Upper Year Curriculum

During their upper years, students are required to take Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, and Corporate Law. The remaining courses are elective, and can be chosen from a wide array of subjects, including clinical and intensive courses. In selecting their courses, students may be guided by Western Law’s curricular streams, which provide students with informal guidance on the courses and co-curricular activities they may wish to pursue in light of their personal interests and career aspirations.

A complete list of Western Law’s course offerings can be found on Western’s official Academic Calendar.

Current Western Law students can find detailed curriculum and course information on our OWL page.

The January Intensive Period

For the first three weeks of the Winter Term, each student at Western Law enrols in an intensive course. This intensive period is designed to promote active learning and to attract distinguished visiting professors and eminent practitioners to Western.

The January Intensive courses allow students to study advanced and specialized topics without the distraction of other courses. The intensive courses seek to diversify learning opportunities by offering interactive and experiential training, including through simulations, advocacy exercises, field trips and externships.

In addition to the course offerings, a number of upper-year students will have the opportunity to participate on an external moot team. The January Intensive period affords these students the opportunity to concentrate their efforts on preparation and practices.

Writing Requirements

Students must also satisfy the Faculty writing requirements. This can be done in either of two ways, namely: (1) by completing two research essay requirements, or (2) by completing one research essay and one legal writing requirement.

To satisfy a research essay requirement, a student must take an upper year course that requires a written essay worth at least two credit hours. To satisfy a legal writing requirement, a student must take an upper year course (or courses) requiring a legal writing assignment (or assignments) totaling at least two credit hours.

Course Offerings Chart