Our graduate program alumni have been successful in a remarkable range of positions, including academia, private practice, in-house counsel, goverment, the judiciary and non-governmental organizations. In 2012, the Faculty of Law decided to collect more complete information on our alumni, and conducted a study of 627 SJD and LLM graduates. The result is a striking picture of career success.

SJD Graduates

  • 76% of SJD alumni had held or were holding academic positions, including 10% as Dean and 6% as Associate Dean
  • 15 of 24 Canadian law schools were employing at least one University of Toronto SJD alumnus as part of their teaching faculty
  • SJD alumni were holding top academic positions in prestigious universities in Canada, England, Hong Kong, Israel and elsewhere
  • 15% were working in law firms, 4% in government and 5% in corporations
  • 61% stayed in Canada to work after their degree. Of those, 82% were holding academic positions. Of those who left Canada, 69% were holding academic positions

LLM Graduates 

  • 43% of LLM alumni were working in law firms
  • 24% were working in academia, holding positions in 71 universities around the world, including Harvard University and Oxford University
  • 13% were working for corporations, including KPMG, Bombardier, IBM, Ernst & Young, Aviva, RBC Capital Markets, Telus and Bank of America
  • 9% were in government, and 2% were in the judiciary
  • 4% were working for non-governmental or intergovernmental organizations, including the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations

Of course, the past performance of alumni does not necessarily predict future results, and indeed, statistics do not adequately portray the career fulfillment, passion and rewards that individuals find. Even so, the information collected reflects an inspiring array of career paths.

News

Testimonials

Professor Robert Leckey

“I benefited greatly from the faculty’s rich offering of guest speakers, which broadened my horizons as well as exposing me to international leading scholars in my field. I appreciated the graduate program’s concrete support of my efforts on the academic job market.”

Professor Robert Leckey, SJD 2006
William Dawson Scholar
Faculty of Law, McGill University

Kristen Rundle

‘I would not trade my doctoral experience at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law for anything, or anywhere, else. My supervisors were superb, as were the many other members of faculty who contributed to my progress. All took their role of nurturing the next generation of scholars incredibly seriously, and commensurate to that goal, the standards were always high. None of us, however, would have wanted it any other way: to be valuable, it had to be tough. But those high standards were always accompanied by generosity and, most importantly, encouragement. On top of this was the exceptional collegiality that bound our graduate community together. Encouraged by our supervisors to really be a community, together we trod the hard journey of completing a doctorate with a generosity and goodwill that I will always treasure. Every completion was a celebration, each job interview was known about and supported by all. It was genuinely extraordinary. These are just some of the reasons why I cannot recommend the SJD program at Toronto highly enough.’

Dr Kristen Rundle, SJD 2009
Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales

*Note: There were 806 graduates in the period studied, but only 627 could be located.