OCLS is an official student society funded and overseen by Osgoode's Legal & Literary Society.[3] OCLS was founded by Kevin Gillespie and several first year law students during the second half of the 2013-14 academic season,[4] with one of its first events being a talk on the implications of the Supreme Court of Canada’s R v Bedford decision which legalized prostitution.[5]
During its first full academic season in 2014–15, OCLS hosted The Crown & Constitution speaker's series, with speakers including the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Elizabeth Dowdswell, along with several leading academics in the study of the Canadian Crown, including Peter Russell and Jacques Monet.[6][7][8] The speaking series was sponsored by the Monarchist League of Canada, and participants were offered research publication opportunities through the York Centre for Public Policy and Law.[9][10][11]
During the 2015–16 academic year, OCLS hosted a number of speaking engagements with several of Canada's leading constitutional scholars, including Peter Hogg, David Leposfsky and Ontario's Deputy Attorney General, Patrick Monaghan. OCLS also organized a special event, The Magna Carta and Canada’s Constitution, to coincide with the 2015 Magna Carta exhibition at Toronto's historic Fort York.[12][13]
In the 2021–22 academic year, OCLS hosted its first Constitutional Law Moot,[14] which has since become an annual hallmark of Osgoode’s academic season. The Moot's guest judges have included high-profile members of Canada's judiciary and legal community, including Michael Moldaver, former Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada,[15] and Justice Lorne Sossin of the Ontario Court of Appeal.[16]