Amanda Leslie
Fifty-years ago, the University of Ottawa welcomed its first class of students to its new Common Law Section. The study of law at the University dates back to the end of the 19th century, however, the program was short-lived and folded in 1896. The Faculty of Law was not re-established until 1953 but, at that time, only with a program in Civil Law. In 1957, the Law Society of Upper Canada modified its conditions for admission to the Bar, and the University’s Common Law Section then joined the University of Toronto, Osgoode Hall and Queen’s University as one of the first Ontario common law schools.
The Common Law Section began as a “clinician’s school”— essentially a school for those who were going to practice law. More than 40 students began their legal studies in 1957 with 22 of them graduating in 1960, including Rose-Marie Perry, Q.C., who was the first woman to graduate from the Common Law Section. She recently provided a glimpse of her unique experiences as the only woman in her class when she co-hosted the Faculty of Law’s Tea & Talk for Women Graduates at Homecoming 2007.
In 1977, the Common Law Section started to offer common law courses in French — the first school in Canada — to a handful of first-year students. The Section turned to professors like Joseph Roach, Saul Schwartz, John Clarence Smith and Frederick Sussman to help. Practitioners and lawyers from the provincial and federal public service also devoted their time to the program’s beginnings. The program flourished, with graduates providing greater access to legal services in French across Canada outside Quebec. This year, the French program celebrates its 30th anniversary, and recently awarded its one-thousandth law degree at the spring convocation.
Since its founding, the Common Law Section has graduated some world-renowned legal superstars, such as litigators David W. Scott, Q.C. (’60) and Sheila Block (’72). More than 100 graduates hold judicial appointments including the Supreme Court of Canada justices, the Hon. Mr. Justice Michel Bastarache (’78), the Hon. Madam Justice Louise Charron (’75), as well as the Hon. Jean-Marc Labrosse (’60) of the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Many other graduates have held high political office, such as the Hon. Allan Rock, Q.C. (’71), the Hon. John Manley (’76), the premier of Ontario, the Hon. Dalton McGuinty (’81), and the premier of Nunavut, the Hon. Paul Okalik (’97).
“Today, the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law is the largest law school in Canada,” says Acting Dean Daniel Gervais, “Almost 7,000 students have graduated from the Common Law Section since its humble beginnings, and with 50 years behind it, the Common Law Section proudly continues to create new possibilities for future generations of Canadians.”
