Table of Contents
MESSAGE FROM THE GRADUATE PROGRAM DIRECTOR
ADMISSIONS CRITERIA AND CATEGORIES
THE ADMISSIONS CRITERIA
LLM
DIRECT ENTRY TO LLM WITHOUT AN LLB/JD
PhD
DIRECT ENTRY TO THE PHD WITHOUT AN LLM
ENTRY INTO THE PHD BY ADVANCEMENT
THE PART-TIME LLM PROGRAM
PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
LLM DEGREE
THE MAJOR RESEARCH PAPER (MRP)
PHD DEGREE
THE DISSERTATION:
PORTFOLIO THESIS AND DISSERTATION:
RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT:
COURSE OFFERINGS
THE FIVE STUDY GROUPS FOR 2012 – 2013 ARE:
COURSE ENROLMENT
LIST OF COURSES
COURSES NORMALLY OFFERED (INCLUDING COURSES CROSS-LISTED WITH OSGOODE):
INTEGRATED COURSES
OTHER GRADUATE COURSES OFFERED THROUGH THE GRADUATE PROGRAM AT OSGOODE
FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES COURSES IN OTHER DIVISIONS AT YORK
RESEARCH CENTRE AND GRADUATE DIPLOMAS
TUITION AND LIVING EXPENSES
SCHOLARSHIPS/FELLOWSHIPS/ASSISTANTSHIPS — INTERNAL
TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES
INFORMATION FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
APPLICATION DETAILS
APPLICATION DEADLINES AND TIMELINES FOR OFFERS
APPLICATION PROCEDURES
PREPARING THE APPLICATION
Contacts and Inquiries
MESSAGE FROM THE GRADUATE PROGRAM DIRECTOR
I hope that you will consider joining the Graduate Program at Osgoode Hall Law School. Osgoode is rightfully proud of its intellectual standing among law schools internationally, the breadth and depth of its graduate course offerings, and the quality of its library. It attracts outstanding students with diverse and worthwhile research projects. Osgoode provides a vibrant intellectual community that welcomes new approaches and intellectual challenges.
Osgoode is a research intensive law school with70 faculty members. We have approximately 130 graduate students in the PhD and research-stream LLM programs, with perhaps 80 in residence at any time. Graduate Program faculty and staff work hard to create a sense of community for our students.
Graduate students can draw upon a wealth of expertise in support of their own studies. Osgoode’s faculty members produce world-class scholarship. All students are assigned an individual supervisor before beginning the program. All students participate in Study Groups, where current literature related to a major area of law is canvassed in-depth. Many other seminars and workshops are held during the academic year in addition to the regular course offerings, to provide an immensely rich and stimulating environment for research.
Osgoode also hosts several renowned research centres and units, dealing with transnational human rights, crime and security; feminist legal studies; comparative law and political economy; intellectual property; and business and law. It is also home to the Osgoode Hall Law Journal, one of the world’s leading law reviews.
The Graduate Program at Osgoode makes a serious effort to provide graduate students with opportunities to teach and publish, in preparation for academic careers. Over four hundred alumni of the program have distinguished themselves in academia, government, private practice and other arenas; in North America and internationally.
Please feel free to contact us if you would like further information.
Sincerely,
Graduate Program Director
ADMISSIONS CRITERIA AND CATEGORIES
THE ADMISSIONS CRITERIA
Admission to both the research-stream LLM and the PhD programs is on a competitive basis. Members of Osgoode’s faculty closely evaluate application files that are related to their own areas of expertise, before making recommendations to assist the Graduate Program Director in making the final admissions decisions. All decisions to admit an applicant are subject to the approval of the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
AMONG THE FACTORS TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION ARE:
(1) academic record, including both transcripts and awards (usually a B average or better);
(2) quality and strength of letters of reference;
(3) merits of the statement of proposed research;
(4) research capacities and potential as revealed by previous academic writing and qualifications;
(5) compatibility with faculty resources (notably, the availability of a qualified supervisor and the sufficiency of library holdings in the proposed area of research);
REGULAR ADMISSION INTO THE LLM AND PHD PROGRAMS
Normally, an applicant requires an LLB or JD in order to be admitted into the LLM program, and an LLM to be admitted into the PhD program. Such applicants are considered regular-admission students.
LLM
To be eligible for admission to the LLM Program, candidates normally must possess an academic degree in law, having achieved a level of proficiency which, in the opinion of the Graduate Program Director, makes successful completion of graduate studies likely. Normally this will be at least the equivalent of a B average, although the majority of applicants admitted have an average in the A grade range. Candidates must also possess the ability to work with legal materials in the English language.
DIRECT ENTRY TO LLM WITHOUT AN LLB/JD
A limited number of places in the LLM program are available to candidates with outstanding academic records, but without an academic degree in law. Such students normally have completed a graduate degree in another discipline, and studies that are related to law.
Students entering the LLM program in Law who do not have an LLB or JD must attend the non-credit course entitled Introduction to Graduate Legal Studies. They may also be required to take additional courses, at the discretion of the Graduate Program Director on the advice of the student’s supervisor.
PhD
To be eligible for admission to the PhD Program, candidates normally must possess a graduate academic degree in law, having achieved a level of proficiency which, in the opinion of the Graduate Program Director, makes successful completion of graduate studies likely. Normally this will be at least the equivalent of a high B average, although the majority of applicants admitted have an average in the A grade range. Candidates must also possess the ability to work with legal materials in the English language.
DIRECT ENTRY TO THE PHD WITHOUT AN LLM
Normally, an LLM is a precondition to admission to the PhD. Students without an LLM should apply to the LLM. If accepted, they can subsequently apply to advance to the PhD after their first year of study. Applicants admitted under these two provisions must be approved by a sub-committee of the Faculty of Graduate Studies at York.
ENTRY INTO THE PHD BY ADVANCEMENT
Students applying to advance to the PhD program must have the support of their supervisor(s) and must complete one of three conditions prior to admission. The conditions are: (1) completion of the LLM (2) completion and defence of an extended and critical literature review and plan for the PhD (approx 70 pages) (although an LLM degree is not awarded under this option) or (3) completion while in the LLM program of one or more articles accepted for publication in scholarly journals or books of high repute(an LLM degree is awarded if the scholarship is defended in an oral examination). Only students offered the opportunity to advance may on achievement of one of these conditions advance to the PhD.
Application information on advancement, including the conditions for advancing, is sent to LLM students early in their second academic term.
THE PART-TIME LLM PROGRAM
The present guide concerns only the PhD and research-stream LLM. Individuals who are interested in the part-time LLM program should consult the website of the Osgoode Professional Development Program of Osgoode Hall Law School at or contact the program at 416-673-4670 or
PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
GENERAL FEATURES OF THE GRADUATE RESEARCH PROGRAM AT OSGOODE HALL LAW SCHOOL
The Graduate Program in Law offers a Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) and research-stream Master of Laws (LLM) degree. Both degrees involve coursework but are primarily focused on research. The production of a thesis or a major research paper for the LLM degree, or a dissertation for the PhD degree, under supervision of a faculty member is the single most important component in attaining each degree. In the case of a thesis or dissertation, the student must defend their scholarship in oral examinations before examining committees.
Each student obtains guidance from a supervisor, and in the case of candidates for the LLM thesis or the PhD dissertation, a supervisory committee as well. For the LLM thesis, the committee comprises the supervisor and at least one other member, usually an Osgoode faculty member. The supervision committee for PhD candidates comprises the supervisor and two other members. The supervisory committee approves the thesis or dissertation outline prepared by the student, and it recommends the thesis/dissertation for examination. In general, committee members assist the supervisor in providing guidance and feedback.
The requirements of the LLM and the PhD are set out below.
LLM DEGREE
Presently, LLM students must take at least three courses, one of which is the Graduate Seminar and another is aStudy Group, during the first year in which they are in the program. The third course is of their choice. Students entering without an LLB or JD may be required by the Graduate Program Director to take additional courses on the advice of their supervisors.
A passing grade for graduate level work in any course is a B.
THE THESIS:
An LLM thesis is an extended piece of writing that reflects original research conducted by the student. An LLM thesis length is expected to be between 125-150 pages plus a bibliography (about 40,000 words of text), and must be defended in an examination. It is expected that the thesis will be of publishable quality, meaning that either a significant portion of the LLM thesis or a distilled version of the entire thesis must be regarded as publishable as an article or chapter in a book.
THE MAJOR RESEARCH PAPER (MRP)
As an alternative to the thesis, LLM candidates may complete anMRP of some 60 – 70 pages in length (about 20,000 words) and two additional courses (five in total, including the compulsory Graduate Seminar and a Study Group). The MRP is graded by the supervisor and a second marker normally from the graduate program in law. Unlike the case of an LLM thesis, there is no oral defence for an MRP candidate.
TIME TO COMPLETION:
The expected time for completion of the LLM degree is one year (three academic terms), with the maximum time allowance being four years (12 terms).
RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT:
Students should note a York University residency requirement for the LLM degree of two terms. Residency requires students to be geographically available to visit the campus regularly, to attend classes and generally to be present at the University.
PHD DEGREE
PhD students normally must take at least three courses, one of which is the Graduate Seminar (the student may, with approval of the Graduate Program Director, substitute the Graduate Seminar with another course if they completed this Seminar in the LLM program). PhD students must also participate in a Study Group of their choosing (this is the second course). Participation in the Study Group is required in the first year of PhD studies and in the second and third years thereafter, provided PhD students are registered full time. Participation in a Study Group is optional for PhD students in subsequent years of their program of study. A third course is chosen by students.
PhD students must submit an extended dissertation proposal, of some 60 – 70 pages length, normally by the end of their thirdsemester. This proposal is examined by the student’s supervisory committee. Except under circumstances requiring a delay, the examination and any required revisions to the extended dissertation proposal outline must be completed before a student is allowed to continue in the PhD program in Year 2.
THE DISSERTATION:
A PhD dissertation is an extended piece of work completed for the doctoral degree. It reflects both a substantial contribution to an existing literature and, at the same time, original research. A PhD dissertation length is expected to be between 300-350 pagesand a bibliography (approximately 100,000 words). It is expected that the dissertation will be of sufficiently high quality to warrant publication by an academic publisher, and/or in venues, of repute.
PORTFOLIO THESIS AND DISSERTATION:
LLM thesis candidates may submit one or two articles published or accepted for publication in lieu of a conventional thesis for examination.
PhD dissertation candidates may submit between three to five articles (depending on the length and ambition of the articles.
Further explanation of the portfolio thesis and dissertation may be found at
EXPECTED TIME TO COMPLETION:
The expected time for completion of the PhD degree is three years (nine terms), with the maximum time allowance being six years (18 terms).
RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT:
Students should note a residency requirement for the PhD degree of two terms. For students entering the PhD program without an LLM, the residency requirement is increased to four terms; for students advancing to the PhD from the uncompleted Osgoode LLM, terms completed during the LLM will count for two terms, leaving two further terms of residency. Residency requires students to be geographically available to visit the campus regularly.Students should note a York University residency requirement for the LLM degree of two terms, to attend classes and generally to be present at the University.
COURSE OFFERINGS
Study Groups – All new LLM and PhD students and all full-time continuing PhD students are required to participate in a Study Group. Students may choose from four of five Study Groups offered each year. The Study Groups provide an intellectual community for graduate students. They are essential for a true graduate education in law. It should be noted that most graduate programs have more course requirements but, at Osgoode, participation in the Study Groups serves a similar purpose. Through the Study Groups, students are exposed to and engage with legal scholarship that is thematically related to their own research, such that their eventual degree is reflective of more than the students’ own research. Study Groups are not structured as courses, but instead function as reading and discussion groups.
The Study Groups meet for two hours weekly for a total of 20 sessions over the fall and winter semesters. Successful participation in a Study Group involves regular attendance (attending a minimum of 75% class attendance), reading assigned materials and active engagement with discussions (no written work is required).
THE FIVESTUDY GROUPS FOR 2012– 2013ARE:
Regulation and Governance: (Professor Dan Priel)
Theoretical Perspectives in Legal Research: (Susan Drummond)
Law and Social Justice: (Professor Sonia Lawrence)
Law in a Global Context: (Professor Peer Zumbansen)
The schedule of the study groups and descriptions of the topics to be covered will be provided to all students, new and continuing, before September registration each year.Students who wish to write a graduate level paper (up to 10,000 words) in connection with their participation in a Study Group may seek permission to do so from the faculty member leading the group.
COURSE ENROLMENT
Newly registered students in the Program must also be enrolled in the required coursework during the entering Fall and Winter terms. Any exceptions to this must be approved by the Graduate Program Director and may affect both the student’s standing in the Program and also entitlement to funding.
LIST OF COURSES
LLM and PhD students may select from a wide range of courses, of which there are several types.
One type of course is known as a “Study Group”, as discussed above.
Secondly, students can enroll in graduate level courses, for advanced specialization in specific areas of law. One graduate level course that all students must take is the Graduate Seminar. A wide range of graduate law courses are also available in the part-time LLM program offered by Osgoode Professional Development.
Thirdly, there is the option of “Integrated courses”, which are offered to both JD and graduate students.
Finally, there is a miscellaneous collection of other course options, such as an Independent Research paper, taking a JD-level course for graduate level credit, and even taking courses in other faculties at York or other universities.
COURSES NORMALLY OFFERED (INCLUDING COURSES CROSS-LISTED WITH OSGOODE):
Introduction to Graduate Legal Studies- GSLAW 6149 0.0
This course is intended for students who have no previous studies in law, or who feel the need of a refresher course on legal research methods. It includes sessions with Osgoode’s research librarians as well as classroom instruction. These are supplemented by assignments completed electronically, for which students receive feedback.
Students without law degrees entering Graduate Programs in Law are required to take the Graduate course in Legal Research and Writing, which is normally taught on an intensive basis over one week.
Graduate Seminar in Legal Research - GSLAW 6610 3.0
(September through January)
All incoming students participate in the Graduate Seminar in Legal Research. It is the core course in the Graduate Program at Osgoode. It is designed to work in tandem with and complement other courses. The Seminar provides a venue for developing critical assessments of the law and dealing with research and writing strategies, while facilitating students’ own progress with their research and writing of theses and dissertations. Along with the Graduate Law Students Association, the Graduate Seminar provides an opportunity for all first-year students to come together.