McGill University Faculty of Law


The Faculty of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the oldest law school in Canada. 180 candidates are admitted for any given academic year. For the year 2021 class, the acceptance rate was 10%.
Notable alumni include prime ministers John Abbott and Sir Wilfrid Laurier, thirteen Justices of the Supreme Court, as well as Members of Parliament. Marc Miller, a current member of the Canadian House of Commons and a current minister of the Cabinet of Canada, is a graduate from the faculty.
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Academics

Bachelor of Civil Law and Juris Doctor program

The McGill Faculty of Law offers a unique combined Bachelor of Civil Law and Juris Doctor program. The BCL/JD program emphasizes a transsystemic and polyjural approach that integrates common law and civil law, sometimes within a single class. More recently, the faculty has incorporated Indigenous law into its curriculum in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's recommendations for Canadian law schools.
In 2016, the faculty reviewed its curriculum and added Integration Week: an introductory week of group work and lectures for first-year students. They also added two Focus Weeks—one in fall and one in winter—that allow students to take intensive one-week courses. In winter 2023, the first student seminar on Abolitionist practices and Transformative Justice was launched.
The duration of BCL/JD program is somewhat flexible: the program can be completed in 3, 3.5, or 4 years. Students who opt for a minor, major, or honours program generally require 4 years to complete their degree. Majors are offered in International Human Rights and Development and in Commercial Negotiation and Dispute Resolution.
The Faculty of Law, in collaboration with the Desautels Faculty of Management and the Faculty of Art's School of Social Work, offers joint programs that combine the BCL/JD program with either a Master of Business Administration or a Master of Social Work. A joint program takes 4 to 5 years to complete.
The Faculty of Law's Admissions Office has an acceptance rate of 15.9%.

Master of Laws (LLM)

The faculty offers four LLM programs for students: one general LLM program, and three specialized LLM programs in Air and Space Law, Environment, and Bioethics.
Except for the LLM Bioethics program, all programs have thesis and non-thesis options. The non-thesis Master's of Law option prioritizes course work and can be completed in twelve months. The thesis option prioritizes research; it can be completed in sixteen to twenty-four months.
Student in the LLM Bioethics program write a thesis.

Doctor of Civil Law (DCL)

The faculty offers three DCL programs in General Law, Comparative Law, and Air and Space Law. Students generally complete the DCL program in 3 to 4 years.

Graduate certificates

The faculty offers graduate certificates in Comparative Law and in Air and Space Law. Graduate certificates are awarded upon completing a set number of credits. Certificates are based on coursework, and no thesis is required.

History

The Faculty of Law was officially created in 1853, after a petition signed by young men studying law in Montreal was made to McGill in 1848. With the incoming class of 1969, the faculty added a stand-alone common law degree, suitable to the practice of law in other Canadian provinces, which could be taken individually or jointly with the traditional Civil Law curriculum. The joint degree was then referred to as the National Programme, and taught common law and civil law in separate courses, but combined their study in a year-long introductory "Foundations" course and in some upper-year seminars. In 1951, McGill inaugurated its first post-graduate law program with the creation of its Institute of Air & Space Law. The institute was founded by John Cobb Cooper, who had served as a senior official in Pan American World Airways, and the International Air Transport Association. Canada's only United Nations organ, the International Civil Aviation Organization, is also headquartered in Montreal.
With the incoming class of 1999, the faculty eliminated its civil, common, and national programs, and replaced them with a single program, which includes some mandatory first-year courses and some upper-year courses which integrate both common and civil law. This joint and bilingual degree, which all students must take, is now referred to as the transsystemic program. This program underwent slight revisions during a curriculum renewal unrolled in 2016. Under the newly revised program, criminal and property law are taught differently; incoming students also undergo two "integration weeks".
The Transsystemic program was created under the direction of former Dean Stephen Toope, whereby every student graduates with degrees in both civil law and common law. This means that, from the first year, courses now explore civil and common law concepts in close comparison. Students analyse and critically evaluate the two traditions, their histories, and their social, political, and cultural contexts. Undergraduate students may participate in international exchange programs, and in the International Courts and Tribunals Program, which in 2006 received a Scotiabank-AUCC Award for Excellence in Internationalization.
Since 1976, the Faculty of Law's Institute of Air and Space Law, has annually published the first and only bilingual journal in the field of air and space law, the Annals of Air and Space Law. Other Faculty of Law bilingual publications include the McGill Law Journal and the McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law.

The Buildings

Old Chancellor Day Hall and New Chancellor Day Hall are the names of two joined buildings at McGill University's downtown campus that house the Faculty of Law. Old Chancellor Day Hall was designed by noted architect Bruce Price for businessman James Ross. New Chancellor Day Hall was completed in 1967 by architecture firm Bland, Lemoyne, Edwards, and Shine. The Old and New Chancellor Day buildings are connected by an underground passage and by an atrium, which also connects to the Nahum Gelber Law Library.
Today, Old Chancellor Day Hall is used for administrative and faculty offices. New Chancellor Day Hall includes all classrooms, a moot court room, student spaces, law student services, and administrative and faculty offices.

Old Chancellor Day Hall

In 1892, Canadian civil engineer, businessman, and philanthropist James Ross hired architect Bruce Price to design a château-style mansion in Montreal's Golden Square Mile, on Peel Street. Built largely of yellow sandstone from New Brunswick, the James Ross House was one of the most expensive private homes built in Canada during the nineteenth century. The house was a social centre for the Golden Square Mile.
His son John Kenneth Leveson Ross, a noted bon vivant and sportsman, inherited both the house and the Ross fortune. In the 1919, J.K.L. Ross hired architects Trowbridge and Livingstone to undertake $600,000 of renovations that affected every room in the house. The renovation included adding a private bathroom to each bedroom, covering up a skylight, and putting in windows to create a library/reading room in what is now the Common Room. John Ross declared bankruptcy in 1928, and the James Ross House was sold at auction in 1929 for a mere $51,000. The mansion was subsequently purchased by J.W. McConnell in 1948 as a gift to McGill University.
While the university may have initially planned to use it for a student residence, the Faculty of Law officially moved into the mansion in a ceremony attended by many members of the judiciary and the Montreal Bar on 9 February 1950. At the ceremony, McGill's chancellor, Orville S. Tyndale, declared on behalf of the Board of Governors that the mansion would be named Chancellor Day Hall in honour of McGill's first chancellor, Charles Dewey Day. The opening ceremony was held in the students' handsomely furnished common room, a gift from Maurice Pollack.
On 9 July 2014, Old Chancellor Day Hall closed for 14 months for renovations to upgrade the building's heating, electrical systems, plumbing, windows, and more. Thirty-four staff and faculty members were relocated to New Chancellor Day Hall and to temporary offices on McGill College Avenue.
In December 2017, representatives of the Clan Ross Association of Canada and members of the Faculty of Law unveiled a plaque commemorating James Ross. The plaque is located near the main entrance.

New Chancellor Day Hall

New Chancellor Day Hall was built in 1967 to address the Faculty of Law's growing program and increased enrolment.
A six-storey precast concrete tower designed by architectural firm Bland, Lemoyne, Edwards, and Shine was erected just west of Chancellor Day Hall and connected to it by a corridor, at the cost of $1.825 million. This extension was named New Chancellor Day Hall and blended with the adjacent Stewart Biological Sciences Building. New Chancellor Day Hall included additional classrooms, study spaces, and a moot court. Prior to the construction of the Gelber Law Library, the top floors of New Chancellor Day Hall housed the library.
The building was inaugurated on 21 January 1967. During the bilingual ceremony, the Faculty of Law awarded seven honorary degrees, including degrees to Chief Justice Robert Taschereau of Canada, Chief Justice Earl Warren of the United States, and Lord Denning of Great Britain.
Following the inauguration of the Gelber Law Library in 1998, the empty floors of New Chancellor Day that had previously been used as the library were used by McGill University to house various small research units attached to different faculties. In 2005, all student services at the Faculty of Law were consolidated on the fourth floor of New Chancellor Day Hall.
From 2008 to 2009, New Chancellor Day Hall underwent major renovations. The project overhauled the third, fifth, and sixth floors. New architectural features included adding a massive skylight above a staircase between the fifth and sixth floors, piercing windows on the sixth floor, and creating partially frosted glass partitions between offices to allow natural light inside interior offices. The third floor is devoted to student spaces – accommodating a multimedia classroom with movable walls and a seminar room. The third floor is also home to multiple student clubs, student-run law journals, and the graduate students' lounge. The fifth and sixth floors feature a conference room, and house some of the Faculty's research units, as well as offices for professors, staff, graduate students, and visiting scholars.

Nahum Gelber Law Library

The Nahum Gelber Law Library is one of the 13 branches of the McGill University Library and houses over 220,000 volumes of statutes, regulations, law reports, treatises, books, journals and other legal material. Designed by Dan Hanganu, the Nahum Gelber Law Library was inaugurated September 1998. The building was designed to link to New and Old Chancellor Day Halls via a two-level atrium for socializing and studying.
The Gelber Library is home to the Wainwright Collection, which was established in 1958 with the acquisition of several hundred volumes dedicated to the history of French law. The collection is primarily composed of early French jurists on general civil law before the Codification of 1804 and was the personal library of French legal historian François Olivier-Martin. Over the years, the Wainwright fund has allowed the Library to expand the collection beyond the classic vision of civil law, centred on France, to reflect the global influence of civil law across languages and continents. Today, the collection consists of 800 works comprising 1200 volumes and is conserved in controlled atmospheric conditions in the Peter M. Laing Room, located on the second floor of the Gelber Law Library.

Reputation

Graduates of the faculty consistently account for one quarter of Canada's Supreme Court clerkships, more than any law school in Canada. One of the small number of elite law schools internationally that may submit International Court of Justice clerkship applications, it also consistently places graduates at the ICJ, and has a better placement record than any other Canadian law school.
Its flagship law review, the McGill Law Journal, is the most cited law faculty review by Canada's Supreme Court, and was ranked the best overall student-run law journal in the world outside of the United States. It also publishes the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation, the standard reference work for almost all Canadian law reviews, Canadian law schools, and courts.
The McGill University Faculty of Law has consistently placed among the top three ranking law schools in Canada, and has historically placed in the top 35 law schools globally on multiple ranking systems. It was recently ranked the 41st best law school worldwide in the 2025 QS World University Rankings. It was ranked the 33rd best law school in the world in the 2025 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, marking consistent showings for McGill in the top 35 worldwide in the ranking. For the 2023 ranking, the Times Higher Education ranked the faculty the 17th best law school in the world.
In 2025, the McGill University Faculty of Law placed 2nd place in the prestigious Willem C. Vis Moot International Competition out of a total of a cohort of 384 international law schools.
In 2023, the McGill University Faculty of Law had a 97.3% bar pass rate, the best rate in Quebec.

UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights

McGill Law’s connection to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is rooted in the work of McGill scholar John Peters Humphrey, who served as the principal drafter of early versions of the Declaration while affiliated with the United Nations. McGill now preserves his papers in the Humphrey fonds, which include early handwritten drafts, correspondence with Eleanor Roosevelt, lecture notes, and records of his human rights advocacy. In 2025, UNESCO inscribed the Humphrey Archives on its Memory of the World International Register, recognizing McGill’s foundational contribution to documenting the UDHR’s drafting history.

Controversies

2024–2025 Faculty strike, labour disputes, and Bill 89 challenge

In 2024, professors in McGill’s Faculty of Law, represented by the Association of McGill Professors of Law, began an unlimited strike following stalled bargaining and the university administration’s challenge to the union’s certification. The strike disrupted classes and grading for several weeks before being suspended on June 20, 2024, after McGill promised further negotiation dates in August. When McGill instead requested the Quebec Minister of Labour to impose arbitration and subsequently refused to negotiate, the union resumed its strike on August 26, 2024. On August 30, the Quebec Labour Tribunal ruled that McGill, Provost Christopher Manfredi, Vice-president Fabrice Labeau, and Dean Robert Leckey had prima facie violated the Quebec Labour Code by communicating directly with union members, and ordered McGill to cease such actions and post the ruling publicly.
In 2025, four certified faculty associations at McGill — including AMPL — filed a constitutional challenge in the Quebec Superior Court against Quebec’s Bill 89, provincial legislation expanding government powers to define “essential services” and limit strikes. Later that year, McGill dropped its separate legal challenge to the law-faculty union’s certification following renewed bargaining progress, effectively ending the dispute. These events generated class disruptions, court proceedings, and broader debate over academic labour rights and institutional autonomy in Canada.

2021–2024 Unionization and administrative controversy

After dissatisfaction with McGill University's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and what professors described as centralized faculty governance, full-time professors at the Faculty of Law formed the Association of McGill Professors of Law and filed for certification with Quebec's Tribunal administratif du travail on November 7, 2021. McGill disputed the certification but lost before the Tribunal on November 8, 2022. Following continued delays in collective bargaining, AMPL members conducted a one-day strike on February 13, 2024, and later initiated an unlimited strike beginning April 24, 2024.
During the strike, Provost Christopher Manfredi inadvertently copied a law student and journalist on an internal email to President Deep Saini and Dean Robert Leckey, writing, "Are our students incapable of reading?" and that “I’m a bit worried about the people we’re sending into the legal profession.” The message, which appeared to question student ability amid widespread support for the strike, drew criticism from faculty and students. Manfredi apologized, though neither Saini nor Leckey publicly distanced themselves from the remarks. Later that summer, McGill announced graduation ceremonies for students without final grades due to the ongoing strike, prompting debate about compliance with university regulations.

2018 Student accessibility lawsuit

In 2018, the Faculty of Law and the McGill Office for Students with Disabilities were sued by a blind law student who alleged systematic denial of academic accommodation. The case was reported in local and national media outlets.

Notable people

Current faculty chair-holders and emeritus professors

  • Andrea Bjorklund, holder of the L. Yves Fortier Chair in International Arbitration and International Commercial Law.
  • Adelle Blackett, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Transnational Labour Law and Development, former member of the International Labour Organization.
  • Allison Christians, holder of the H. Heward Stikeman Chair in Tax Law.
  • Bartha Knoppers Canadian law professor and an expert on the ethical aspects of genetics, genomics and biotechnology
  • François Crépeau, former director of the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, holder of the Hans and Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law, and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants.
  • Helge Dedek, holder of the Arnold Wainwright Chair in Civil Law.
  • Yaëll Emerich, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Transsystemic Property and Sustainable Communities.
  • Evan Fox-Decent, Canada Research Chair in Cosmopolitan Law and Justice and president, Association of McGill Professors of Law.
  • Fabien Gélinas, holder of the Sir William C. Macdonald Chair.
  • E. Richard Gold, holder of a James McGill Professorship, director of the Centre for Intellectual Property, and Strategic Lead, Policy and Training at Conscience.
  • Sébastien Jodoin, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Human Rights, Health and the Environment.
  • Marie Manikis, holder of a William Dawson Chair.
  • Frédéric Mégret, holder of the Hans & Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law.
  • Aaron Mills, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Constitutionalism and Philosophy.
  • Johanne Poirier, holder of the Peter MacKell Chair in Federalism.
  • René Provost, holder of a James McGill Professorship.
  • Stephen Allan Scott, professor emeritus and leading scholar on the Canadian Constitution.
  • Colleen Sheppard, holder of the FR Scott Chair in Public & Constitutional Law.
  • Daniel Weinstock, holder of the Katharine A. Pearson Chair in Civil Society and Public Policy.
  • Peer Zumbansen, Business law professor, co-founder of the ''German Law Journal''

Past faculty members

Alumni

Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada

Jurists and legal professionals

Political figures

Other alumni

Deans of the Faculty

The study of law at McGill began in 1844 when William Badgley was appointed lecturer in law within the Faculty of Arts. While informal classes began earlier, the Faculty of Law was officially established at McGill in 1853, with William Badgley appointed its first dean. Over the years, the following people have served the Faculty of Law as deans.

Student life

Law Student Association

The overarching student organization is the Law Student's Association : an elected group of law students who represent the student body. The LSA was created in 1912 and incorporated in 1992. The executives and representatives of the LSA are elected by McGill's law students.
During the school year, the LSA hosts a weekly coffeehouse on Thursday evenings designed to encourage students to network and socialize over food and drink. The coffeehouse tradition was started in 1989 by David Lametti when he was part of the LSA. Some coffeehouse events are sponsored by law firms for networking with students, while others are hosted by student associations and clubs.

Christie Bike Ride

The Dugald Christie Memorial Community Bike Ride, also called the Christie Bike Ride, is an annual charity fundraiser organized by McGill Law students. Funds are distributed to local organizations that increase access to justice, especially for marginalized communities. Past recipients of the funds include Project Genesis, Head and Hands, and the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal.
The Christie Bike Ride was started in 2009 in honour of alumnus Dugald Christie. Christie was a Vancouver-based lawyer that championed access to justice for low-income communities. He was killed while cycling from Vancouver to Ottawa to raise awareness about access to justice.

Journals

McGill Law Journal

The McGill Law Journal was founded by Gerald Le Dain and Jacques-Yvan Morin in 1952. The MLJ publishes four volumes a year on general law topics. The MLJ is frequently cited by the Supreme Court of Canada and is the most cited student-run law journal by the Court.
The McGill Law Journal also publishes the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation. The original Guide was published in 1986 and was intended to standardize Canadian legal citations. Today, the Guide is used by most Canadian legal journals. The McGill Law Journal regularly hosts office hours to assist McGill students using the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation.

McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law

The McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law was established in 2004 and focuses on sustainable development and environmental law and policy. It is peer-reviewed and published bi-annually.

McGill Journal of Law and Health

The McGill Journal of Law and Health was established in 2007. It is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal and is published annually. The MJLH focuses on health law and has been cited four times by the Supreme Court of Canada. Most recently, an article from the journal was cited in the Reference Re Assisted Human Reproduction Act.

McGill Journal of Dispute Resolution

The McGill Journal of Dispute Resolution is a bilingual peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to scholarship in the fields of arbitration, mediation, facilitation, negotiation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. The McGill Journal of Dispute Resolution was first published in 2015.

Legal Information Clinic at McGill

The Legal Information Clinic at McGill is a non-profit legal information clinic for McGill students and the Montreal community. The Legal Information Clinic is a separate entity from McGill but is run by McGill law students. Originally founded in 1973 by then-law student Michael Bergman, the Clinic works on more than 2,000 cases a year.
The Clinic also provides a student advocacy service for McGill students accused of disciplinary offences or looking to resolve disputes with McGill University.

Quid Novi

Quid Novi, also known colloquially as the Quid, is the Faculty of Law's student-run newspaper. Since the publication of its first edition in March 1981, Quid Novi has been a forum for both students and faculty to share news and opinions on both legal and non-legal matters. Quid Novi is published on a weekly basis during the academic year.

L.E.X. Outreach Program

The Faculty of Law of McGill University founded the Law-Éducation-Connexion Outreach Program, also called the L.E.X. Outreach Program, in 2006. The program has law student volunteers deliver presentations at local schools and answer student questions. The program targets youth in communities that are traditionally underrepresented in the legal field and schools that have high dropout rates, with the goal of encouraging an interest in post-secondary education and legal studies. In 2009, the program was expanded following a donation from the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation.