Canadian vs U.S. Law Schools (in short):
Similarities:
Law school is pretty stressful and features lots of reading and writing. But, graduates from the most prestigious universities gain highly-valuable network, connections, and credentials. Plus, law school develops highly transferrale skills like conducting detail-oriented research, organizational skills, written and oral advocacy.
Pros of Canadian Law schools:
Canadian law schools cost a lot less than U.S. schools—even for international students, but especially for locals. For e.g., Quebec locals pay 50x less than Harvard locals to attend a law school in Quebec.
Pros of U.S. Law schools:
U.S. law school graduates, especially when practicing in trade hubs like New York, have have access to super-high paying jobs. For e.g., top New York firms pay 10x as much as top Canadian firms for their first-year associates.
U.S. law school graduates also have access to highly influential decision-making positions. The U.S. features more lawyers in Congress and Senate than Canada does in its equivalent chambers. U.S. policy has wider influence than Canadian policy. Last, the New York Bar is one of the best bars to hold to understand and influence international business practice.
Differences in Recommendations
80K’s career page recommends students who have a clear vision of what they want to do, have a high stress tolerance, and a good personal fit for lawyering. This advice ensures that the time, money, and energy that goes into law school is well spent.
Since Canadian law schools cost less, Canadian law school can be for students who are still trying to figure out their career path since it provides highly transferrable skills and good career capital.
That said, unless they can move to the U.S., Canadian students looking to earn-to-give have better prospects in other careers or the U.S.
Canadian law school can be for students looking to influence global change or policy-making, but they’ll face a steeper hill than U.S. law students since their credentials are less recognized than the U.S.′ credentials (especially within the U.S.).
Thanks Jason! Good point. Most 80K posts make this explicit, but I didn’t, so it’s good to point out.