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The Schulich School of Law and the University of King’s College are offering a new combined law degree and master’s of journalism program, which is the first of its kind in Canada.

Here’s how it works: Students with an undergraduate degree in journalism or experience as a journalist can earn the Master of Journalism/Juris Doctor degree in three years, while those without a journalism background can do the program in four. Everyone must apply separately to, and be accepted by, both the journalism MJ program and the law JD program and pay tuition to both schools.

Two sides of the same coin

Schulich Law alumni Jim Rossiter (LLB ’98) and Lisa Taylor (LLB ’01 and LLM ’10) have worked as journalists and lawyers. Now a lawyer for the federal Department of Justice in Halifax, Rossiter worked for small daily and community newspapers, The Halifax Daily News, The Sunday Daily News, and The Canadian Press between 1992 and 1997.

“The successful journalist or litigator is an engaging storyteller, crafting a believable story from the raw materials of facts.”
— Jim Rossiter

Rossiter points to the complementary skills in both fields. “Journalism and litigation are two sides of the same coin,” says the Carleton journalism grad. “The successful journalist or litigator is an engaging storyteller, crafting a believable story from the raw materials of facts.”

At 25, Rossiter left journalism for law school because he wasn’t done with university, and he saw in the practice of law somewhere he could take his love of writing and interest in people. He was right – he’s the author Law of Publication Bans, Private Hearings and Sealing Orders, published by Carswell in 2006 and updated twice a year.

“Law school is where I learned the law and where I learned to love the law,” he says. “Journalism school did the better job of teaching the storytelling craft and equipping me with the listening, interviewing, and writing skills necessary to tell the story. I practice as a lawyer now, but I owe a debt to both schools equally.”

Opening doors to diverse careers

Before Lisa Taylor attended law school, she spent a decade with CBC Radio and Television in a wide range of journalistic roles. “I had always wanted to go to law school, but I lacked the confidence and maturity after I did my undergrad in PR at the Mount. The urge never went away, though.”

Although she was accepted at law school, Taylor deferred for a year, then the CBC gave her a year’s unpaid leave of absence to try it. “I thought I’d be a better journalist as a result,” she says.

After earning her LLB, Taylor returned to the CBC, where she became a justice and legal-affairs specialist and co-creator and host of Sweet Justice on CBC Radio One and The Docket on CBC Newsworld. In 2005, she left to practice law and teach; today she’s an Assistant Professor at the Ryerson School of Journalism.

“Lawyers and journalists are good researchers and writers who can boil down complexity to words on a page.” — Lisa Taylor

Taylor agrees with Rossiter that law and journalism share similar skill sets. “There’s an overwhelming degree of overlap,” she says. “Lawyers and journalists always have an opinion. They’re adept at becoming well versed in various topics and digging for the salient facts and context. They’re good researchers and writers who can boil down complexity to words on a page. For broadcast journalists, making oral presentations during mooting is fantastic practice.”

Rossiter and Taylor believe the Master of Journalism/Juris Doctor degree will open doors to diverse careers.

“The student with the combined degree can go into law better trained to write engagingly and understandably, listen well, and interview thoroughly,” says Rossiter. “Or the same student can go into journalism with a deeper and better appreciation of the legal milieu of public and business affairs. I remember taking administrative law and wishing I’d taken it before working as a news reporter. It explained so much!”

Says Taylor: “Journalists with legal training have it made, because nothing in the world is untouched by law. And this degree will help land the graduates in academia, where they can teach and do research.” If she could travel back in time, would she enroll in the program? “In a heartbeat! It’s a brilliant idea. It offers such tremendous opportunity for both journalists and lawyers.”