"Designed for the lawyer of the future. Entrepreneurship at its core. Technology hardwired into our DNA. Diverse as the country we call home. Built to expand the reach of justice..."
This is how Ryerson University in Toronto, ON reimagines law school. I am so incredibly excited to say I will be a part of Ryerson Faculty of Law's inaugural cohort - beginning September 2020.
My name is Ridhey Gill and I am an aspiring lawyer who plans to bring innovation and entrepreneurial skills to the industry. I completed my undergraduate degree, a Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Law and Business, at Ryerson and that's how I know this: Ryerson is doing it right.
My undergrad program was unique as Ryerson was the only Canadian university that offered a Law and Business major with a Bachelor of Commerce degree rather than a Bachelor of Arts degree. I found comfort in this at age 17 knowing that I would have options with my degree. Throughout the program I was able to study a variety of areas of law including but not limited to: Business Law, Legal Analysis, Employment and Labour Law, The Law of the Marketplace, Securities Law, Issues in Information Technology Law, and Legal Foundations of Corporate Governance. Being able to explore these different areas of law at an undergraduate level was an incredible experience, allowing me to develop a foundation of basic legal skills such as legal research and analytical skills, how to read a case and break it down, and determining answers to questions with legal reasoning.
It was the summer after my third year, May 2018, that I started working for the Legal Innovation Zone (LIZ) at Ryerson. This was a crucial turning point for me that I wouldn't even realize until some more months of integrating myself into the space. As the Startup Experience Associate I've had the opportunity to work closely with legal-tech startups, lead projects, facilitate workshops, and understand all of the opportunities for change in the legal industry.
Working at the LIZ has been instrumental to my decision to apply to Ryerson Law. With a focus on technology, innovation, and a promise to change the approach to traditional legal education, I knew Ryerson Law was where I needed to go in order to fulfill my ambitions of creating impactful change. I believe everything about Ryerson Law's integrated practice curriculum will leave me well equipped with the right tools to be a different kind of lawyer - one that has technology and innovation at the core of all my work in order to make the law more accessible.
I will be posting content on this site that is relevant to my journey of becoming an atypical lawyer, including all things legal-tech and ways we can lead differently in law. Stay tuned for more!