Attendance Policy

Legal education is a project of collaborative pedagogy, of thinking and learning together. Each member of the Jackman community benefits from attending in person and is benefitted by the presence of each other member in this collaborative project. Face-to-face engagement through in-person education creates opportunities for students to learn core skills and competencies that are essential to legal careers, including critical analysis in real time, speaking in public, interacting in public with others, reading the room, working as part of a team, honing effective interpersonal skills, and dealing with unexpected developments. Moreover, the community of learning at Jackman Law extends beyond the classroom: the social and intellectual collaboration that happens at the law school inside, outside, and across classes, programs, and student communities, is at its best when it happens in a space shared by all the members of the Jackman community.

Attendance is mandatory in all classes at Jackman Law. Students are required to be in residence during any semester in which they are enrolled in a class or classes at Jackman Law. Students are expected to attend classes in person on a regular basis. In-person presence is a core component of achieving our learning objectives. Students should not accept significant outside obligations during the academic term and should prioritize their academic obligations during the school year.

1. Attendance contemplates active and engaged participation in each class. Students must expect to be called upon to actively contribute to class discussions. Intellectual engagement through collaboration and participation is one of the primary learning objectives in many law school courses. Individual courses may have more specific participation requirements.  
2. Jackman Law discourages students from taking copious notes or attempting to make comprehensive transcripts of every class and lecture. Rather, Jackman Law’s commitment to teaching students to think critically about and with the law encourages students to use time in class to discuss, question and reflect deeply on course materials.

Failure to attend class may incur academic penalties. Students cannot earn credit for courses without attending at least seventy-five percent of the class meetings. In appropriate circumstances, it may be possible to accommodate absences equivalent to twenty-five per cent or less of a course during an academic session without compromising pedagogical goals and core aspects of the course curriculum. When a student misses more than twenty-five per cent of class in a course the Assistant Dean, Academic, may refuse that student permission to write the final exam or submit a final paper.

1. Students who have reason to think that they may not be able to attend at least seventy-five percent of classes in a course, or who anticipate being absent for a continuous period of two weeks or more due to illness or personal circumstances, should be in touch with the Accommodations and Considerations Committee (accommodations.law@utoronto.ca) as soon as possible. 
2. Students can ask to take a leave of absence or petition for late withdrawal without academic penalty (LWD) from a course when they have been unable to attend more than twenty-five percent of class meetings.
3. Per the University of Toronto Policy on Scheduling of Classes and Examinations and Other Accommodations for Religious Observances, Jackman Law will provide every reasonable opportunity for students who miss class because of religious observances to make up missed work. 

The Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law makes accommodations for religious holidays. 

The Faculty of Law makes recordings of lectures available in certain circumstances, see the Recording Policy for more details. Recordings of lectures are not a substitute for attendance, and students who receive recordings will not be excused from attendance on that basis.