TRU’s Law Society, which has a number of clubs grouped around various law sectors or student groups, e.g. the:

• Animal Law Advocacy;
• Asia Pacific Law Students Association;
• Black Law Students’ Association;
• Business Law Society;
• Criminal Law Club;
• Indigenous Law Students Association;
• Labour and Employment Law Club;
• Legal Innovation Association;
• Oral Advocacy Club;
• Science and Law Club; and
• South Asian Law Students Association.

It would be sensible for one to enrol in TRU’s Juris Doctor program if they are particularly keen on studying law courses concerning:

• The Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
• Environmental and Natural Resources Law;
• Intercultural Learning;
• Anti-Racism in Law; and
• Feminist Legal Studies.

Special Qualities of TRU Law

TRU’s academic staff in charge of the Juris Doctor program are former lawyers. Students can enjoy meaningful discussions and career guidance with people, who once stood in their shoes and endeavoured under a similar path.

TRU’s Faculty of Law has a well-developed Careers Services Centre. It supports students with researching organizations, preparing applications, practicing for interviews and assessment centres, or assists them with private coaching throughout the whole academic year. Supplementary support comes in the form of organizing seminars and career fairs.

Law graduates from TRU have gone on to successfully secure junior employment or articling clerkships (94-99% of articling applicants secured clerkships within 9 months of graduating) at:

• Law firms, such as Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, Blakes, Cassels & Gradon, McCarthy Tétrault, McLennan Ross LLP, Ross & McBride LLP and McCullough O’Connor Irwin LLP;
• Government structures; and
• Entities vocalizing the public interest.

Similar to most law schools in BC and Ontario, TRU holds exchange programs. Its closest partner is Alberta’s University of Calgary. That is not to presume that TRU does not affiliate with other institutions. Currently, exchange schemes are being negotiated with Asian, Australian, and New Zealand schools, whilst there already exist proximate ties with the following European universities:

• The European Business School (EBS);
• The Masaryk University;
• The Université Catholique de Lyon (UCLy);
• Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat Münster; and
• The University of Wroclaw in Poland.

TRU Law Admissions Requirements

Applications remain open between September 1 and February 10. However, keep in mind that they are accepted on a rolling basis. It would be a good idea not to submit your application at the last minute. TRU Law requirements exclude interviews and the Admissions Committee will communicate offers after it has reviewed one’s full documentation package.

Undergraduate Degree

For one to be eligible to apply at all, they must have successfully completed any three-year undergraduate degree.

Resume

Their CV/resumé with academic records, employment history and extra-curricular activities by enclosing it in an online application form.

Application Form

A printable application form for enrolment downloadable via the TRU’s admissions web page;

Personal Statement

A 750-word Personal Statement describing how one’s goals, background and interests parallel with the Law Faculty’s culture and objectives; and

Letters of Reference

Two letters of reference of maximum of two pages each. They should preferably be academic in nature. However, non-academic references must be produced by ‘someone who has had interactions with you in a professional capacity’, e.g. an employer.

LSAT at TRU Law

TRU is one of three BC and Ontario law schools that does not reveal their LSAT and grade point average admission scores. But you should complete the LSAT in January of the intake year at the latest.

Indigenous and Other Applicants

Indigenous candidates must describe their involvement with Indigenous communities and organizations. Whereas ‘Special Consideration Applicants’ ought to legitimize themselves as to how, for instance, an illness may have affected their LSAT mark or academic potential.

Enrolment Statistics

When the TRU Law school went into operation in 2011, the inaugural cycle of admissions saw 75 incoming first-year students enrol in the Juris Doctor program.

It is clear that TRU’s intention is to keep classes relatively small in size, now the number of enrolments is only 115. In total, there are 355 students across all academic years at the Law school.

TRU does not disclose the official number of received applications. However, using the admission rates of other Canadian law schools, we calculated that TRU may receive between an estimated 1,100 and 1,500 submissions to fill its 115 first-year places.

Thus, TRU Law School estimated acceptance rate is around 8.8%.

Student Finance Information

TRU Law Tuition

One interesting aspect of calculating tuition fees is that they have set costs per module. Thus we have taken the number of mandatory credits of each year as a multiplier. Costs for Canadian citizens (and permanent residents) and International students on full-time basis stand as it follows:

Scholarships

TRU is a place with a scholarship-designated budget of $1.5 million CDN and various in amount financial aid sponsorships awarded on the basis of:

• Academic excellence over Grade 12 performance of 80% or more;
• Whether the candidate has completed their secondary school education in a regional institution;
• Whether the applicant is a first-generation student (i.e. the first person in their family to enrol at university);
• Showcasing ‘exemplary leadership and community service’;
• One’s need to relocate to the Kamloops area;
• Enduring financial hardship post-approval of a government student loan.

Some particular scholarships and bursaries include:

• TRU’s Undergraduate Entrance Bursaries worth between $500 CDN and $4,000 CDN;
• TRU’s 40+ Undergraduate Entrance Awards totalling $2,000 CDN to $4,000 CDN each;
• TRU’s 20 President’s Entrance Scholarships from $2,000 CDN to $4,000 CDN;
• TRU’s Relocation Top-up Scholarship awarded to 15 students with a monetary value of $500 CDN;
• TRU’s Leadership Entrance Scholarship of $5,000 CDN each awarded to at least 15 students;
• TRU’s Ambassador’s Entrance Scholarship of $23,000 CDN – six really talented applicants will each receive such a scholarship; and
• TRU’s absolute grand prize – the Alvin & Lydia Grunert Entrance Scholarship of $30,000 awarded to a single student.

The Curriculum of TRU Law

TRU Law courses offer many courses that will allow you to explore various areas of law.

First-year

The below-list nine courses total 36 credits and are:

• Constitutional Law;
• Legal Perspectives;
• Contracts;
• Law, Administration and Policy;
• Property;
• Fundamental Legal Skills;
• Torts;
• Crime: Law and Procedure; and
• Dispute Resolution I: Interviewing and Counselling.

No optional courses are offered at this stage of the course.

Second and Third Years

There is a broad variety of upper-year courses on mandatory and optional levels, with several of them exclusively offered only at this university. Bear in mind that we have omitted listing around 60 other courses for their length and listing practicalities, although they are easily accessible on the Thompson Rivers Law School website.

Students ought to complete a total of at least 60 more credits over these two academic years to receive their law degree.

Here is a brief list of mandatory courses:

• Business Associations;
• Administrative Law;
• Civil Procedure;
• Evidence;
• Ethical Lawyering;
• Dispute Resolution 2: Negotiation and Mediation;
• Advanced Legal Research & Writing; and
• Dispute Resolution 3: Adjudication.

Electives

• Access to Justice – Policy Responses;
• Advanced Evidence;
• Advanced Family Law;
• Animals & the Law;
• BC Law School Moots;
• Bowman Tax Moot;
• Business Associations 2: Advanced Corporate Law;
• Business of Law;
• Charter in Criminal Law;
• Class Actions;
• Climate Change & the Law;
• Construction Law;
• Designing Legal Expert Systems;
• Elder Law;
• Estate Litigation;
• In-House & Corporate Counsel;
• Law & Religion;
• Law, State, & Society;
• Legal Innovations & Legal Traditions;
• Mergers & Acquisitions;
• Municipal Law;
• Rule of Law 21st Century;
• Securities Law;
• Sentencing; and
• Video Gaming Law.

More About TRU Law

Kamloops, the city illustrious for its special bumble bee protection, is home to the Thompson Rivers University (TRU) and its 25,000 students buzzing around this BC metropolis. Kamloops is indeed a ‘student city’ – a quarter of its 100,000 dwellers are in higher studies at TRU.

Thompson Rivers Law School’s Main Building houses the Faculty of Law on its third and fourth floors, adding around 40,000 square feet of extra space in comparison with its previous base. TRU Law library is located nearby on campus.

By Georgi Minchev