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The online application system will open on September 15. Candidates can begin their application at that time, up until the deadline (see below). The Faculty evaluates files and makes admission decisions on a rolling basis.

Application deadline and required supporting documents

The deadline to apply to all graduate law programs (LLM, DCL, and Graduate Certificates) is December 15; files must include supporting documents before being forwarded to the Â鶹AV Committee for review. As such, candidates must arrange for all required documents to be uploaded by the deadline of December 15. (Please note that you will only be able to upload your supporting documents after paying the application fee.)

Please refrain from sending any other documents or items, as these will not be considered in your application. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that all required supporting documents are submitted as early as possible.

Â鶹AV Graduate Law offers the September entrance only; Winter and Summer admissions are not available.

Special/Exchange/Visiting: The Faculty of Law does not accept special, exchange, or visiting students.

Application

CandidatesÌýmust .

Research Proposal - DCL and LLM programs

Applicants to the DCL or LLM programs must submit a research proposal.

Research Proposal - Doctor of Civil Law (DCL)

In your research proposal, we expect you to clearly set out your research question, its significance and importance, and your methodology in answering the question. Research proposals are normally around 10 pages long, excluding bibliography, double spaced.

The Graduate Programs Â鶹AV Committee places great weight on the proposal, so we encourage you to take your time in formulating it. In addition, you should indicate specifically why Â鶹AV Law is the right place to conduct your studies.

You may propose potentially supervisors, but we ask that you not write to faculty members to secure their agreement to supervise your work. The Graduate Â鶹AV Committee will select the appropriate supervisor.

Font: Times New Roman or equivalent, 12 points. Please insert a minimum margin of 1 inch around the page (top, bottom and sides).

Research Proposal – Master of Laws (LLM) - Thesis

The Thesis program is, as the name suggests, primarily directed to students who want to undertake sustained and concentrated work in a particular area of the law. This option is often, though not exclusively, selected by students who have ambitions to do doctoral work one day, or which to enter the academy.

In your research proposal, you should describe your intended program of study as a graduate student in Law at Â鶹AV. Your description should illustrate the reasons that you are interested in writing a thesis, rather than undertaking a course-based LLM, and your preparation for doing so.

Your research proposal should be two pages long. As a rough guide, approximately one page should be used to describe your background, including your reasons for choosing law as a course of study and the reasons you want to pursue graduate work in law. You should use the other page to show preparedness for a major research project familiarity with the broad field in which you plan to do intensive research and writing, as well as some at least tentative ideas about the specific topic(s) you will broach in your thesis. Your proposal should suggest why the subject matter is interesting and important, as well as illustrating your capacity to make a real contribution to knowledge and understanding and reasons for undertaking your project at Â鶹AV’s Faculty of Law. If you are applying to one of our specialized programs, you should include an indication of your suitability for the particular option in which you are interested.

Font: Times New Roman or equivalent, 12 points, single spaced. Please insert a minimum margin of 1 inch around the page (top, bottom and sides).

Research Proposal – Master of Laws (LLM) - Non-Thesis

The Non-Thesis program generally attracts students who wish to broaden their understanding of the law through attendance in multiple and varied courses and then to deepen their knowledge about one particular area by means of a supervised writing project that involves a substantial piece of research approximately half the length of a full thesis.

You should describe your intended program of study as a graduate student in law at Â鶹AV. In your description, set out the reasons you are interested in pursuing a course-based LLM and your preparation for doing so.

Your research proposal should be one page long. As a rough guide, you should describe your background, including your reasons for choosing law as a course of study, and the reasons you want to pursue graduate work in law. You should also highlight your interest in pursuing more course work at Â鶹AV, and the reasons that this program will complement and enhance your past legal education. Please include a preliminary idea of the area in which you would like to complete a supervised research project. While you need not have specific topic in mind, you should discuss one or more subjects that you have found intellectually stimulating in the past and what you learned from them. If you are applying to one of our specialized programs, you should include an indication of your suitability for the particular option in which you are interested.

Font: Times New Roman or equivalent, 12 points, single spaced. Please insert a minimum margin of 1 inch around the page (top, bottom and sides).

Personal Statement (Certificate applicants only)

You must describe your intended program of study as a graduate student in Law at Â鶹AV. Your description should illustrate the reasons for which you are interested in pursuing your chosen program and your preparation for doing so. Your description of candidacy should be of one to two paragraphs. It should describe the connections between your past education and experience, and the Certificate course-based program you wish to pursue at Â鶹AV.

Environment and Bioethics options

Environment
Not offered for Fall 2024 entry.

Master's thesis (DCLÌýapplicants only)

DCLÌýapplicants mustÌýprovide a copy of their completed Master's thesis. If the thesis is still in progress, the applicant is required to submit 2-3 completed chapters.

If you did not write a thesis, please upload a major research paper you wrote during your LLM instead.

Letters of recommendation

• Â鶹AV will request letters of recommendation on your behalf from referees you identify on the application form.
• Two letters of recommendation from professors are required.
• Referees will receive an email from Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies with instructions on how to submit their letter of reference.
• Be sure to indicate valid institutional or corporate e-mail addresses in your online application. Electronic letters sent from a public domain address such as Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail or Videotron, etc, will not be considered official.
• For the doctoral program, one of the letters must be from the applicant's Master's thesis supervisor.

Transcripts

Applicants must upload transcripts of all university-level studies attended to date, including exchange programs, credit transfers, certificates, and diplomas. If your transcript(s) does not indicate that a degree has been awarded, a copy of the degree certificate (diploma) must also be uploaded.

All transcripts must be accompanied with the official grading system used by the applicant's university(s). If this document is not received, the file will not be reviewed and will remain incomplete.

• Applicants must be graduates of an accredited university and hold a Bachelor of Laws degree with a cumulative grade point average of 3.0/4.0 or its equivalent (Upper Second Class).
• Applicants must submit a list of titles of courses taken in the major subject if the transcripts give code numbers only.
• Transcripts in a language other than English or French must be accompanied by an English or French translation provided either by the school issuing the transcript or by a certified translator.
• Transcripts sent to Â鶹AV become the property of the University. As such, they will not be returned or forwarded to other institutions.

Test scores (if required)

It is critical that valid test scores are reported via appropriate channel. Please ensure to also consult the list of proof of English proficiency recognized by Â鶹AV.

• Please note that the latest date by which you can take any English test is December 15. No test will be accepted beyond that date
• The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) official score report. The official score report must be sent directly toÌýÂ鶹AVÌýby the testing agency. Test scores are valid for two (2) years; they are accepted only if reported electronically by the testing agency. Our Institution Code is 0935.
• The IELTS (International English Language Testing System) official score report. The official score report must be sent directly toÌýÂ鶹AVÌýby the testing agency. Test scores are valid for two (2) years; they must be reported electronically.
• The Â鶹AV Certificate of Proficiency in English or Â鶹AV Certificate of Proficiency – English for Professional Communication official transcript. Applicants should not submit official transcripts of studies at Â鶹AV. The Â鶹AV Office will obtain these results directly from Enrolment Services. Please note that applicants must complete the entire Certificate during the fall term at the latest (i.e.: complete the entire Certificate by Fall 2023 for the Fall 2024 admissions cycle).
• The GRE is not required.

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Curriculum vitae

Applicants must submit a curriculum vitae highlighting their academic background and achievements, their work experience (including volunteer and community work), as well as extra-curricular activities and other significant interests.