Windsor Law: a Comprehensive Law School Review

Home » Law Schools » Windsor Law: a Comprehensive Law School Review

The University of Windsor is home to Windsor Law – one of the leading providers of legal education in Canada. Here you will find a succinct summary of the institution, entry requirements, enrollment statistics, tuition fees, scholarships, and the breakdown of the curriculum.

Learn about the 2-Year Graduate Entry LLB Degree.

Law School Summary

Below you will find what qualities and characteristics make the University of Windsor Faculty of Law stand out from other schools in Canada.

Strengths of Windsor Law

The University of Windsor’s Faculty of Law has recorded heights in recent rankings – it found itself among the top 5 Canadian law schools, together with the likes of the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa.

We can understand why Windsor’s Law Faculty has achieved long-lasting successes. Since its establishment in 1968, the Faculty has always been lead by effective leadership of Deans with forward-thinking ideas and consistent implementation of yearly plans.

Find out about All Types of Law Degrees.

Apart from receiving their postgraduate degrees in leading Canadian law schools, Windsor’s Law Deans are also alumni of Columbia University, the London School of Economics, the University College London, the University of St. Andrews, Harvard University, the University of California, the University of Auckland, the Queen Mary College in London and the University of Cambridge.

Windsor’s success also stems from the degree of student autonomy. Final-year Juris Doctor students are permitted to structure the remainder of the courses according to their personal ambitions. So many find themselves signing for business-related courses, namely:

• Commercial & Corporate Law;
• Human Rights Law;
• Tax and Insurance Law;
• Intellectual Property Law;
• International Trade and Finance; and
• International Law.

Finally, the University of Windsor has a strong Advocacy & Mooting Program, so the sooner one is accepted there, the quicker they shall apply for it!

Special Qualities of Windsor Law

After the emergence of Covid-19, the university has prioritized students’ mental health and wellbeing via its mentorship scheme. The scheme is now running for an 11th consecutive year, whereby upper-year students coach first-year students.

In addition, students are also strongly backed by the Faculty’s Careers Centre, which:

• Pairs students for the above-mentioned mentoring scheme;
• Organizes programs and workshops;
• Offers cover letter and resume coaching;
• Provides aid with one-to-one career sessions; and
• Maintains a superbly resourceful library.

Windsor’s Faculty of Law captivates much of its authenticity in the variety of Law Clinics it runs on a sole initiative or co-hosts:

• The Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship Clinic emphasizing on Technology and Intellectual Property Law, as well as nourishing innovative entrepreneurship;
• The Transnational Environmental Law Clinic covers issues relating to the law around air quality and pollution, ecological justice and renewable energy;
• The International Intellectual Property Law Clinic is a great opportunity for students to work on real-life international IP abuse;
• Legal Aid Ontario is a law clinic specializing in denial to access of justice; and
• The Community Legal Aid clinic aiming to resolve civil law disputes.

Given the forward-looking and transnational image the University of Windsor has built for itself, you probably would not be left astonished to hear that it runs exchange programs with fellow universities on ‘every continent except Antarctica’. In particular, it fosters effective proximity with higher education institutions in Detroit and Michigan.

Windsor Law School Admissions

The University of Windsor Law, similar to other law schools across Canada, adopts a holistic approach to its admission process.

GPA

Any undergraduate degree grade point average of 3.12 together with awards/prizes accumulated throughout this three or four-year-long degree;

LSAT

An LSAT score with the lowest threshold of 155, whereby the exam has been completed in January of the at the latest, or up until five years prior to that.

Personal Profile

UWindsor Law includes a personal profile to its application process, and it consists of:

• Work experience placements that will set one well apart from other candidates;
• Participation in societies, clubs, sports of broader communal involvement;
• Personal triumphs achieved through one’s spheres of hobbies or extracurricular activities;
• How the Juris Doctor program aligns with one’s career objectives; and
• Personal and mitigating circumstances.

Application Deadline

November 1 is the deadline for applications’ submission.

Enrolment Statistics

Enrolment for the Juris Doctor program averages:

• between 1,800 and 2,200 submissions for 165 first-year places; and
• 700 applications for its double Juris Doctor (JD/JD) degree, of which 85 candidates fill in the available places.

In terms of the statistical admission success rate, it stands at 7.15-9.16% (depending on the volume of applications) for the Juris Doctor program and 12.14% for its double arbitrary.

Student Finance Information

Tuition

This is what tuition fees are for Canadian citizens and International students at the Law Faculty of the University of Windsor for full-time, non-financially aided tuition:

There exists the category of ‘US Good Neighbour Rate’ for Detroit students. Those that determine themselves eligible to pay fees under this rate ought to check further updates towards the end of 2021.

Scholarships

The University of Windsor Law program certainly is very open to supporting its students financially. In fact, in 2019 its scholarship and bursary budget peaked at $3 million CDN distributed across all faculties. More specifically, the Law Faculty was endowed with $10.2 million CDN.

Law students are eligible for scholarships, such as:

• The Blue & Gold Level Support totalling $1,000 CDN;
• The Dean’s Renewable Entrance Scholarship worth $10,000 over eight regular $1,250 CDN semestrial installments; and
• The President’s Level Support of $2,000 CDN termly payments over four years leading up to a total of $16,000 payable in financial awards.

Other scholarships and awards are allotted based on a cumulative required average of between 75-85% or good standing. Some of them are the:

• Alumni Entrance Scholarship;
• Bill Eansor Award;
• Chancellor Jackman Scholarship Awards;
• Ed Lumley Bursaries;
• Marie Gott Bursaries;
• Ron Ianni Entrance Scholarship;
• Windsor Green Engineering Scholarships; and
• Yves Landry Mem. Scholarship.

The University also forges a reliable network with Scotiabank and its banking advisors to assist students with utilizing the Scotia Professional Student Plan and borrow responsibility to fund their degrees.

The Curriculum at Windsor Law School

Windsor Law courses vary depending on the year of study. The majority of mandatory courses are taken during the first year, while the electives are usually taken during the last two years of study.

First-year

First year foundation courses are all mandated in the syllabus and include:

• Property;
• Contracts;
• Access to Justice;
• Criminal Law and Procedure;
• Legal Writing and Research;
• Constitutional Law;
• Indigenous Legal Traditions; and
• The Windsor Legal Practice Simulation – an intensive module focusing on professionalism and practical skills, e.g. client interviewing, problem-solving, professional ethics, advocacy and negotiation.

The most-up-to-date curriculum does not offer optional modules, however, this is compensated by the more fluid final year academic schedule.

Second Year

Compulsory courses can be completed in either of the first two academic semesters:

• Civil Procedure;
• Torts;
• Professional Legal Ethics;
• A course from the Transnational Law group;
• A single Legal Process and Legal Theory-themed course; and
• An academic research paper is worth half the mark or more of any course.

Electives could be commenced during the penultimate year of the degree and the same guidelines apply to them as those listed under the next section.

Third Year

Courses that fall under obligatory completion are split into:

• The Legal Profession; and
• Administrative Law; or
• Another course under the Faculty’s Dean’s approval to substitute the latter.

Given that transitioning to the United States is significantly facilitated via crossing the Ambassador Bridge, the remainder of the program can consist of electives taught:

• At any other University of Windsor Faculty; or
• At the law schools of the Detroit-based University of Detroit Mercy and/or the Wayne State University. The University of Windsor stated that the ‘remainder of the program is comprised of optional courses so that our students are able to construct a program that meets their individual needs and interests.’

More About University of Windsor Law School

Just several hundred meters away from the Detroit River, the border between Canada and the United States, stretches the University of Windsor’s 75-acre campus. Sunset Avenue sees the rise of the next generation of law graduates at the Faculty of Law.

This is a higher education centre with just over 700 law students and 109 academic staff members, of whom 36 are full-time professors, operating since the year 1970. A beautiful and very resourceful Windsor Law library is open to all students looking to dwell deeper into the study of law.

Interestingly, the very same building also hosts the quarters of the most prominent cited journal in Canada’s Supreme Court – the Canadian Bar Review. Nevertheless, the Faculty of Law itself publishes the Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice journal and the Windsor Review of Legal and Social Issues.

By Georgi Minchev