BSAP: Your Path to Legal Education

If you're a Black undergraduate student interested in becoming a lawyer, you’re invited to join Black Future Lawyers (BFL). Starting as early as your first year of undergrad, you can participate in the BFL program regardless of which post-secondary institution you attend.

As a BFL member, you’ll receive free access to mentoring, networking, and shadowing opportunities with Black lawyers and law students. You’ll also benefit from workshops, guest speakers, admissions and financial aid information, LSAT preparation, an annual conference, and a paid full-time summer internship.

Please note: Black candidates, whether or not they participate in the BFL program, are strongly encouraged to select BSAP when applying to U of T. This optional application stream aims to increase Black student representation in our program.

For Black applicants interested in the JD program at UofT Law, the BSAP offers an optional admission stream for all applicant categories—general, mature, or Indigenous.

All JD applicants are assessed based on their academic record, LSAT scores, and personal profile. As a BSAP applicant, your personal profile will be reviewed by Black members of the U of T Law community, including alumni, faculty, students, and staff. This review helps us recognize the unique perspectives and experiences that you and your community bring to the table.

We are looking for students with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and interests—both academic and non-academic—who have the potential to enrich the law school community. You must meet the same academic and LSAT requirements as all other applicants, and while the BSAP stream doesn't have a specific quota, we encourage you to apply if you feel you meet these criteria.

As part of your application, you must submit both a Personal Statement and a BSAP Essay. You also have the option to submit a third piece of writing, the Optional Essay. We strongly encourage you to submit all three documents, as the BSAP admissions committee will review them together. Be sure to avoid repetition across your submissions and use the space to fully tell your story.

The BSAP essay allows up to 2,500 characters, including spaces and punctuation, and should be written in plain, unformatted text. The BSAP Essay offers a unique opportunity to describe your strengths and accomplishments, vision for your own legal education and to tell your story. Please highlight why you choose this stream. Other topics you may choose to discuss include an issue that you feel is important to the Black community or sharing your motivations and inspirations. 

Whether you choose to use or reference any of these topics, you should relate what you write about to a legal issue and/or the study or practice of law.

All candidates apply by the standard First Year or Transfer procedures and deadlines, to the Ontario Law School Application Service (OLSAS). To be considered for the BSAP, on the OLSAS online application, please:

• Select the relevant JD-only program (first-year or transfer), and if desired, also select any JD combined program(s)
• Proceed to the School Submissions section and locate the Selection Type list of links.
• Select the link for the BSAP selection and BSAP essay.
• Confirm that you are selecting BSAP.
• Type in the text of your BSAP essay.

• Black Law Students' Association (U of T chapter): Join the BLSA, our student club for Black JD students, which is part of a larger network across Canadian law schools.
• Black students' faculty advisor: Connect with a Black law professor for academic guidance.
• Black students' staff advisor: Reach out to a Black member of the Student Services team for advice and support on student life and well-being.
• Peer Mentorship Program: Incoming first-year or transfer students can be paired with an upper-year student mentor.
• Alumni Mentorship Program: Incoming first-year students may be matched with a UofT Law alum for mentorship throughout the school year.
• Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) Summer Internship: U of T Law partners with BCE Inc. to offer a 14-week paid summer internship, providing hands-on legal experience.

You will be automatically considered for needs-based entrance and in-course awards, such as the Michael Kelly Memorial Award and the Siobhan Amani Alexander Memorial Scholarship.

Our Black JD students are also eligible for U of T Law in-course awards open to all students, which may recognize academic excellence, leadership, involvement in the community, or participation in extracurricular activities. You are also encouraged to apply independently to external scholarships and bursaries.