See you later, LRW
This year, the Faculty has changed the schedule of 1L courses, swapping Legal Research and Writing (LRW) with Indigenous Peoples and the Law, with the latter now taking place in the fall semester and the former in the winter semester.
Why was this change made?
Ultra Vires received a lengthy comment from Assistant Dean Sara Faherty on the rationale behind this shift, which is appreciated. Assistant Dean Faherty advised that the primary motivations for the change were introducing the important and foundational knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and the Law at the beginning of law school and allowing for more land-based learning, an essential component of Indigenous knowledge-sharing. The rearrangement was considered by the Curriculum Committee (the Committee), who determined that the two-credit fall LRW course was a close match to the three-credit Indigenous Peoples and the Law in terms of workload, and therefore recommended the change at Faculty Council.
The Committee did look at other alternatives such as swapping a five-credit doctrinal course with Indigenous Peoples and the Law, but did not want to give 1Ls an uneven course load. According to Assistant Dean Faherty, keeping the credit load evenly balanced was a critical part of the equation. The decision-makers also believed that students having experience with doctrinal law would help with contextualizing LRW and its assignments.
Student members of the Committee stressed the importance of the Faculty offering basic LRW sessions during the fall semester to assist students with developing essential skills. Assistant Dean Faherty said that so far, these student members believe the sessions have gone well. These sessions have replaced some of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) sessions previously offered during the fall term. Per the First Year Mandatory Dates page, students have had three Friday LRW sessions thus far and will have one more session (combined with EDI) before the end of the semester.
How good of an idea was this?
While the reasons for moving Indigenous Peoples and the Law into the fall are understandable and I appreciate the amount of consideration put into this change, the choice to delay LRW seems impractical at best. At worst, it risks disadvantaging 1Ls, which U of T Law surely does not want to do.
First of all, the Faculty has sacrificed a significant portion of the purportedly important Friday EDI sessions for these LRW lessons and workshops. Also, as much as the Friday sessions are “mandatory,” I have put this in quotation marks for a reason—from my experience and observations, they just aren’t treated quite the same as a class (by students or Faculty). It’s difficult not to wonder whether these sessions are truly providing the same foundational knowledge that the LRW course does.
My main concern, however, is whether the reallocation of credits, while numerically even, will feel even for 1Ls in practice. The 1L job search takes place in the winter semester, which requires a lot of effort and time outside of classes. LRW may prove to be a lot to keep up with given that, unlike other courses (such as Indigenous Peoples and the Law), its grade is not based on a 100% final exam but on a series of assignments that must be completed throughout the semester. 1Ls also have their final small group assignment due at the end of the semester, which typically consists of a relatively lengthy paper. They will now also have to balance these with their final LRW assignments, which can feel quite substantial. It is unclear whether the fact that Indigenous Peoples and the Law and LRW have different modes of evaluation was considered in the switch, but it arguably has a significant impact on whether the fall and winter semesters will actually have the same workload.
Presuming that students do in fact attend the Friday LRW sessions, they will have to rely on these one-off lessons for any skills they hope to put into practice in extracurriculars, which begin in the fall semester. Unlike the actual LRW course, the Friday sessions are all taught by different individuals and therefore risk being at least disjointed, if not inconsistent. One anonymous 1L student summarized their concerns over being unprepared for clinic work:
While I understand and appreciate the importance of us taking Indigenous Peoples and the Law in the first semester, I believe that pushing back Legal Research and Writing to the winter semester should not have happened. I have very limited understanding of the expectations that come with written assignments and projects I take on in clinics. If we took Legal Research and Writing this semester, I believe we would have been more prepared and confident in our work.
The student also advised that they have not yet done any land-based learning in Indigenous Peoples and the Law, despite this being cited as a reason for the course being moved up.
My ultimate concern is the general lack of transparency that surrounds decisions made by the authorities at this law school. I am thankful that Assistant Dean Faherty’s comments provided a great deal of insight, but without my solicitation of them for this article, I do not feel confident that the 1Ls would have understood the reasoning behind the course schedule changes. Most of the upper-years I have spoken to were not aware of LRW being moved to second semester, let alone the reason behind it. Assistant Dean Faherty did not clarify whether the 1Ls were informed about the shift, or if they were given any advance notice.
Ultimately, the change has already been made and approved by the Faculty Council. My hope is that 1Ls can now at least better understand the Faculty’s rationale for postponing LRW, and that this shift does not have any significant negative impacts. However, we will have to wait and see how things play out.