Official Guide to Canadian Law Schools

University of Manitoba Faculty of Law
224 Dysart Road
303 Robson Hall
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2
Phone: 204.480.1485; Admissions Office: 204.474.8825
Internet: www.umanitoba.ca/law; E-mail: lawadmissions@umanitoba.ca

Introduction

The University of Manitoba has been involved in legal education since 1885. The Faculty’s undergraduate program provides a standard curriculum.

The Faculty is located on the main campus of the university, which is situated on the banks of the Red River in a suburb of Winnipeg, a city of approximately 700,000 persons in the centre of Canada. It boasts a rich cultural life, being home, for example, to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. The university has approximately 23,000 full-time students and 26 faculties and schools, many with extensive graduate programs and full recreational and other facilities.

Enrollment/Student Body

• 872 applicants   •  313 offered first-year class 2009   •  107 enrolled first-year class 2009: 104 full time, 3 half time
• includes 9 Aboriginal   •  50% women
• several provinces represented

The size of the student body is small enough that it is easy to become acquainted with most of the students and, over the three-year period, to develop lasting friendships with many of those in one's own year. Approximately 50 percent of the students are residents of Manitoba, with the balance coming from other provinces, mostly Ontario and British Columbia.

Faculty

• 67 total   •  27 full time   •  40 sessional (part time and clinical)   •  12 full-time women

Library and Physical Facilities

• 282,000 library volumes and equivalents
• library hours: Mon.–Thurs., 8:30 am–10:00 pm; Fri., 8:30 am–6:00 pm; Sat., 1:00 pm–5:00 pm; Sun., 1:00 pm–5:00 pm; summer library hours: Mon.–Fri., 8:30 am–5:00 pm; closed weekends
• Westlaw   •  Quicklaw   •  Westlaw Canada
• 3 full-time librarians, plus 7 other full-time staff
• library seats 93   •  45 individual carrels   •  20 computer workstations (20 in computer lab)   •  wireless network

Curriculum

• 97 credit hours required to graduate   •  65 courses available   •  LLB, LLM

Approximately one third of the program consists of elective courses. The program is designed so that each student who graduates has had a balance of doctrinal courses, perspective courses, and clinical law experience. Our program emphasizes clinical courses in the second and third years. The teaching year is September to April, with a two-week break in December and a one-week break in February. A student must comply with the progression rules in order to advance to the next year.

Special Programs

There is an Academic Support Program (tutoring) available to individual consideration and Aboriginal students. The excellent litigation program is supplemented by the opportunity for some students to participate in local, regional, national, and international moot court competitions. The record of success of our students is outstanding.

Legal Aid Manitoba operates a law clinic at the Faculty which allows students to practise law under the supervision of an experienced lawyer. Students participate in all phases of a case from the initial client interview right through to the trial. The cases involve a wide variety of legal problems. There is also a Small Business Law Clinic, and students can participate in Pro Bono Students Canada. The Faculty also has a special Legal History Project and a Legal Research Institute.

Admission

• two years toward a university degree
• application deadline—November 1
• LSAT required   •  highest LSAT score used   •  oldest LSAT score accepted—June 2005
• median GPA—3.90   •  median LSAT score—160
• application fee—$125; Visa students—$140

Applicants must have taken the LSAT on or before the September/October test date of the year of intended admission to be considered for an Early Offer. The December 2009 and February 2010 test sittings will be accepted only for the final evaluations of Index Scores after Early Offers have been determined. Applicants are divided into Index Score and Individual Consideration categories, which themselves are subdivided into full- and half-time categories. An applicant who is 26 years of age or more can be processed in the Index Score category if five full university courses have been successfully completed. Up to 15 places are available in the Individual Consideration category.

Selection of applicants in the Index Score category is based solely upon the excellence of each applicant's academic record and LSAT score using the formula:

The comparative grade-point average (CGPA) is determined by removing from the calculation certain worst grades. If the applicant has completed 90–101 credit hours, 18 are dropped; if 102–113 credit hours have been completed, 24 are dropped; if 114 or more credit hours were completed, 30 are dropped.

Individual Consideration applicants submit a personal statement and reference letters; a screening and interviewing procedure is used in processing the approximately 175 applications in this category.

There is a special Aboriginal Admissions Program, the details of which can be obtained by writing to the director of the Academic Support Program at the Faculty.

Complete admissions information, plus general information about the Faculty, its curriculum, facilities, and undergraduate and graduate programs is available on the Faculty’s website.

Student Activities

The Faculty publishes the Manitoba Law Journal, managed by a student editorial board with the assistance of a faculty advisor. Credit can be given for editorial work. The Manitoba Law Students Association (MLSA) is represented on faculty council with five members and has representatives on every faculty committee. The MLSA has many committees and activities of its own. There is also an Association of Aboriginal Students.

Expenses and Financial Aid

• tuition and fees—full time, approximately $9,200; half time, approximately $4,600
• estimated additional expenses—$2,500 for books, supplies, photocopying, etc., plus living costs
• Entrance Awards and bursaries available
• financial aid available—Provincial Government Aid and Canada Student Loans

Contact Financial Aid and Awards, 422 University Centre; phone: 204.474.9531;
fax: 204.474.7553. For student housing information, contact 101 Arthur V. Mauro Residence; phone: 204.474.9922; fax 204.474.7662.

Student Services Centre

The Faculty, through the Student Services Centre, offers a wide range of services and programs to prospective and current students and alumni in the areas of admissions, financial aid, and careers. The centre offers assistance with prospective students' applications to the Faculty and administers the Faculty's financial aid, bursaries, and awards. In the area of career services, the centre offers assistance to students by providing them with current information on traditional and nontraditional legal opportunities/options, and by reviewing their cover letters and résumés. The centre also hosts a career fair and numerous career workshops, and coordinates the articling Connecting Points twice a year.

Applicant Profile

University of Manitoba

Applicant Group Applying for the 2009–2010 Academic Year

The grid below shows blocks containing CGPA/LSAT combinations in which offers were made to Index Score applicants only.

apps = Number of applicants
offers = Number of offers made

The figures in the above grid reflect decisions as of September 8, 2009. The figures do not include offers made solely in the Individual Consideration Category and Aboriginal Category.

There were 12 offers made to Individual Consideration Category applicants and 15 offers made to Aboriginal Category applicants.

Law School Admission Council