Application Deadline: January 31
The Schulich School of Law offers a Master of Law degree to well qualified candidates who are interested either pursuing advanced specializations in law or further graduate work leading to a teaching career. We offer two options for the LLM programme. The first option is a combination of a thesis plus three courses. The second option is a programme of six courses all of which require substantial written research papers. Students may enroll in the one year, full time programme, or the two year part time programme.
Applicants who plan to take the degree on the basis of the thesis/coursework option are required to submit outlines of their proposed thesis topic on any area of law in which faculty supervisors and library resources will support substantial research work.
The Schulich School of Law is home to three research institutes: the Health Law Institute, the Law and Technology Institute and the Marine and Environmental Law Institute. In addition, we can provide supervision and research support a wide variety of areas of law, in recent years thesis supervision has been provided in the following fields among others: as administrative law; constitutional law; criminal law; environmental law; family law;jurisprudence;intellectual property law;health law;law of the sea;marine law; tax law; tort law.
Class requirements
The degree may be taken on the basis of either a thesis and coursework, or coursework 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 coursework for the degree, whichever of the two alternative bases is decided upon, must be completed with 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 graduate students in law. This seminar is given in the fall term and early part of the winter 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 jurisprudence course in addition.
If the degree is taken by thesis and coursework, a candidate is required to (a) in addition to the graduate seminar, complete at least two additional one-term classes from the course 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). Three 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), plus an examiner. 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 coursework without a thesis, in addition to the graduate seminar, candidates are required to take at least an additional five one-term classes from the advanced coursework 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 approve 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 thesis or coursework 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.
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 LLM 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.)
General
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.
In exceptional circumstances,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.