A graduate programme in law leading to the Master of Laws degree is offered to well-qualified candidates by Dalhousie University Schulich School of Law. The programme may consist of either a combination of class work, seminars and a thesis, or a combination of class work and seminars involving several substantial written papers. Students may enroll in the one-year, full-time programme, or in the two-year, part-time programme.
Applicants who plan to take the degree on the basis of class work, seminars and a thesis are required to submit outlines of their proposed thesis topic at the time of the application. Thesis topics may concentrate on any area of law in which faculty supervisors and library resources will support substantial research work. The law faculty's academic plan recognizes the law school's particular research capacity in the areas of public law and feminist legal scholarship. A particular interest has been developed in marine and environmental law which has been designated as a field of special emphasis in the Schulich School of Law. The Sir James Dunn Law Library collection for the Marine and Environmental Law Programme is now one of the best in North America. In addition, graduate work is being done under the aegis of the Health Law Institute which is a joint initiative of the Schulich School of Law and the Faculties of Medicine, Health Professions and Dentistry. Moreover, the Schulich School of Law is home to the Law and Technology Institute. In recent years, thesis supervision has been provided in the following fields, among others: international law, administrative law, labour law, constitutional law, commercial law, tax law, tort law, criminal law and criminology, family law, health law, law of the sea, maritime law, and environmental law.
Admission requirements
Applicants for admission to the LL.M. programme should hold a first degree in law equivalent to the Dalhousie LL.B., passed with at least a B average (or Upper Second Class Honours). The ability to conduct independent research and to work easily in the English language is a prerequisite for admission. Candidates from outside Canada whose native language is other than English will be required to pass an English language proficiency test.
Length of programme
The degree may be taken on the basis of either one academic year (September 1 to August 31) of full-time studies at Dalhousie, or two academic years of part-time studies at Dalhousie, after registration for the LL.M. degree. (It should be noted that the two-year residence requirement for part-time candidates differs from that required elsewhere in the calendar of the Faculty of Graduate Studies.)
Class requirements
The degree may be taken on the basis of either class work, seminars and a thesis, or class work and seminars only. Applicants are required to indicate at the time of formal application on which basis they would prefer to take the degree, but the Graduate Studies Committee of the Schulich School of Law, at the time an offer of a place is made, will decide on which of the two alternative bases a place is offered. The availability of places for the thesis alternative is governed by the availability of adequate faculty supervision and library resources. All class work for the degree, whichever of the two alternative bases is decided upon, must be completed at an average of not less than B, with no grade below B-. Graduate students taking classes which are evaluated by a major paper must submit a paper of appropriate scholarly quality which will normally be between 40 and 50 pages in length (including text, and endnotes or footnotes).
All candidates for the degree are required to take a graduate seminar especially designed for our graduate students in law. This seminar, which is led by a senior teacher in the Schulich School of Law, is given in the fall term (and early part of the spring term) and requires from the student a comprehensive class presentation based on a substantial written paper. Some students who have not had previous exposure to jurisprudence may be advised to take a graduate jurisprudence course.
If the degree is taken by course work, seminars and thesis, a candidate is required to (a) in addition to the graduate seminar, complete at least two additional one-term classes from the course and seminar offerings of the Schulich School of Law (the choice of classes to be determined by the Law Graduate Studies Committee), and (b) present a well-researched substantial thesis of scholarly quality produced under the continuous supervision of a member or members of the law faculty.
Such a thesis would normally be 150-300 typescript pages in length (double-spaced). Six copies of the thesis must be submitted to the supervisor on or before the dates given in the Law Guidelines for Supervision and Evaluation of Graduate Students (normally August 10 to meet deadlines for fall convocation). The thesis requirements and regulations of the Faculty of Graduate Studies must be met. Theses are usually supervised by a two-person committee comprised of a supervisor and a reader or, in certain circumstances, two co-supervisors. Theses are examined by an examination committee comprised of the supervisory committee, an "arm's length" examiner and a chairperson, who is normally the Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee/Associate Dean, Graduate Studies & Research. A thesis may be graded as falling within one of the following categories: approved as submitted; approved upon specified corrections being made; failed, but with permission to submit a revised thesis; or failed outright.
If the degree is taken by class work and seminars without thesis, in addition to the graduate seminar, candidates are required to take at least an additional five one-term classes from the advanced class work and seminar offerings of the Schulich School of Law considered to be suitable as graduate classes and seminars by the Law Graduate Studies Committee. Of those five classes, at least three must be designated as "major paper courses" by the Schulich School of Law, or be approved by the Graduate Studies Committee as having a substantial written component. At the discretion of the Graduate Studies Committee, a candidate may be required to submit to an oral examination by the committee or its nominees in the field of the thesis or that of any written paper presented by the candidate. The Graduate Studies Committee may recommend the substitution of not more than two seminars or graduate level classes in a discipline other than law, which may be highly relevant to the candidate's thesis topic or area of specialization, provided that any such substituted course or seminar has, in the opinion of the Committee and the Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, equivalence to the law classes being substituted.
Before deciding on the course work and seminars, or course work, seminars and thesis option, candidates who are contemplating future doctoral studies should note that some doctoral programs may require the completion of a Master of Laws degree which includes a thesis.
General
The Graduate Studies Committee of the Schulich School of Law may at any time require any candidate for the degree to show cause, in such manner as it may determine, why such candidate should be permitted to continue his or her candidacy.
It should be noted that candidates taking the degree on a part-time basis are not eligible for graduate scholarships.
A student is required to comply with the directions of the supervisor and the decisions of the Graduate Studies Committee, as well as the rules and regulations of the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
A full description of programmes available in the Schulich School of Law which may be of relevance to graduate students can be found in the general Law Calendar and in its course selection materials.