LEGAL EDUCATION AT McGILL: SOME PROBLEMS
AND PROPOSALS I
Ronald I. Cheffins*
Lawyers, with the possible exception of primary and secondary
school teachers, have probably puzzled over the problems of how to
prepare people for the practice of their profession more than any
other vocational group. This concern is reflected by the fact that an
entire journal is devoted to the problems of legal education, the Jour-
nal of Legal Education. This preoccupation, however, is not sympto-
matic of any professional neurosis, but instead reflects the difficulties
of preparing people to meet the responsibilities which society imposes
on lawyers. The public expects the profession to supply it, on the one
hand, with expert technicians who are able to cope with an endless
variety of details, and yet it also entrusts to certain members of
the profession, e.g. judges, the responsibility of making some of the
community’s most important decisions. Lawyers are expected to be
masters of the spoken word for purposes of litigation. In addition
they are called upon to draft many of our most important documents
such as statutes, regulations, by-laws, contracts, constitutions and
judicial decisions. The legal practitioner is expected to be knowledge-
able about business when dealing with commercial and corporate
problems, understand the concepts and jargon of the economists when
dealing with anti-trust problems, know something about medicine
in damage cases, and be familiar with psychiatric concepts when
practising criminal law. It is surely not surprising that there is
endless controversy as to how, in three academic years, we are
expected to begin preparing people for the difficult tasks they will
have to discharge.
The primary purpose of this paper is to suggest how law schools,
in general, but more particularly the McGill Law Faculty, can imple-
ment what the writer believes to be some of the primary aims of
legal education. Before suggesting how at least some of these goals
can be achieved here at McGill, it is necessary to try to understand
some of the advantages and disadvantages of our immediate environ-
ment.
1 This paper was originally presented at a staff seminar of the McGill Law
Faculty in February 1964. It is being published in the hope that it will stimulate
further discussions of the subject of legal education in Canada.
* Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University.
No. 2]
LEGAL EDUCATION AT McGILL
The Environment
It is important for the staff of every law faculty to ascertain
whether it is utilizing to maximum advantage all the available human
and material resources of the university, and the outside community.
For example, here at McGill, because of considerable administrative
decentralization and faculty autonomy, we often overlook the fact
that we are part of a large and dynamic university with a substantial
national and international reputation. Though there has been heigh-
tened interaction with the rest of the university recently, the general
tendency has been for us to remain apart from the mainstream of
local academic life. This problem is certainly not unique, as it appears
even in more centrally administered universities. The result has been
that this, and other Canadian law schools, have failed to exploit the
potential of their immediate academic environment. For example, here
at McGill, we are fortunate in having attached to the University the
Allen Memorial Institute, one of the leading psychiatric training and
research centres in the world. In addition there is within the complex
of the psychiatry department, a forensic clinic headed by Dr. Bruno
Cormier, dedicated to research and treatment in the criminological
field. These facilities are of particular value to any law teacher
interested in the problems of family law and criminology. Further-
more the new School of Business Administration has attracted to its
staff a group of teachers with interesting and varied backgrounds
as part of an attempt to provide something educationally different
in this area. We should strive as soon as possible to ascertain whether
some degree of co-operation with the personnel of this School might
be of mutual advantage. Two members of the Arts and Science Fa-
culty are now teaching regularly in the Law Faculty, but explora-
tions might begin as to how we can contribute more effectively to
each other’s work.
The fact that the University is located in the center of Montreal
is, in my opinion, very beneficial. A large city provides a living
laboratory for a wide variety of legal and social science research.
Perhaps even more important, a heavily populated area contains large
numbers of people with a wide variety of skills. It is often possible
to call upon these specialists to help in both instruction and research.
For example, the co-operation obtained from the top legal and other
personnel of the International Air Transport Association (I.A.T.A.)
and International Civil Aviation Organization (I.C.A.O.) is vital to the
work of our Air and Space Law Institute. In addition, Montreal’s
geographical location is a great advantage. The fact that we are only
a hundred miles from Ottawa is very useful. It means that students
can, with relatively little effort, attend sittings of Parliament and
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 10
the Supreme Court of Canada. Furthermore it means that government
officials can come to the Faculty in order to participate in seminar
and class discussions. We already have several senior government
officials visit the faculty each year, but undoubtedly we could do
more along these lines.
We are also fortunate in being only two hours by air from the
largest city in the United States, New York, and the second largest
city in Canada, Toronto. Furthermore, within a distance of four
hundred miles are a large number of the world’s and Canada’s most
important and prestigious universities, such as Harvard, Yale, Co-
lumbia, Princeton and Toronto, to name only a few. This means that
we can, if necessary, use their outstanding library facilities and invite,
as we do each year, professors from these universities to deliver
guest lectures. In addition to inviting American academicians to visit
regularly with us, we implemented this year a policy of having a
number of Canadian law teachers lecture to our students. This was
done in the hope that, to our mutual advantage, it might stimulate
reciprocal invitations from other Canadian law schools and thereby
promote more contact between Canadian law teachers. Similarly any
intellectual and social exchanges between students from different
law schools should be encouraged. Unfortunately, insofar as the stu-
dents of this faculty are concerned, the number of contacts with stu-
dents from other law schools has apparently dwindled in the last two
years.
Though our environment offers great benefits, and even greater
potential, there are nevertheless a number of serious problems
inherent in our immediate situation. McGill is an English-speaking
University in a largely French-speaking Province and City. The
Quebec population totals 5,259,211 out of whom only 697,402 list
English as their mother tongue.2 Almost all of the English speaking
group are concentrated
in Montreal. Though McGill has always
served as the leading centre of higher education for the English
speaking inhabitants of the Province, it has long served as a leading
centre for the education of thousands of students from the rest of
Canada and the world.3 There are, however, within the Province,
nationalist elements who have urged that provincial grants to McGill
be reduced. Even more disturbing is the suggestion that in allocating
funds to universities the province should exclude non-Quebec students
from their calculations when deciding the amount which each univer-
2 Canada Year Book, 1962, p. 1204.
According to the 1961-62 Annual Report of McGill University there were
9,562 full time students registered at the University. One thousand thirty-four
came from provinces other than Quebec, and 1471 came from foreign countries.
McGill University, Ainual Report, 1961-1962, p. 2.
No. 2]
LEGAL EDUCATION AT McGILL
sity is allocated. If this proposal were implemented, McGill would
be hard pressed, despite a substantial private endowment, to main-
tain the high proportion of non-Quebec students who now attend
the University. Thus it must be recognized that local political factors
will inevitably affect our destiny in a variety of ways. We must,
however, never compromise with the ideals which a university is
supposed to uphold. It is surely fundamental that a university, within
the limits of its capacity, exists to seek knowledge and to disseminate
it to those capable of benefiting from it, irrespective of their back-
ground.
Political tensions within the Province are going to make it in-
creasingly difficult to predict, with any degree of accuracy, McGill’s
prospective financial position. Though McGill has the largest endow-
ment of any university in Canada, it has grown more dependent
upon financial grants from Quebec and, therefore, will be affected
increasingly by the ebb and flow of the Province’s political currents.
Recent political developments dramatically improved the University’s
financial picture, with resultant benefit to the Law Faculty. Never-
theless long term planning will, in my view, be rather difficult for
the University, and accordingly, its component parts.
Another inevitable element of uncertainty is how the University
authorities will assess our economic demands in relation to those
made by other faculties. Probably every faculty in every university
throughout the world feels, in some degree, that it is not getting a
fair share of its institution’s revenues; nevertheless, there is con-
siderable evidence that historically the Law Faculty, for a variety
of reasons, many of them perhaps justifiable, was underprivileged
in relation to other areas of the University. For example, until this
year, we had a full time staff of eight, the same as the Department
of Classics. Departments such as Bacteriology and Biochemistry,
which are relatively small at most Canadian universities, numbered
it is not surprising
fifteen and sixteen respectively. Accordingly,
that McGill granted one half of the Canadian doctorates in Biological
and Medical Sciences during the period 1956-61, 4 indicative of the
heavy investment which the University has in this area. The writer
is not suggesting, even if it were possible, that any departments of
the University be partially dismantled in order to help other areas.
It is seemingly inevitable, and perhaps justifiable, that certain disci-
plines at most universities will be given priority over others, but
4 In this same period the University granted almost one third of the Canadian
doctorates in the physical sciences and engineering. The Law Faculty is one of
the few at McGill that does not offer a doctoral programme. The figures mentioned
above are to be found in McGill Univeersity, Annual Report, 1961-1962, p. 14.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 10
surely the gap between rich and poor must never be permitted to
become too pronounced.
Recent events indicate that the University is giving greater re-
cognition to the Law Faculty’s needs. The staff of the Faculty was
increased this year by three men, and it now appears fairly certain
that by 1966 it will number fourteen or more. This increase in per-
sonnel, combined with the construction of a one and a half million
dollar addition to our present building, will assist substantially in
achieving many of the goals proposed later in this paper. We must
not, however, delude ourselves into thinking that staff numbers alone
will produce the kind of Faculty we want. Nevertheless, a large staff
helps to implement a curriculum which allows for more options, and
better supervision of student work.
The Quebec Bar will be another important factor influencing the
Faculty’s development. Its main impact at present is through the
curriculum regulations which are imposed on provincial law schools.
It is inappropriate to discuss this problem in detail at this time,
nevertheless there is the possibility that these regulations may
prevent us from making important curriculum changes, particularly
with respect to allowing a substantial number of optional subjects.
We must, however, proceed upon the assumption that we can evolve
certain changes within the framework of the present regulations, or
that appropriate changes in the regulations can be negotiated. The
long term goal of Quebec’s law faculties should, in my opinion, be the
withdrawal of effective Bar control over curriculum organization. In
the meantime, we must, when contemplating revisions in course ar-
rangements, presume that a change is permissible, unless specifically
prohibited by the Bar regulations, rather than proceeding on the
negative assumption that change is impossible unless specifically
allowed.
Though as already indicated, the University draws about twenty-
five per cent of its student population from outside the Province,
these figures are misleading insofar as the undergraduate law po-
pulation is concerned. Almost all of our undergraduates come from
the Province of Quebec, with the overwhelming majority coming
from the Montreal area.5 This is due to the fact that the private law
5 In 1961-62, out of a total of 202 students at the Faculty, 197 were from
Canada and only 1 of that number was from outside Quebec. At that time there
were 5 non-Canadian students in the Faculty presumably doing work at the
Air and Space Law Institute. For the academic term 1963-64 the number of
foreign students studying at the Institute has more than trebled, at least par-
tially because of more scholarship aid being made available. The 1961-62 student
totals mentioned above are to be found in McGill University, Annual Report,
1961-1962, pp. 193, 199.
No. 2]
LEGAL EDUCATION AT McGILL
of Quebec is civilian in origin, and as a result, the degree offered here
is not accepted for the purpose of admission to the Profession in the
common law provinces. It has long been my view that it would benefit
all concerned, if a reasonable proportion of the students in each of
our classes came from different parts of Canada. Later in this paper,
certain proposals will be advanced as to how this objective might be
achieved.
Enrolment, scholarships and the provision of continuing legal
education
One of the first tasks we must begin is to try to find out what
happens to our graduates. Surely in deciding on the kind of curriculum
we wish to have, it would be valuable to know the kinds of responsi-
bilities we are training our students for. Earlier it was suggested
that we were mainly engaged in training students for practice at
the Quebec Bar. Perhaps we are, in fact, turning out people who
are involved in a much greater variety of activities than we all
suspect. If any former class presidents could supply knowledge of
this kind they would be contributing to the Faculty in a valuable
way. It would be interesting to know what has happened to the classes
of, say, 1950, 1955 and 1960. It has been suggested to me that every
year a few members of each class leave the practice of law.
Another problem that must be weighed is the size of our enrol-
ment. The physical facilities of the new building are going to keep
our numbers probably in the range of 300-350 students. However,
are we going to allow physical capacity to be the only factor in de-
termining our student population? A variety of factors, however,
must be considered, such as the fact that we are the only English
speaking law school in the Province. This perhaps imposes greater
responsibilities to accept people desirous of remaining in this jurisdic-
tion. This view might conflict with the desire of those who prefer
to have a small student body, presumably to allow greater interaction
between Staff members and student. It is my view that we should have
a student population of around three hundred in order to justify a
larger staff, and accordingly more optional courses.
Another factor closely aligned with the problem of enrolment is
the question of scholarship funds. In order to compete with the gra-
duate schools for the top students it is essential that we offer more
fellowship money. We must be prepared to make an all out effort to
recruit potential entrants. For example this would involve visiting
all Quebec universities as well as some outside the province. We should
try to offer from five to ten entrance scholarships in amounts rang-
ing from $500 to $1,000, in addition to a substantial number of
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
(Vol. 10
awards of lesser amounts. Through the Ford Foundation grant we
have been able to award reasonably adequate fellowships to students
in the Air Law Institute but scant funds are available for our po-
tential undergraduate population.
Another problem still not resolved is the extent to which we want
to provide continuing academic services for our graduates, other
members of the Bar, and people from other disciplines. We should
consider the feasibility of setting up a programme of continuing law
studies for interested people in the community. The Meredith Me-
morial Lectures are a sound step in this direction, but they are inade-
quate in that they are limited to four or five formal evening lectures
to an audience of several hundred people. What we need are series
of seminars on different topics, where small groups under the chair-
manship of a competent person discuss not only technical legal pro-
blems but also proposed changes in legal and administrative practice,
for example, labour law lends itself particularly to this type of ap-
proach. We have here in Montreal the Canadian Labour College,
sponsored by McGill and the University of Montreal. Perhaps the
Law Faculty, during the summer while the College is in session,
could sponsor a series of evening seminars on arbitration. We could
call upon people from the College to serve on a panel, and then invite
lawyers, businessmen and union leaders to participate in an exchange
of ideas. The Faculty labour law professor could organize this series,
and perhaps could act as a panel chairman. Teachers who assume
these extracurricular duties should be given some recognition for per-
forming this type of work by the University. This servicing of the
community’s needs is one of many ways of discharging the res-
ponsibility as a centre of legal, administrative and political reform.
The aims of legal education
At this point it is essential to think through what we consider
to be the aims of legal education. During the course of this paper,
the writer has already laid down the framework of what in his view
are some of our major responsibilities. The writer concurs with the po-
sition taken by Professors Harold Lasswell and Myres S. McDougal
who contend that:
“If legal education in the contemporary world is adequately to serve the
needs of a free and productive Commonwealth,
it must be conscious, and
efficient, systematic training for policy making. The proper function of our
schools is, in short, to contribute to the training of policy makers for the
evermore complete achievement of the democratic functions that constitute
the professed ends of American (Canadian) polity.” 6
6 Harold Lasswell and Myres S. McDougal, Legal Education and Public Policy:
Professional Training in the Public Irterest (1943) 52 Yale L.J. 203 at p. 206.
No. 2]
LEGAL EDUCATION AT McGILL
This concept of legal education is being increasingly accepted by
many Canadian and American law teachers. It is certainly reflected
in the changing curricula of most leading law schools. The trend is
increasingly towards the addition of courses dealing with public law
questions. 7 Law schools are now providing instruction in areas that
twenty or thirty years ago would have been considered well outside
the limits of a law school’s province. To illustrate this point I would
like to detail a few of the courses and seminars offered by the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania Law Faculty. Pennsylvania has been chosen be-
cause of the emotional identification of many people with the big two
of American Law schools, Harvard and Yale. Furthermore, Pennsyl-
vania is generally considered to be one of the top six or seven Ameri-
can law faculties and is gaining prestige. The following is a sample
of the type of work being offered at Pennsylvania: Appellate Advo-
cacy law, Prediction and Social Science, Legal Profession, Legislation,
Administrative Agencies, American-Foreign Affairs Law, Current
Developments in Constitutional Law, Current United States Supreme
Court Decisions, Land Development and City Planning Law, Freedom
and Mass Communications, Law and Psychiatry, Problems and Tort
Litigation, Regulation of Business, and State and Local Government.
In addition, a wide variety of other courses and seminars are offered.
The above list illustrates the attempt being made to prepare lawyers
to meet intelligently their responsibilities in an increasingly complex
society. The writer fully realizes it will be many years before we have
the kind of resources necessary to offer a curriculum like Pennsyl-
vania’s. However, it is imperative that we begin moving in this direc-
tion. Through the addition in recent years of more optional seminars
and the broadening of the work in the Air Law Institute we have be-
gun moving along these lines, although we must speed up the tempo
of change. It is my intention later to expand on how, with our present
resources, we can move more quickly towards this end.
It is not sufficient in my view just to add new subjects, if the
aims previously outlined are to be achieved. Too many lawyers and
law teachers are dealing with problems as if they were in a social
vacuum. There is a propensity on the part of all of us to try to make
the world fit our legal framework rather than recognize the need for
law to take into account the ever changing needs of society. Thus if
law teachers are going to make their discussion of the legal process
both more meaningful and more conducive to thinking in terms of
policy, they must be more knowledgeable about the non-legal factors
relating to their legal problems. For example, in the field of property
law, it seems essential that a greater proportion of a teacher’s time
7 Kenneth H. York, The Law School Curriculu z 20 Years Hence, 15 J.L.E. 160.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 10
should be devoted to considering problems of our growing urban com-
munities.8 He should have ideas about the proper use of land. He
must have a clear knowledge of current thinking in the field of com-
munity and regional planning. Once having decided what goals should
be pursued in order to achieve better urban conditions he must set
himself to thinking about what legal devices can be utilized in order
to achieve these goals. The way we utilize land and organize cities
affects incidental factors such as crime, health and employment, to
list only a few. Existing course organization and present legal con-
cepts often obscure the overlapping nature of many problems. L~w
teachers must convey to their students an understanding of technical
concepts, but they must not become a slave to these concepts. They
must be aware of their origin and the function which they pur-
portedly serve. They must be prepared to recommend the abolition
of concepts which prohibit the attainment of desirable social goals.
Teaching methods
The search for the best methods of teaching law has long stimu-
lated sustained and heated discussion.9 In my view we must ask
ourselves what is the best way to permanently interest and equip a
student to deal with legal issues. He must be permitted to probe into
problems, rather than spend his time endlessly memorizing legal
rules. Students spend too much time passively listening to formal
lectures. It is my view that a person is rarely taught anything but
rather, by one method or another, he is stimulated to learn. We must
seek teaching methods which provide a maximum opportunity for
the individual to develop intellectually. It seems inevitable that the
classroom approach is going to remain with us for a considerable
period of time. Therefore we must devote ourselves to analyzing how
our classroom time can be used most effectively. It is not my inten-
8 Professor J. Milner, at the University of Toronto, has pioneered in this field
in Canada. A number of other Canadian law faculties have already added courses
to their curricula on land use control.
9 Vaughn C. Ball, “Objective” Questions in Law Examinations, 12 J.L.E. 567;
James J. Cavanaugh, Some Thoughts o-n Legal Pedagogy, 8 J.L.E. 195; Maxwell
Cohen, Objectives and Methods of Legal Education: An Outline, (1954) 32 C.B.R.
762; Kenneth Culp Davis, The Text-Problem Form of the Case Method as a
Means of Mind Training for Advanced Law Students, 12 J.L.E. 543; Paul Duke,
Rules for Success in Teaching and Examining, 11 J.L.E. 386; Gerald E. Le Dain,
The Theory and Practice of Legal Education, (1961), 7 McGill L.J. 192; J. B.
Milner, One Canadian View of the Case Method (1955) 3 J. Soc. Pub. Teachers
of Law 33; C. A. Peairs, Essay on the Teaching of Law, 12 J.L.E. 323; Allen
M. Singer, Harvard’s New Course in the Legal Process – A Pattern for a More
Comprehensive Legal Education, 12 J.L.E. 251; Bernard J. Ward, The Problem
Method at Notre Dame, 11 J.L.E. 100.
No. 2]
LEGAL EDUCATION AT McGILL
tion to review the various arguments for and against the use of a
Socratic versus lecture method of instruction. Instead, the writer
intends to merely state his preference, recognizing that every teacher
must follow his own method.’ 0 Furthermore it might be desirable to
use a different approach in teaching a first year class as compared
to a third year class. My own view is that a teacher’s major responsi-
bility is to outline what he considers are the major questions and
problems in his particular field and, accordingly, through student
reading and classroom questioning, to try to evolve answers and
ultimately formulate better questions. Surely the test of a true
expert is the capacity to ask the right questions. Generally speaking,
however, the writer supports the approach which encourages con-
tinual pre-class preparation and sustained analysis by the teacher
and student of the material covered prior to class. In order to develop
writing and analytical skills we have instituted at this Law Faculty
a programme whereby young law practitioners supplement class-
room instruction by breaking our classes down into smaller units and
having the students prepare written material. This system is good
insofar as it goes, but it is suggested that the tutors should meet
their groups much more frequently than they do, with a view to
developing the students’ oral as well as writing abilities. These tu-
torials, however, must not allow the regular teacher to feel that he is
free from the responsibility of intellectual engagement with students.
With respect to seminars there is less justification for compro-
mise with respect to teaching method. There is no point in institut-
ing a seminar if it is merely a vehicle for lecturing to a smaller group.
One of the main reasons for instituting seminars is that it allows the
student to pursue a line of research and then present his conclusions
to the group. One of the difficulties in this method is that the se-
minar often lacks punch in that it resolves itself into students read-
ing long and sometimes uninspired papers. Students should be en-
couraged to make their presentations reasonably brief and to sum-
marize their findings rather than reading their papers word by word.
In this way the seminar helps develop the students’ oral skills. There
are a variety of other methods of enlivening seminar work such as
discussion of pre-assigned reading, the invitation of guests, and field
visits.
It is surely incumbent on the writer to illustrate how he attempts
to implement his own suggestions. The first half of my criminology
seminar is devoted to the administration of criminal justice in
10 See “Appendix to Report of Curriculum Committee”, Association of American
Law Schools, 1963 Annual Meeting: Program and Reports of Committees, p. 99.
In this appendix a number of leading American Law teachers describe their
philosophies of legal eduction and the teaching techniques which they use.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 10
Canada and Quebec. This is a topic which admittedly lends itself
very well to firsthand observation and talk with persons assuming
daily responsibilities in this field. We visit Montreal police head-
quarters and the criminal courts. The visits are followed up by asking
persons like senior police officials, crown counsel, defence counsel,
judges from various criminal courts, and a newspaper man to come
and discuss their work, their responsibilities and their concept of
their function in society. Guests are encouraged to keep their formal
presentation to a minimum but instead are warned to be ready for
a free wheeling discussion. These discussions have proved unusually
interesting and have, it appears, been stimulating for the instructor,
the visitor, and the students. In the second term we begin to study
some of the causes of deviant behaviour, its prevention and correc-
tion. The first five weeks are devoted to visits by two psychiatrists,
two social workers from the criminological field, and the Commis-
sioner of Penitentiaries. The remainder of the seminar is devoted
to the presentation by students of their term papers. Students are not
allowed to read formally their papers and must devote at least half
of their time to answering questions on their presentations. The
writer insists, as far as possible, that every student do a fair amount
of field research in preparing his paper. Field work is valuable in
that it allows the student to learn more about what is happening
in his society, and also meet people doing important and relevant
work. Furthermore, students are encouraged when writing their
papers to compare what is happening locally with developments in
other jurisdictions. This ultimately encourages the critical policy
minded approach to problems previously advocated. A sample of the
papers written last year include “The Social Welfare Court”, the
“Court of Sessions of the Peace”, the “Classification system in
Canada’s Penitentiaries”, “Role of the John Howard Society of Que-
bec”, and “Probation in Quebec”. The following are a sample of the
papers being prepared this year: “The role of the school in prevent-
ing juvenile delinquency”, “The Psychology Testing Clinic attached
to the Social Welfare Court”, “The Medium Security Institutions of
Quebec”, “A critical appraisal of the Administration of Criminal
Justice in Quebec”, “Juvenile Delinquency, – A Study of the Shaw-
bridge Boys Farm and Training School”. It was especially gratifying
to discuss with one of my students his experiences in preparing a
paper on the causes of juvenile delinquency. He contacted the case-
work supervisor of the Catholic Boys Services, Mr. Rod Manson, for
information about delinquency in Montreal. He established such a
good relationship with Mr. Manson that after graduation and some
training by the Agency, he is going to serve as a volunteer worker.
This student indicated to me that he enjoyed preparing his seminar
No. 2]
LEGAL EDUCATION AT McGILL
paper more than any other work he had done in seven years of
University. It is my view that this was true for a number of reasons
which throw light on the need for a new approach to legal education.
First he was working on a topic of interest to him. Secondly, he was
able to examine problems of immediate vital concern to everyone in
the community. Thirdly, he was able to assess some of those problems
in the light of his research findings. Fourthly, he will have the op-
portunity to expand on his research and ideas before some of his
classmates.
Undoubtedly criminology is a subject which lends itself particu-
larly to a variety of teaching methods. It is my contention that a
great many other subjects also lend themselves to a diversity of ap-
proach, for example, the administration of civil justice, trial and
appellate practice, land use planning, anti-trust law and administra-
tive tribunals. The main point is that we must seek methods which
broaden the student’s approach to his subject, while at the same time
precipitating greater involvement by him in his legal education. The
introduction of moot court work at McGill has been a very important
step in this direction. Ideally, a moot court should not only involve
an analysis of the student’s legal reasoning, but also should serve as
an opportunity to evaluate his overall performance. He should be
advised about the standard of his presentation and given some hints
about how it could be improved. Students might be encouraged to
comment on each other’s performance, as a way of improving their
own self-awareness.
Canadian law schools have devoted very little time to studying the
actual operation of the courts. This perhaps may partially explain
why changes in the administration of justice are often more badly
needed than changes in the substantive rules themselves. Admittedly,
a course in advocacy and judicial administration would be difficult
to institute but it would fill a long time void in legal education.” A
course of this type would involve not only the study of existing trial
and appeal practices but also the study and perhaps drafting of pre-
trial documents. Judge Jerome Frank argued that the so-called case
method was a misnomer in that it only involved a study of final
judgments and totally ignored all the steps preceding the trial and
the trial itself.12 At least one optional course along these lines for
students particularly interested in litigation would be a substantial
step in meeting this criticism. Many law teachers may retort that
this is a return to the trade school approach and that it would be
11 A. L. Stein, Practical Training for Trial of Civil Cases, (1961) McGill L.J.
207.
12 Jerome Frank, Courts on Trial, (1949), p. 233.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 10
inconsistent with the views previously outlined in this paper. My
answer is that it is important that the Course not degenerate into
teaching the tricks of the trade, but that it remain basically a critical
survey of existing procedures used in our court system. It would be
hoped that the current Canadian practices would be examined cri-
tically and that students and teacher would contemplate improve-
ments in both the trial and administrative methods used by the courts
of this Country.
A course on the legislative process would, it is submitted, be a
valuable addition to our curriculum. It would give the students some
insight into the legislative process and would ideally involve having
each student do some legislative drafting. A course along these lines
has been developed at Dalhousie law school. Each student is required
to prepare a report on a topic, and then draft legislation to deal with
this issue.13 This method not only serves to promote the policy-orien-
tated approach previously advocated, but also helps to familiarize
students with the problems of legal drafting.
A Summary
It is now appropriate to summarize some of the preceding pro-
posals, and at the same time submit additional suggestions. First, we
should try to make a fresh assessment of our- total resources both
material and human. This involves trying to assess at least our short
term financial picture in order to ascertain which proposals can be
implemented immediately and what will have to be delayed. It is my
contention that we have within the Faculty and the University un-
tapped academic potential. For example within the Institute of Air
and Space law there are men who are trained in both Europe and
the United States who could contribute significantly to our under-
graduate programme. In particular
trans-
national law could be effectively used to give our students a better
understanding of significant legal changes throughout the world. We
have already begun utilizing the services of teachers from other parts
of the University, but more can still be done.14 Our ultimate goal
should be the making of some joint appointments with other depart-
ments. This is necessary in order that persons from other disciplines
spend at least part of their week in the law school collaborating on
13 The above information was supplied to the writer by Professor W. Charles,
of Dalhousie University, in the course of discussions at the McGill Law Faculty
in December, 1963.
their experience
in
14 At present Professor Irving Brecher of the Economics Department gives
a joint seminar with Professor Cohen in Anti-Trust law. Professor Mladenovic,
last year, started an optional seminar on Russian law.
No. 2]
LEGAL EDUCATION AT McGILL
a sustaining basis in both teaching and research with members of
the law faculty.15
Secondly, it is my view that we should begin offering a far greater
number of options to our second and third year students. At the
present time a law undergraduate of this Faculty is only allowed to
opt one seminar from amongst four offered in the third year. Surely
it would be desirable for every student to have the opportunity of
taking at least one seminar in second year. Furthermore it should
be possible for him to make at least some choice with respect to
courses in both-the second and third year. It is, of course, assumed
that more optional seminar work should be done in the third year.
This plea for options is based on the theory that people work harder,
and learn more when they have the opportunity of studying material
in which they have an interest. Furthermore the use of options and
seminars breaks down the number of students in each class, thereby
allowing the reading of more papers and fuller class participation.
Also, some degree of specialization at the undergraduate level is ne-
cessitated by the increasing tendency and need for specialization in
our society. Finally the development of options allows teachers to
give courses in fields where they have a particular interest. Teachers
are more likely to write and do research in areas where they teach,
which means that law teachers would be contributing ideas on a far
wider variety of subjects than previously. The trend towards options
in undergraduate law studies has been very pronounced in the United
States, and a number of Canadian law faculties have begun to follow
suit.
Thirdly, we should consider dividing our programme into six
terms, consisting of two terms each academic year. This system
would involve the writing of as many finals as possible at the end of
each term, though of necessity some courses would have to be given
throughout the academic year. The object of this system is to reduce
the number of examinations written at the end of the year. We
should strive for the goal of never requiring a student to write more
than five, or at most six, examinations at any one time. A load of
more than six subjects does not allow him sufficient time to explore
problems in depth. Furthermore, the number of examinations could
be reduced by the addition of more seminars and courses like “legis-
lation”, where the preparation of assignments would be substituted
for a final examination.
Fourthly, this Faculty might give consideration to promoting
extra work in certain areas of the law. Perhaps some form of co-
15 Jack Ladinsky, What the Lawyer Can Learn from Social Science, 16 J.L.E.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
(Vol. 10
operation might be devised with other law schools, whereby different
faculties would undertake to specialize in different areas. Through
this joint co-operation we would begin to provide better post graduate
programmes in law in this country. A student interested in post
graduate work in a certain field would be advised of the appropriate
Canadian law faculty which is concentrating on his area of interest.
Perhaps we might develop as a specialty at McGill along with our Air
and Space programme, advanced study in the fields of commercial
and corporation law. Without going into detail it is sufficient to say
that we have on this Faculty at the present time at least five or six
men with qualifications and interest in those areas. Furthermore we
are part of a large commercial centre with all the advantages which
that provides, such as a large number of outstanding practitioners
who specialize in tax and corporation law. We are already fortunate
in having an annual McGill conference on the closely related problems
of anti-trust law.
In the fifth place, we must consider whether we are adequately
preparing our graduates for the ethical and emotional problems of
law practice. Dr. Andrew Watson, a psychiatrist attached to the
School of Law at the University of Michigan, argues that law fa-
culties have failed in this task.16 Medical schools attempt to deal with
this problem while their students are doing clinical work. Dr. Watson
suggests that since legal education is of a non-clinical nature, consi-
deration should be given to introducing students to the problems of
professional responsibility in the context of teaching interview tech-
nique. In most provinces it would perhaps be more appropriate to
include this type of material in the various bar preparation courses.
In Quebec, however, where each faculty is responsible for organizing
its own post graduation practical year, a course along the lines sug-
gested by Dr. Watson could be included by McGill as part of the
fourth year programme.
Finally, consideration must be given to the problem of how we
can induce students from all parts of Canada to attend this Faculty.
Due to Bar regulations it is impossible to recruit students from
other provinces if it is their intention to practise law in their own
jurisdiction. Perhaps we might try to attract persons who would
like a legal education but are not interested in the practice of law.
Also we might devise a system whereby these students would be
excused from a number of the more technical and procedural courses
and instead they would be allowed to substitute courses in political
science, history, economics, etc. Arrangements might be made for
10 Andrew S. Watson, Some Psychological Aspects of Teaching Professional
Responsibility, 16 J.L.E. 1.
No. 2]
LEGAL EDUCATION AT McGILL
them to begin working on M.A. degrees while pursuing their legal
studies. This course would be particularly useful for people interested
in a career in public administration, business or politics. A course of
this type would provide people from outside the Province with an
opportunity to study political and social developments in Quebec,
obtain a background in law, and at the same time take some of the
excellent courses offered in other departments of the University.
However, in order, to implement a course of this kind, it would be
necessary to offer some form of financial help to prospective students.
It is mainly during the course of his formal legal training that
the prospective lawyer is given some understanding of the interac-
tion between law and social change. His legal education should also
imbue him with an awareness of the responsibility vested in the legal
profession by society. It is one of the law school’s main tasks to pre-
pare students adequately for the proper discharge of their profes-
sional responsibilities. This means not only equipping him with ade-
quate technical skills, but also giving him some understanding of
when and how he should influence social development. It is therefore
imperative that we resist any pressure tending to convert our law
faculties to conveyer belts, merely passing on legal technicalities to
the student population. Instead, everyone connected with legal educa-
tion must, as a primary obligation, try to understand the decision
making processes and to consider ways of improving them within
our legal system.
