Why? Dear God Why?

[justanothersucker]

Based on what I can tell Canada dosn't let someone walk about of an American JD program right into practice in Canada. It looks like there is extra schooling required after the transfer up. Knowing that, why would anyone ever(and yet countless numbers do) move down from Canada to America to get a JD with full intent of going back up when done?

Why? Can someone please explain this to me?

[jabmalassie]

Are you a lawyer? Where did you graduate from?

[justanothersucker]

what difference would that make? I'm not Canadian either. WTF is your point?

Are you a lawyer? Where did you graduate from?

[rhombot]

canadian schools have earlier application deadlines. miss them and the US looks like a good options.

also, canadians can practice law in the US on a NAFTA visa.

[justanothersucker]

all good points, my question is about the ones who openly say "I plan to live and work in Canada after I graduate"
If they wanted to live on the border and dayjob it that would make sense. I am talking about the ones who plan to PRACTICE IN CANADA afer graduation.

canadian schools have earlier application deadlines. miss them and the US looks like a good options.

also, canadians can practice law in the US on a NAFTA visa.

[fortook]

They can't get into a Canadian law school.  Why does anyone go to Cooley?  Why do American med students go to Caribbean med schools?  Why do men have nipples (I know the answer to that one)?  Why don't women have beards?

[artsci10]

You asked why: there are basically two categories of Canadians who do law school in the states:

1) Top-tier - Some students may go to T14 schools thinking it will help there prospects in Canada. This isn't necessarily the case; they still have to go through the NCA process, but many of them do so nonetheless.

2) Back door - Admissions standards are significantly lower in the US than they are in Canada. This isn't to say that the US doesn't have plenty of fine and elite law schools that are hard to get into, but Canada simply does not have anything like 4th-tier schools where just about anyone with an undergrad degree can go. Even the lowest ranked Canadian law schools require about a 160 LSAT and a minimum of 3.4 or so GPA. Plenty of Canadians who can't get into our schools will go down south for a back door into the Canadian law scene. This usually backfires because it's difficult to practice in Canada with a US degree (you need to go through the NCA process which requires extra courses and exams, and is time consuming and expensive) and because it's really frowned upon in the Canadian legal community, so unless your Daddy is a partner on Bay Street, you're pretty much out of luck.

Also worth noting, Canadian law schools cost $10k-15k per year (except Osgoode and U of T, the most elite schools, who charge around $20k per year) so Canadians who go south pay for it big time.

[LincolnLover]

why do you think lawschools cost so much more in America? Is all education cheaper there or just the lawschools?

[fortook]

Education is becoming big biz in the States, sadly.  We even have for profit schools that are owned by corporations.  It's a dangerous situation.

The gov has done the right thing and made loans more available, but so many schools (especially the for profit law schools) have taken advantage of that and ballooned tuition and attendance.  Causing what some call the proliferation of lawyers problem we have now.

Do you remember when Phoenix (the online school, not the law school) got into trouble because they were admitting homeless people using cheap incentives (like food cards), who had no intention of going, for the tuition (which at Phoenix is like 20k per year)?

[LincolnLover]

How would enrolling get the homelsess person a food card? How would it help the school?

Education is becoming big biz in the States, sadly.  We even have for profit schools that are owned by corporations.  It's a dangerous situation.

The gov has done the right thing and made loans more available, but so many schools (especially the for profit law schools) have taken advantage of that and ballooned tuition and attendance.  Causing what some call the proliferation of lawyers problem we have now.

Do you remember when Phoenix (the online school, not the law school) got into trouble because they were admitting homeless people using cheap incentives (like food cards), who had no intention of going, for the tuition (which at Phoenix is like 20k per year)?