The coursework-only option is aimed at law students who wish to specialize in a specific area of law, particularly one of the Faculty of Law's areas of strength - such as business law, criminal law, legal theory, and more. Students in this option may wish to develop an understanding of North American legal processes and laws, or to explore the common law at an advanced level. Students can customize an area of focus in the coursework-only LLM through their course selections and writing requirement. 

All LLM candidates participate in the LLM seminar, which will have substantive and skills based classes. The purpose of this seminar is to provide LLM students with an introduction to various theoretical, doctrinal, empirical and critical approaches to legal scholarship, using an experiential pedagogy that integrates academic skills such as legal writing, research and exam-writing.

Graduate students choose their other courses from those available in the JD program, which are posted on-line in the summer. Graduate students are expected to choose upper-level and seminar courses.

The coursework-only LLM is designed to be undertaken on a full-time basis. In some rare cases, we are able to admit a student on a part-time basis. This only happens, however, if there are special circumstances that prevent the student from dedicating him or herself to the program on a full time basis. Working on a full-time basis is NOT one of the circumstances that justify granting this accommodation. If you wish to study part-time due to accommodations-based needs, you must indicate your request for part-time status in your application, and provide documentation to support your request. Please note that requesting part-time status does not guarantee that your request will be granted. 

Note: an LLM does not qualify foreign-trained candidates to practise law in Ontario, and LLM students are not permitted to take courses from the first year JD program. Contact the National Commitee on Accreditation for information on practising law in Ontario. See also information on NCA-related offerings at the Faculty of Law.

Application Information