Your support helps us defy gravity
As the university celebrates key milestones in its historic $4 billion Defy Gravity campaign, we wish to thank our community, whose generosity and support have left an indelible mark on our law school.
The Faculty of Law is celebrating 75 years of modern legal education, marking decades of excellence in legal education and impact in the legal profession and beyond, through faculty scholarship and the talented, determined graduates who become forces for change in their areas of practice, communities and in our world. This past year, we enthusiastically welcomed many alumni back to celebrate them and the remarkable history of our law school.
The philanthropic support that we have received from our alumni and friends for student financial aid, teaching and research, clinical and experiential learning, and extracurricular programs has been nothing short of exceptional.
As graduates, you know that our highly selective JD program admits extraordinary students who exemplify excellence through their academic achievements, leadership, intellectual curiosity, determination and ambition.
Attracting and supporting a diverse group of outstanding students remains a top priority for us. Our unique, needs-based financial aid program is a key part of our efforts to attract top candidates, as any qualified student who has financial need will receive the financial aid necessary for them to study and train at Canada’s top law school.
Our alumni and friends, who prioritize financial aid as we do, made this possible with their support. Thanks to the leadership of our broader community over successive campaigns, this academic year, we disbursed over $5.4 million in financial aid bursaries and provided post-graduate interest debt relief.
The financial security afforded by your gift has allowed me to excel in my studies. I have been able to get involved in many extracurricular activities, such as working on a Prisoner’s rights handbook, the 1L advocacy program and Law Review. I was also able to join a community clinic, where I worked with vulnerable community members to secure their housing rights. None of this would be possible without you, and I am eternally grateful.
David Ingalls, JD bursary recipient
In keeping with the premise that diversity is a key driver of excellence, our recruitment efforts go together with initiatives aimed at ensuring accessibility for top students from diverse backgrounds and with diverse experiences.
Twenty years ago, we founded Canada’s leading law school youth outreach and access program, Law in Action Within Schools. LAWS has since had a transformative impact on high school students facing personal or systemic barriers to success. The award-winning access program supports and motivates high school students by exposing them to law and justice through workshops, mentorship, and employment programs. Many graduates have continued to post-secondary education and second-entry programs, including law.
In collaboration with our Black Law Students’ Association (BLSA), Black alumni, and the greater legal community, we have reached the five-year mark since first launching the Black Future Lawyers (BFL) program.
Established in response to the underrepresentation of Black law students, BFL is now a national endeavour, expanding to eight student-led university chapters.
Through my academic journey and legal areas of interest, I have found that the study of law, both past and present, is critical because it allows us to continually think of new ways to fuel meaningful change in our world. It is our responsibility as agents of social change to continue critically engaging with this field of study. In doing so, we can ensure that our society continues to prioritize equity in our laws and works towards improving the legal system overall.
Efemena Eghujovbo, Student Executive Member, Black Future Lawyers
Transformative gifts also make it possible for service to the public to be a vital part of legal education. Through rigorous academic study, research, and hands-on experience, students deepen their legal knowledge and develop skills to address legal and social issues, while directly serving those in need.
We hear about the access to justice issue, but at Downtown Legal Services we see it in real-time–intersections of different systems of oppression–making the circumstances of our client's lives very difficult. I've seen the outcome when someone has good legal representation and when someone doesn’t have access to any representation. It motivated me to go to law school.
Laxsega Sivaloganathan, Downtown Legal Services Summer Caseworker
Our many clinical and experiential offerings, including the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights, International Human Rights Program (IHRP) and Future of Law Lab, among others, also reinforce and extend the learning in the classroom into real-world practise.
[The Fellowship] exposed me to multiple areas of the law I was interested in pursuing. I was able to speak with lawyers who have worked in in these areas, to understand what life is like say, as a labour and employment lawyer or as an entertainment lawyer. It was extremely valuable.
Zubeir Ahmed, Black Future Lawyers / BCE Inc. Fellow
Filling a significant gap in migrant justice, I was part of a small but mighty team of four working to support migrants seeking protection at the border. I got to see the clinic evolve from an idea I was excited about during my interview in May, to a legal service which launched in July, and then supported 84 migrants by the time I finished my placement in August.
Julia Ford, International Human Rights Program (IHRP) Summer Fellow
I will always remember my time in Shanghai. I am deeply thankful to Dr. Guan for providing this opportunity. Regardless of one's familiarity with the Chinese language or knowledge of China, this internship offers a highly rewarding and influential experience both professionally and personally.
Lily Wang, Dr. Scott Guan (SJD 2003) China Law Practice Award
Having this robust network of in-house clinics, centres and programs allows us to place students in paid, meaningful, and rewarding summer experiences that complement and enhance their legal knowledge, while growing their professional network, confidence, and skills.
We believe the opportunities that we provide for students are unmatched, and we are grateful that donors and partners, many of whom are alumni, directly support these valuable learning opportunities.
One of the most meaningful aspects of this [Fellowship] has been the opportunity to participate in meetings regarding Egale Canada's strategic impact litigation. I have been immersed in the work it takes to launch a constitutional challenge: from gathering witnesses and experts, to crafting arguments and filing facta. Though our world is often plagued by injustice, working at Egale has been an empowering experience, reminding me of my own power to effect positive change.
Katie Bray Kingissepp, R. Douglas Elliott Fellow
The Fellowship allowed me to greatly strengthen my legal skills this summer. It was invaluable to receive one-on-one feedback from my professors about my research and writing. I also enjoyed having discussions about complex legal questions with my professors, which were incredibly intellectually stimulating and made me a stronger legal thinker.
Maria Bon, Theodore "Ted" Rachlin Fellow
Scholarly and student excellence are the foundation of everything that we do; our graduate programs are no exception. We have a strong track-record of preparing graduates for careers in academia and beyond.
Talented junior legal scholars and internationally trained lawyers who join us hail from over 36 countries and all corners of the world. They lift the law school in vital ways by sharing their experiences and expertise from other jurisdictions.
I am honored to collaborate with and learn from the remarkable expertise of Professor John Borrows through the Junior Indigenous Scholars Program. Grateful for this opportunity, I look forward to contributing to and deepening the field of Indigenous law under his guidance and leadership.
Brandon Montour, Research Associate, Junior Indigenous Scholars Program
Our professoriate is the cornerstone of our vibrant intellectual community and enriching learning experience. Our faculty take a wide range of theoretical and innovative legal and interdisciplinary approaches to expand the world of ideas and foster legal change.
As world-leading scholars, they are the recipients of major research awards, advisors to expert panels and governments, authors of acclaimed and debate-shaping books and contributors to top-ranked journals worldwide.
Transformative campaign gifts have further elevated our prominence in legal scholarship, with the establishment of endowed faculty chairs like the Irving and Rosalie Abella Chair in Justice and Equality, the Howard Beck, Q.C. Chair, and The Loveland Chair in Indigenous Law, to name a few, and with several others in the works.
Solidifying our place as one of the leading global centres for research in law and economics, led by the work of University Professor Emeritus Michael J. Trebilcock, donors also endowed the program in his name, recognizing 50 years of leading legal scholarship.
In times of global crisis, donor support has helped us open doors to Ukrainian scholars-at-risk, Afghanistan’s first presidential ombudsperson and legal practitioner, Ghizal Haress, and Afghan judge, Hamida Froozanfar.
Another milestone in the university’s campaign is its alumni engagement goal. A record 23,166 university alumni have served as volunteers and mentors, generously sharing their time and experiences, and offering invaluable guidance to current students. We are grateful for the hundreds of mentors, clinical supervisors, moot advisors, advisory volunteers, and guest speakers that share their time and talent at the law school to inspire the next generation. Volunteers make a critical difference in the support and guidance of law students and have a profound impact on the student experience. Thank you.
We are known for innovative, cross-category legal thinking in Canada and around the world. As we prepare our graduates to excel as national and global leaders in the legal profession and beyond, your leadership and philanthropic support has been essential to our mission and vision.
You uplift and strengthen our teaching, research and scholarship, student financial aid, clinical and experiential learning, extra-curricular programming and much more.
The Faculty of Law has an ambitious $100M goal for the Defy Gravity campaign. We are overjoyed to be at the halfway point of this goal, thanks to the generosity, commitment and vision of our alumni and friends.
We kindly ask you to continue to keep the law school among your top philanthropic priorities, to support the exceptional work of our scholars, students in reaching greater heights in an ever-changing world.
If you have questions regarding the Defy Gravity campaign for the Faculty of Law, and how you can best lend your support, I invite you to contact Annette Paul, Assistant Dean, Advancement at annette.paul@utoronto.ca or call (416) 978-2621.
Together, we are a community that defies gravity.
Warm regards,
Jutta Brunnée, FRSC
Dean, University Professor and James Marshall Tory Dean’s Chair
Associate Member, Institut de droit international