Queens law school may increase enrollment

Lakehead University has just increased the number of seats in Ontario law schools. And now:

The article referenced in the above tweet includes:

Queen’s law school is floating plans to increase enrolment by almost a third over the next three years, according to a memo sent to students last week.

The eight-page report drafted by the strategic planning committee of Queen’s law school proposes two options: an increase of either 35 or 50 students per year over the approximately 165 currently accepted.

The school says it requires more revenue to hire additional teaching staff, and in lieu of additional government funding, it has turned to accepting more applicants to reach those ends. Students have been invited to comment on the plan at a meeting Oct. 8, but some are already making their opposition known.

“If it’s between an enrolment increase and a tuition increase, I’d take a tuition increase,” said third-year Queen’s law student John McIntyre. “I would rather spend another ($1,000) or ($2,000) a year and keep our job prospects the way they are.”

The plan comes as a surprise to many in the law community as only last year the Law Society of Upper Canada was forced to make reforms to their licensing process to tackle a growing glut of graduates attempting to enter the profession.

It will be interesting to see where this goes. It provide more law school seats in Canada – possibly reducing the number of students who leave Canada to attend law school.

This comes on the tails of the law school at Lakehead University opening.