Students entering Osgoode’s Graduate Diploma in Foundations of Canadian Law bring a wide range of professional, academic and legal experience to the classroom. Some are internationally trained lawyers developing their understanding of the Canadian common law system, while others are professionals looking to build legal knowledge they can apply in their work.
As Program Director, Professor Shelley Kierstead sees those different backgrounds as one of the most rewarding parts of the program.
“I just really love getting to know the students because they have such different backgrounds,” says Professor Kierstead. “I’m a big believer in, with adult education, we learn from one another.”
She sees this play out in classroom discussions. During a recent conversation about an estates case involving capacity to make a will, a student with a neuroscience background raised considerations informed by their own field. Internationally trained lawyers similarly contribute perspectives on how law operates in other jurisdictions.
“Everyone brings their life perspective to whatever topic it is that you’re discussing,” says Professor Kierstead.
Creating a shared foundation is important with such varied experience in the room. Professor Kierstead begins with foundational concepts, while encouraging students who already know the material to contribute to the learning environment.
“I often say to students, listen, if you know this part of it, great, relax and help other people to understand it. And if you don’t, that’s okay,” she says.
Professor Kierstead co-teaches two connected courses that introduce students to working with Canadian law and progressively develop their research and writing skills. The first, Canadian Legal Strategy, Research, and Writing, introduces the common law system, including what case law and legislation mean, how they interact, how to find legal sources and how to apply them to a particular set of facts.
Canadian Legal Research and Analysis builds on those skills through more detailed research, academic legal writing and critique.
“It’s one thing to know how to find the law and understand how it operates, but it’s also really important to have some beginning understanding of the fact that not everybody agrees that the law in any given area is operating properly,” says Professor Kierstead.
Classes also combine instruction with discussion and practical exercises. Students might work together to draft part of a legal document before returning to share their approaches. Professor Kierstead adapts her teaching to the students in the room.
“Each class will sort of have its own personality,” she says. “You can’t assume that what worked really well for one class will work equally well for another.”
Combining foundational legal knowledge with research and writing skills helps students learn to work with the law independently. Internationally trained lawyers may be preparing for further study or professional goals in Canada, while professionals from other fields can develop the skills to locate and understand the legal sources they encounter through their work.
“They’re not just getting the information that they’re given and saying, ‘Okay, I guess that’s all there is,’” says Professor Kierstead. “They can follow it up.”
Professor Kierstead’s interest in access to justice also informs how she approaches legal research and critical thinking. She encourages students to understand the importance of publicly available legal resources and to consider assumptions underlying the law.
Professor Kierstead is also considering how emerging tools are changing legal education, particularly artificial intelligence. She sees a place for AI, while emphasizing the importance of developing the analytical skills needed to evaluate what it produces.
“It’s really important to have the analytical foundational skills that then allow you to use AI as a tool,” she says.
Developing those foundational skills sits at the centre of Professor Kierstead’s approach to the Graduate Diploma, giving students the tools to find, interpret, apply and critically examine Canadian law.
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Professor Shelley Kierstead – Program Director of Osgoode’s Graduate Diploma in Foundations of Canadian Law