Upper-Year Applicants

Applicants who are in their first year of a JD or Bachelor of Law (LLB) program at another common law school (Canadian or non-Canadian) may seek to transfer into the second year of our JD program and proceed to complete our JD.

Degree Completion & Transfer Credit

Transfer students will be eligible for the University of Toronto’s JD degree upon the successful completion of two years of academic work in residence at Jackman Law and subject to meeting the Faculty’s academic requirements as set out in the Academic Handbook.

Transfer credit will be considered and granted, where appropriate, for first-year law courses successfully completed at another common law school (Canadian or non-Canadian). Transfer credits are determined after the review of the transfer application for admissibility, and not in advance. Notification of any granted credit will be included in an offer of admission package. If admitted, any shortfall from our first-year required courses will need to be taken in addition to upper year courses in order to complete our JD.

Transfer credit will not be granted for law courses completed at another law school after its traditional first-year terms, e.g. no credit for summer courses if your law school's traditional first-year spans the fall and winter terms only.

Please note that transfer students are not eligible to participate in the Student Exchange Program

Course Offerings
 

The academic year begins in early September, for which the year's course offerings are listed only a couple of months earlier during late-June to early-July. Please view the current course list online.  

Combined JD Programs for Transfers

Applicants applying to transfer into the second year of the JD program may also apply for admission to one of our combined programs.

• If you intend to, or are contemplating whether to, study a JD combined program, then on the OLSAS application form for the JD, you must pick the JD-only selection and also the desired JD combined program selection. Please ensure that the selections are made before the OLSAS application deadline, after which your ability to add a new program selection on the OLSAS application form is disabled. The additional selection of the combined program at OLSAS enables the law school to check with applicants, later in the cycle, on the outcome of their application to the partner program. It does not influence the admission to the JD. An independent application to the partner program is still required, regardless of the combination selected at OLSAS.
• Applicants must apply directly to, and be admitted to, the partner program separately, for the same entry year as the JD transfer. Applicants are strongly encouraged to ascertain the application deadline relevant to the other faculty or department involved in the combined program in which they are interested, and meet all admission requirements, application deadlines and procedures for each degree program.
• The law school will assess admission to the JD only, independently of the outcome of the admission of the partner program. If one is admitted independently to both the JD and the partner, then one may enrol in both programs as a combination. It is the enrolment after admission that is combined, and not the admission consideration.

Eligibility

Applications will only be considered for candidates, regardless of immigration status in Canada, who have completed, all of:

1. At least 3 years of full-time credits at an accredited postsecondary institution leading to a degree and undertaken independently of law school studies
2. No more than the first year only, of an LLB or JD program at another common law school (Canadian or non-Canadian), prior to entry at Jackman Law.
3. At least four of the following courses successfully, which are required at Jackman Law:
   1. Administrative Law
   2. Canadian Constitutional Law
   3. Contract Law
   4. Criminal Law
   5. Legal Process
   6. Property Law
   7. Torts
4. In addition to the academic requirements the standardized LSAT test is required. For entry in 2027, the earliest acceptable test is the June 2021 test, and the last acceptable test is the April 2027 test.

The Personal Statement for Transfer Applicants

Applicants are prompted to explain their interest in obtaining a legal education and why they have chosen to apply to transfer to the Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law. The mandatory Personal Statement has a maximum of 5,000 characters.

Applicants in the Indigenous category are strongly encouraged to discuss why they have chosen to apply through this category in their Personal Statement and/or Optional Essay. For example, you might reflect on your identification with, involvement in and connection to your Indigenous community or communities.

For Black applicants, in addition to the mandatory Personal Statement and 1 Optional Essay, you may choose to submit 1 BSAP Essay (maximum 2,500 characters). The BSAP Essay offers a unique opportunity to discuss how your Black identity and lived experience has influenced your motivation to attend law school. You may choose to expand on previous opportunities for innovation, leadership, community engagement, and critical thinking.

Selection

Admission to transfer into the second year of our JD program is based on a holistic assessment of a candidate’s profile, including undergraduate record (and, if applicable, graduate work), LSAT score(s), all first year JD or LLB grades from a common law school, and a personal statement.  

We will take into account the differences in the quality of the law schools, as well as differences in grading policies, etc. Unless this is evident from the transcript, applicants are encouraged to support their applications with information from their law school Registrar or Dean on the grading practices at their law school and to provide their class ranking, if available.

Some applicants have compassionate grounds for seeking admission. It is extremely difficult to choose for compassionate reasons, so selection is not based on these factors.

Transfer applications will only be reviewed after the application deadline, and after all application documentation has been received. Decisions are made on a rolling basis.

Transfer applicants must submit the following documentation directly to the Ontario Law School Application Service (OLSAS):

1. An OLSAS application.
2. Official and original copies of all post-secondary study academic transcripts, including law school transcripts.
3. LSAT Score(s) & Writing
4. Personal Statement, Optional Essay, and BSAP Essay (optional for BSAP Applicants)
5. A letter from your current law school indicating you are in good standing and have not been subject to any disciplinary action (academically, under the student code of conduct or have any financial holds). Arrange with the current law school to have the letter sent by the law school directly to OLSAS.

International Transcripts & WES Canada Evaluations
Applicants who completed at least one academic year of courses at post-secondary institutions outside of Canada or the USA are required to provide a third-party course-by-course assessment of their transcripts from World Education Services (WES Canada) for their applications.  A WES Canada evaluation is not required for the law school transcripts of transfer applicants. Apply to WES Canada for transcript evaluation, and instruct WES Canada to submit the results to OLSAS directly.

English Language Proficiency Tests (TOEFL, IELTS etc.)
 

A proficiency test is not required, however the LSAT is required, no exceptions.

References & Interviews
 

Letters of recommendation are not required and, if submitted, will not form part of the applicant's file. Interviews are not used for selection.

Application Deadline
 

For admission to enter in the 2027-2028 academic year, applications open in August 2026 and are to be received by 11:59 pm (Toronto time) on May 1, 2027.  Applications must be received by this deadline even if law school marks for the current year are not yet available.

For applicants currently enrolled in a law school, if the documents to be provided directly by your law school (official final grades and/or letter of good standing) become available after the deadline, then still apply by the deadline and submit those documents to OLSAS as soon as possible after the deadline.

Late Applications
 

We do not accept late applications under any circumstances. All applications for the upcoming academic year must be submitted by May 1, 2027, at 11:59 pm (ET). Any supporting documentation, including transcripts, will only be considered if the application itself is submitted by the deadline.

Application Fee

For the Ontario law schools, the base application fee is CAD $200 with an additional CAD $115 for each law school selection. All application fees are non-refundable.