Come September 1999, new law students will receive a very different sort of education, albeit one which aims to be firmly anchored in the faculty's traditions and strengths. The vote wasn't unanimous. Three of the seven law students who sit on the council opposed the changes, as did several of their professors. Law professor Nicholas Kasirer, a member of the ad hoc curriculum committee that proposed the changes, wasn't surprised. When we talk about our undergraduate program, we're talking about the essence of this faculty's identity.
People have strong feelings about it.
But there is a feeling among many that the structure of the program as it currently stands is flawed. Students entering the faculty initially focus their efforts on learning one legal system, then switch over to study the other. We want to go one step further. From the very beginning of the program, we want our students to be thinking critically about both legal systems. Instead of starting their studies in one or the other stream of law, new students will be exposed to both common and civil law right from the start.