The LCO held focus groups of students at the following law schools: Osgoode Hall Law School (12 students), the University of Ottawa (20 students), Queen’s University (11 students and two professors, one visiting from Sweden) and the University of Toronto (20 students in two separate focus groups). These comments have been included in the belief that they may be helpful as law schools decide whether and how to integrate the curriculum modules into their own programs. The law schools have not been identified and while most of the comments are not specific to each school, any comments that would identify a particular school have been generalized (in particular, each school has some form of intensive course called by a different name at each school and therefore each of these programs has been called an “intensive course”); however, the comments of the students from each school are available to the law dean of that school and these include the comments that would identify the school.

A. Law School 1

1. Curriculum content comments

  • Ethics component exciting
  • Practice tips very interesting idea
  • The present focus on technical legal formalism and adherence to “the law’s” internal cohesion is not connected to reality
  • Should start with some general information and then move on to more focused, specialised content

2. How, when and where to teach it

  • Needs to be available to all students or only self-selected students will participate
  • Need safe environment for people to say what is on their minds
  • Some profs don’t know how to talk about this, so tips and training for profs would be good
  • Discussions need to be sensitive to experiences of people in class
  • There is too much victim blaming discourse in discussion on domestic violence and sexual assault
  • Should be taught in first year
  • Skills component could be taught in first year small sections
  • Law school should engage with community organizations
  • Could be a legal aid clinic in the law school that dealt with VAW
  • Could integrate into “law in context” or “legal perspectives” courses

 

B. Law School 2

1. Curriculum content comments

  • Needs a unit on immigration law
  • Fact situations
  • Guidelines for profs to accompany material
  • Use outside resources and people – practicing lawyers in fields that students are interested in
  • Has to be intersectional
  • Could present content as optional/supplementary reading for existing classes
  • Has to be fully integrated and not an add-on
  • Could create a universal case list separate from other material that any prof could use as a tool in any course
  • Focus on syllabus: expectations, goals etc, not just a reading list
  • Should evidentiary issues be their own unit?
  • Should there be something on violence against men?

2. How, when and where to teach it

  • Needs to be mandatory in first year, otherwise only people who are already interested will take it
  • Could work in [intensive course]
  • Could be part of a training unit for clinics, with professional considerations integrated into it
  • Could integrate some of this material with anti-oppression material being developed for first year
  • Give students the tools
  • Three law schools – Toronto, Ottawa, Osgoode – have HPARB [Health Professions Appeal and Review Board] projects through PBSC, in which students represent clients at hearings re health professionals. This material could be integrated into the training for these students
  • Hard to engage students in large class size of first year
  • First year students have to take [intensive course]– maybe some of this could fit there
  • Perspectives requirement
  • Do a one-day stand-alone professionalism class
  • Incorporate some aspects into legal research and writing sessions in first year

3. Comments about current law school culture re VAW

  • Needs to be taught in a way that is safe for students
  • A lot of profs don’t know the basics, don’t know how to handle discussions in class about sexual assault/domestic violence
  • Many students hold incorrect assumptions about VAW that affect their approach to the material that is presented
  • Want profs to set parameters on the discussions and behaviour in classroom when these topics are being discussed
  • There is a lack of respect for women who have experienced violence, a disbelief that it happens to classmates, profs, etc.

 

C. Law School 3

1. Curriculum content comments

  • Should be policy discussions in first year courses
  • Courses need to talk critically about the law – its power, what it does, what it does not do, where there are “holes” in the law
  • Contextualization very important – tie course content to the culture of [the school]

2. How, when and where to teach it

  • Need to change the way VAW is discussed, especially in first year criminal law