Class of 2023 – Welcome to Osgoode!

Dear Class of 2023,

Welcome to Osgoode from all of us at the Osgoode Women’s Network (OWN)! We are incredibly excited to have you join us and are very much looking forward to the year ahead with you! While this will certainly be an unprecedented one in many ways, we feel confident that the resources this Network has to offer will still allow us all to connect, develop skills, and learn from one another. 

Before imparting any words of advice, we first want to say: Congratulations! You made it to Osgoode Hall Law School. Osgoode is consistently ranked one of the top law schools in Canada and your skills, experiences, and hard work have landed you a well-deserved place within its Class of 2023. You now have access to everything that Osgoode has to offer, including its extensive alumni network, vast array of courses and clinics, and brilliant professors. 

At OWN, we are dedicated to helping you succeed by offering opportunities for mentorship, skills building, student involvement, networking, and, not in the least, friendship. We aim to advance women in law by providing an inclusive, apolitical space for us all to connect and to support one another in our professional and personal development. It is our hope that you find this within OWN and become a part of our community for years to come.

With both of us rounding out our final year with Osgoode, we also wanted to take this opportunity to share a few tips we have learned along the way:

• All you can do is your best – Focusing on doing your personal best, with the resources and time you have, is a great way to drown out the noise in what can be a competitive environment. You can’t control where this will land you on that curve, but keeping this in mind can take a bit of the heat off mentally – in the end, all you can do is your best.
• Focus on learning – Approaching your courses with genuine curiosity and a focus on learning can help you stay engaged and keep things in perspective. Part of what this experience offers you is personal development, so try to enjoy the learning experience and know that it is helping you grow.
• Lean on one another – Imposter syndrome is real, and in our experience, most of us have felt it. It is okay to be open and honest about how you’re feeling with your fellow students, and you’ll likely find many of your feelings mirrored in theirs. Supporting each other and sharing in the good and bad times will bond you and make this experience so much better.
• Enjoy the process – Three years goes by in the blink of an eye. Enjoy your time learning from your professors, connecting with your peers, and creating your own legal journey. You deserve to be here. 

As the year progresses, we look forward to rolling out OWN’s range of events and initiatives, including our upper year and alumnae mentorship programs, panels and networking events, skills building workshops, and fundraising initiatives. If you have any suggestions for our programming along the way, or have any questions about OWN, feel free to email us at any time at ownlaw@gmail.com. We look forward to connecting with all of you!

All the best,

Rebecca Brown & Jessica Zhang

President & Vice President