Access to Justice
Windsor Law's commitment to access to justice "permeates everything we do," says Francine Herlehy, Assistant Dean (Student Services). It begins with a holistic admissions process that looks beyond the standard indicators of success — LSAT scores and undergraduate GPA — to consider the unique life story of every applicant.
"The people who will ultimately be the best lawyers," says Dean Bruce Elman, "the most solicitous of their clients, who will really provide leadership, those people will not necessarily be the people with highest GPAs and the highest LSATs."
The Windsor Law admission committee, looks closely at an applicant's work experience, community involvement, leadership experience and accomplishments, career goals and personal circumstances.
"We look for people who have overcome significant challenges or barriers to get where they are," says Herlehy. "We look for students who view the practice of law and the entitlement to a legal education as a privilege, and who will use those tools and resources to help others."
Access to justice is not just an admission policy at Windsor Law, but a central academic focus. In addition to taking foundational courses in first year like Criminal Law and Contracts, students take an Access to Justice seminar where they are introduced to the role of lawyers as instruments of social change.
Upper-year students delve deeper into key access to justice issues through courses like Aboriginal Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Feminist Legal Theory, International Human Rights Law, Civil Liberties, and literally dozens more.
But some of the most powerful access to justice learning experiences at Windsor Law happen outside of the classroom. We operate three student-run community clinics: Legal Assistance of Windsor, Community Legal Aid and University of Windsor Mediation Services, the first of its kind at a Canadian law school.
Under the guidance of staff lawyers, law students engage with real clients with real problems — human rights violations, unfair denial of benefits, landlord/tenant issues, criminal allegations — to find real solutions. The experience, for many students, is nothing short of transformational.
All of the formal courses and clinics at Windsor Law are reinforced by a growing network of justice-themed student groups — like Pro Bono Students Canada and Journalists for Human Rights — and community-based research initiatives like the Law Enforcement Accountability Project (LEAP) and the Intellectual Property Law Information Network (IPLIN).
The result is a law school culture that is, as Dean Herlehy accurately described it, "permeated" by the theme of law in service to society. Our alumni, whether they are helping to draft the constitution of an emerging democracy or taking time from private practice to serve on the board of the local children's hospital, live the access to justice promise every day.
Learn More
• Our Admissions Criteria
• Clubs and Organizations
• Clinics and Programs