Can an academic Certificate in Law get you into legal research?

April 19, 2018 7:21 AM

I am keen on law, but don't plan to go to law school because of the time and money. Yet, this new certificate opened up at Queens University, Ontario. Would it be of any practical use or is it merely for intellectual pursuit? Is it possible to land into legal research/government jobs with a certificate in Law? I also do not have to pay for the program due to scholarship and bursuaries benefits as well.
posted by RearWindow to Education (11 answers total)

Taking a quick look at the university's website, I'd say this certificate is designed to teach people more about how the law works in and applies to everyday society, and as such it looks to be more of an intellectual pursuit. Nowhere on the website (that I see) do they say anything about what this training could lead to or what jobs might find it attractive.

Now, I'm not saying that you couldn't spin this into a job, but I think that would depend on how good your sales skills are when it comes to promoting yourself. If it's a new certificate, many employers may not even be aware of what it's all about, which is always a strike against an applicant.

If you're interested in a law-related career, you might be better off considering law clerk training. At least that way you'd have more of an obvious career path working in the law, although if you're interested in the research end of things, I think you really need a law degree or another degree that lets you delve into research (history, political science, etc.) and would let investigate issues from a legal angle.

(Standard disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, I am not an education counselor, etc.)
posted by sardonyx at 8:07 AM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

I can't speak to your specific local situation, but as someone who has worked off-and-on in the legal profession in a non-lawyer capacity I can at least generalize from my experiences. Generally speaking, most "legal research" is done by junior associates (in law firms) or junior attorneys (in businesses), paralegals or law librarians. The first two, needless to say, mean getting a JD and passing the bar. The latter two usually require some kind of specialized training and, depending on the local rules, may require some kind of certification. It doesn't sound as though this certificate would help you much in that direction. The description of the program makes it sound as though it's primarily designed to give a broad overview of Canadian law in a way that might be helpful to someone for whom this knowledge would be helpful in a non-law professional context, and/or to help prepare undergraduate students for admission into law school. I do note that there is a contact form no the web page, so perhaps you can get a more useful answer by asking directly.
posted by slkinsey at 8:26 AM on April 19, 2018 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: @sardonyx Excellent advice.
posted by RearWindow at 8:26 AM on April 19, 2018

Here is a place to start looking at information about becoming a law clerk in Ontario. Please note, I'm not telling you do to this. It's just that it might give you an idea of what the education needs are and how they differ from the Queen's course. Here is a staring point for becoming a paralegal.
posted by sardonyx at 8:37 AM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

I can speak to the Canadian market, but as an attorney in the United States, I would only hire people with JDs to perform legal research.
posted by craven_morhead at 9:25 AM on April 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: @craven_morhead - Thanks for letting me know.
posted by RearWindow at 9:49 AM on April 19, 2018

Response by poster: @sardonyx Excellent! I'm actually in the art management sector right now, but will look into it!
posted by RearWindow at 9:49 AM on April 19, 2018

Response by poster: @slkinsey Thank-you so much for the reply.
posted by RearWindow at 9:50 AM on April 19, 2018

Send me an email, address in profile.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:11 PM on April 19, 2018

I'm a lawyer in Ontario, and have experience working in government. In my experience, legal research is done by: lawyers, law students, law librarians, and law clerks and that's it. All of these require specialized degrees of some kind.

Outside of academia, I don't think I've run into any other positions that regularly do legal research. Lawyers often do legal policy work in government as well, in policy advisor rather than lawyer roles - ie even in those "non-lawyer" jobs you often find lawyers.

In short, I doubt you would find much legal research work with just that Certificate. Not to disparage it, but I probably wouldn't hire someone with just that to do legal research for me. It might be helpful to some extent for applying generally for government jobs, but not legal jobs within government.
posted by persimmons at 4:44 PM on April 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: @persimmons - Thank-you for the honest reply. I think this certificate could definitely be applied to a government sector kind of job then. I think I will try to pursue the certificate and see where it leads then.
posted by RearWindow at 7:12 PM on April 20, 2018