The popular forum for the Canadian legal community will be permanently closing June 11.
After 16 years online, the administrators behind lawstudents.ca have decided to shut the site down for good on June 11. The site is already closed to guests and new registrants.
As Canada’s largest online discussion forum for law school-related information, lawstudents.ca has provided a platform for many current and aspiring law students to discuss a range of topics from LSAT scores to law admission steps to recruit tips and tricks. The forum was purposefully kept anonymous so it could be a safe space for students to ask personal questions, receive non-judgemental help (with the occasional snark here and there), and share their legal journeys.
Some popular threads focused on admissions chances and recruit news, where members discussed the odds of landing an OCI based on grade-point averages and experience. There were also general threads dealing with issues such as whether a law student should work and go to school or where to apply for financial aid. Forums were also frequented by practicing lawyers who were happy to share their words of wisdom with aspiring legal practitioners.
Morgan, a founder and administrator, announced the closing in a post on May 29. Morgan cited increasing technical challenges and costs as the main reasons behind the closure. He also listed other hurdles, such as the rise of competing platforms and personal demands that have impacted his ability to run the website. Morgan thanked the cohort of moderators who helped run the forum over the past decade.
As for why Morgan refuses to hand off the website to another administrator, he claims that a transfer would not be feasible for ensuring the integrity and safekeeping of the purposefully anonymous user base and information shared within the site.
Ultra Vires reached out to Morgan and the moderators for a comment but they did not respond at the time of publication.
Users expressed gratitude for the site and sadness about its closing. GreyDude said that the site helped them overcome their hesitations about applying to law school and provided them with a sense of community. Another member who has been a part of the online community since high school said they were upset to see the exit of a Canadian-centric site in a predominantly American-focused law discussion forum. Many echoed these sentiments.
Jerry Zhu (2L) remarked on his use of the site, saying that it was a great resource for law-related insights that fellow peers might not be able to provide. The site will be greatly missed by many U of T Law students.
However, this is not the end of the road for Canada’s online legal community. Lawstudents.ca now redirects individuals to https://www.lawapplicants.ca/. Here, a Discord server and a LawStudentsCanada subreddit have already been set up to host prospective law students until a new online forum is set up. Until then, the legal community anxiously awaits for someone to pick up where lawstudents.ca has left off.
