Dictum - 2025-12-01-EN | Faculty of Law

Word from the Dean

Congratulations on reaching this point in the academic year. Your commitment, persistence, and hard work have carried you forward, and you should be proud of all you’ve accomplished.

As exam season begins, I would like to acknowledge the excellent work of the AECLSS, particularly Isabelle Pavlich (VP English) and the library subccommittee, Colin Lam (VP Clubs), Yashika Anand (VP Social) and Nase (Jessica) Lim (VP Advocacy) in restricting the fifth floor of the library to law students during the exam periods in December (2025) and April (2026). This is a very important development. I have frequently heard student concerns regarding library conditions affecting study and am thankful to these students for their efforts to institute a new pilot for the benefit of our Faculty. Your representatives were excellent advocates, bringing forward data, comparative examples, and persuasive arguments about student experience, which ultimately persuaded the Dean of Libraries to agree to a pilot project. It made me very proud as Dean to see their principled arguments. More information will be forthcoming shortly from the library as this pilot goes into effect this week.

I had the great honour of hosting Justice Minister Sean Fraser for a fireside chat last week. He encouraged everyone to embrace change, study hard, and travel. I hope that gives you some ideas for the months ahead, particularly as you engage in evaluation period of law school.

Upcoming Events

December 02, 2025 | uOttawa + Futurpreneur Canada
12:00 p.m. - 1:20 p.m. | STEM 122 | Bilingual Event | Registration required

December 10, 2025 | Universal: Renewing human rights in a fractured world with Alex Neve
4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. | FSS 4007 | Event in English | Registration required

Please visit the webpage for more Upcoming Events.

Important dates and deadlines

Sept. 1 to Dec. 31 | Term Dates
Dec. 3 | Courses end
Dec. 4-17 | Exam period
Dec. 17 | All papers, including Directed Research Projects, are due by 4:00 p.m.
Dec. 22, 2025 (from 4:30 pm) to Jan. 5, 2026 (8:45 am) | Holiday break - University closed
Jan. 6 – 23, 2026 | January Term Dates
Jan. 8, 2026 | Last day to enrol and to change course selection for the January session
Jan. 8, 2026 | Last day to submit a request to register for a Directed Research Project for the January session
Jan. 9, 2026 | Last day to submit a registration form for the Major Paper Requirement for the January session