<p>If you have a degree from a canadian law school such as Osgoode Hall could you still get a job in a city in the US such as Detroit?</p>
<p>BUMP (ten chars)</p>
<p>Bumpbumpbump</p>
<p>lol. you could go to CA and, if you pass the bar, practice there.</p>
<p>Save your money...you won't need the degree from Canada anyway.</p>
<p>Canadian law degrees are highly regarded in the United States and certainly Osgoode Hall is one of the best. But you have to understand the law job market in the US. US firms are only interested in hiring the best students.</p>
<p>I'm not certain of what the hiring practices are with respect to graduates of Canadian law schools in cities other than NYC, but in NYC, the top law firms do hire a few graduates of Canadian law schools. I have seen associates hired from only a few Canadian law schools: Dalhousie, McGill and Osgoode Hall (probably McGill most frequently). All of these associates have done whatever has been necessary to be admittied to practice in one or more states in the U.S. Again, law firms tend not to do this too frequently because in order to hire a Canadian citizen, the U.S. law firm has to do a lot of work and pay a lot of money to get the proper visas taken care of. The problem, too, then is that that Canadian lawyer will have much more difficult time leaving their original U.S. law firm, if he or she so desires, because of the visa issues. All of the large U.S. law firms that I am familiar with have relationships with a Canadian law firm that handles their cross border work (my law firm worked with Osler, for example), so U.S. law firms have no need for junior associates (who know very little) to handle Canadian law issues.</p>
<p>I'm not certain of what the hiring practices are with respect to graduates of Canadian law schools in cities other than NYC, but in NYC, the top law firms do hire a few graduates of Canadian law schools. I have seen associates hired from only a few Canadian law schools: Dalhousie, McGill and Osgoode Hall (probably McGill most frequently). All of these associates have done whatever has been necessary to be admittied to practice in one or more states in the U.S. Again, law firms tend not to do this too frequently because in order to hire a Canadian citizen, the U.S. law firm has to do a lot of work and pay a lot of money to get the proper visas taken care of. The problem, too, then is that that Canadian lawyer will have much more difficult time leaving their original U.S. law firm, if he or she so desires, because of the visa issues. All of the large U.S. law firms that I am familiar with have relationships with a Canadian law firm that handles their cross border work (my law firm worked with Osler, for example), so U.S. law firms have no need for junior associates (who know very little) to handle Canadian law issues.</p>
<p>I'm a US citizen. My situation would be I'd move to Toronto to go to Osgoode or UT or another Canadian law school. Work in the Toronto area for a while and then hopefully one day move back to the states. I was just wondering if the name would carry over to the states, or if those schools are regional.</p>
<p>Like I said, I've only ever encountered graduates of three Canadian law schools in my experience -- Dalhousie, McGill and Osgoode Hall, with the majority coming from McGill. I don't think that too many (if any) U.S. law firms actively recruit at Canadian law schools, and the structure of law school and admission to the bar (being called to the bar) is very different in Canada. Though I'm certain that someone with direct experience will know more than me, I recall that a Canadian law graduate typically graduates from law school and serves a period of apprenticeship as an articling clerk under a supervising attorney. Articling is full time work for little pay for a year or so. After the period of articling, you complete a bar admission course.</p>
<p>All of the attorneys from Canadian law schools that I know (and I do know several) were admitted in Canada (not in Quebec, which has an entirely different set of laws and policies for practice) and then sat for admission to the bar of one or more U.S. states.</p>
<p>The US law firms are very selective and look for top talent and thus tend to recruit at top Canadian law schools such as McGill, U of Toronto and Osgoode. </p>
<p>For Canadian law grads, the Bar Admission process involves the Bar Admission Course followed by a period of articling. Each province has a different system but typically this involves 8 months of school and 6 to 8 months of articling. </p>
<p>Most Canadian grad to take the bar before being recruited to a US firm though in the late 1990's many were recruited right out of law school. </p>
<p>As outlined above, the Quebec system is largely based on French law and graduates either do another year of school for the common law. Others can take a US Master's in Law and can seek admission to a US bar with the master's degree.</p>
<p>An undergraduate classmate, a Canadian citizen, returned home to attend McGill Law. He had no problem securing a lucrative job at an NYC law firm thereafter. I suspect that he was particularly desireable to the firm because of his family's business contacts in Europe and elsewhere. And, he is a very bright and engaging fellow anyway.</p>