Transfer and Letter of Permission Applicants

If you’re currently studying at another common law school, you may apply to:

  • transfer to the second year of the JD Program at Osgoode and complete the remainder of your degree here. Upon successful completion of all pertinent requirements, including any unmet required first-year courses, transfer students receive the JD degree from Osgoode.
  • spend a maximum of one year studying at the Law School on a Letter of Permission, with your courses being credited toward your JD degree at your home law school.

Eligibility for Transfer Applicants

To be eligible, transfer applicants must have completed a minimum of one year in a common law program that the Admissions Committee judges to be the substantial equivalent of Osgoode’s first-year program, which includes:

  • Criminal Law (Fall Term)
  • Contract Law (Fall Term)
  • Tort Law (Fall Term)
  • Property Law (Winter Term)
  • Public and Constitutional Law (Full Year)
  • Ethical Lawyering in a Global Community (Full Year)
  • Legal Process (Full Year). Note: This course is composed of Civil Procedure and Legal Research & Writing.

If accepted, and if you have not already done so in your first year of law school, as a transfer student you must also complete a course that meets Osgoode’s Indigenous & Aboriginal Law Requirement and a course in Administrative Law.

Successful transfer applicants typically have a B+ average or better. We do not consider students who have obtained less than a minimum B average in their previous law study. An indication of class rank or standing (where available) should be included in at least one reference, if not included on the transcript. Students who are currently studying at Osgoode on a Letter of Permission are not eligible to transfer into the JD Program.

Eligibility for Letter of Permission Applicants

The law school issuing the Letter of Permission reserves the right to approve the student’s program of study with regard to both course load and content.

Successful Letter of Permission applicants typically have a B+ average or better. We do not consider students who have obtained less than a minimum B average in their previous law study. An indication of class rank or standing (where available) should be included in at least one reference, if not included on the transcript. Students who are admitted on a Letter of Permission basis are not eligible to transfer into the JD Program.

Application Deadline

The OLSAS online application for both Transfer and Letter of Permission applicants must be submitted no later than May 1. All documentation (including final transcripts and letters of reference) must be received by OLSAS no later than June 30.

Application Components

Your application package must include:

  • Ontario online application form
  • Personal Statement plus Supplemental Information
  • Corroborative documents to support compelling reasons cited (where applicable)
  • 1 academic letter of reference from current law professor who can comment on your abilities
  • Transcript of law grades and the Faculty’s current grading practices
  • Undergraduate transcripts (where available)
  • Language Proficiency documents (where applicable)
  • Letter of Permission from your home school (Letter of Permission applicants only).
  • Valid LSAT score (Transfer applicants only)

Students applying to Transfer to Osgoode for studies will be required to provide an LSAT score as part of their application. For more detailed application information, see the OLSAS Instruction Booklet.

Application Decisions

Decisions are typically made in July. The number of openings in each category is dependent on the internal attrition rates at the Law School and is usually quite small. The Admissions Committee will consider an applicant’s complete application including undergraduate grades (where available), LSAT, quality of institution, grade distribution and the Law School’s ability to accommodate required first-year courses.

Decisions are generally made in accordance with the following priorities:

  1. Up to half of the available positions will be awarded to applicants on the basis of the strength of their law school academic records to date. It is therefore critical that we receive an indication of an applicant’s standing relative to the rest of his or her class.
  2. At least half of the available spaces will be awarded to applicants who demonstrate compelling, compassionate circumstances that require them to transfer to Osgoode Hall Law School. Academic qualifications are not ignored in this subgroup but rather are used to aid in deciding between candidates who demonstrate comparable compassionate circumstances. Within this subgroup, priority will be given to: persons who must relocate to the Toronto area due to their own medical condition or that of an immediate family member; persons who would be separated from their dependants where separation to date has been extensive and commuting is not a viable option; and persons who demonstrate extreme financial hardship occasioned by study outside of the Toronto area.