In my last post, I set out to tackle some of the myths in the Canadian legal community that foreign legal education is substandard compared to its Canadian counterpart; I started with the idea that it is easier to get into a UK Law School than a Canadian one. Today I’d like to address the second most common, and perhaps most damaging, myth that passing law school in the UK is much easier than it is in Canada.
Before I dive in, it’s fair to note that I have never attended a Canadian Law school so my point of comparison is based on second-hand information I’ve gathered from close friends, colleagues, and legal recruiters. I did, however, receive my LL.B from an English Law School and have a full working knowledge of how difficult it is to achieve and maintain high marks in the UK system. While I graduated in the top 12% of my class while simultaneously working and volunteering, it was certainly one of the hardest (but most fulfilling) two-years of my academic career so far. To help explain why, I’ll start by putting UK grades into context before analyzing the differences in assessment methods.
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