Hello,
I applied for different LLM programs in North America. Most of them are in the US. However, I applied also for Toronto. But I am wondering, why there is so little written about the Universities in Canada. How are they compared with the Rankings in the US? Would for example Toronto or UBC rank in the top 20 US Law Schools?
Thanks for inputs.

I think the reason why there is so little written about Canadian schools is because there are so few of them. The University of Toronto is probably the top grad law school in Canada and is well-known internationally. It would be your best option. Another good school is Osgoode (the law school at York University, also in Toronto). University of Victoria in British Columbia is excellent for the LLB program (routinely ranked first in Canada) but is not as well known as Toronto or Osgoode outside Canada. Also, the grad law programs there are new- no feedback yet on how they measure up. I would stay away from UBC. It's not highly regarded nationally for the law program. If you want to read what Canadian law students are saying, go to www.lawbuzz.ca. Good luck!

I looked at several LLM programs this past fall and decided to apply to three: Toronto, McGill and UBC.

Toronto is usually regarded as the best law school in Canada. They have the most money which means that they can fund their LLM and PhD students quite well. Moreover, they have strong ties to Bay St. in Toronto.

McGill is known for international law -- my LLM topic -- so I aplied there. The school draws from both the civil and common law systems, so it is an interesting place to do graduate work.

UBC got a bad rating about 6 year's ago from Maclean's magazine. This is where it's bad reputation comes from. Since then, however, the school has: (a) hired several highly qualified faculty members; (b) hired a new dean; and (c) put a lot of work into their graduate program. They also have one (if not the largest) course selection in the Canada for law schools. It has also been ranked in the top 3 in Canada in post-1999 non-Maclean's rankings.

Another school to consider is Univ. of Victoria. This is a new program, so it does not have a lot of prestige yet. However, it is trying to work hard to be a top-notch graduate program.