Academic Staff
Program Information
The Faculty offers a structured and personal LL.M. experience designed for successful completion within one calendar year, beginning in September. In addition to course work, the student must complete a thesis of 90 to 120 pages. Each student is assigned a faculty advisor with expertise in the chosen area of study, who will direct thesis research and design and assist the student in course selection. Each student is also assigned an external reader who will review and evaluate the thesis. Early and regular contact with the advisor is advised.
In the first term, the student will complete a required seminar course, Graduate Legal Research and Theory. The seminar’s focus on alternative approaches to legal study, legal research, and writing is designed to assist the student in approaching the thesis work, provide a collegial unity to the program, and facilitate the exchange of ideas. The student will take part in academic seminars and functions. In addition to the graduate seminar, the student will successfully complete a minimum of two courses, to be taken in either term and selected with the approval of the advisor. One course may be taken in a faculty other than Law.
That the Master of Laws program will enhance career prospects is seen in the fact that our international and Canadian graduates have secured positions in international corporations, legal practice, academic institutions, and doctoral programs.
Fields of Research
The Faculty of Law represents a variety of research interests and strengths. In addition to basic areas of common law — property, contract, tort, criminal, administrative, tax, international, family, constitutional, evidence, etc. — faculty expertise includes Aboriginal law, legal history, children and the law, intellectual property, law and literature, and international business and trade. The Faculty is home to the Asper Chair in International Business and Trade Law.
Research Facilities
The E.K. Williams Law Library offers support and facilities for searching the law, including state-of-the-art computer access. International students should bring with them materials including statutes, codes, judgments and reference books needed for thesis research.
Winnipeg is home to archival collections of materials relevant to legal studies. Collections include the Provincial Archives of Manitoba and its Government Records Centre, the Manitoba Legal-Judicial Archives, and the Legislative Library. The Provincial Archives house the Hudson’s Bay Company Archive, which contains millions of mainly pre-1900 documents. This is a unique and important resource for law and society studies related to the fur trade, the Hudson’s Bay Company, First Nations, Metis and Inuit cultures, and Canadian and English legal history.
Master of Laws (LL.M.)
Admission
In addition to the requirements of the Faculty of Graduate Studies set out in the Graduate Studies Regulations Section of this Calendar, candidates must show that they are equipped intellectually to engage in advanced legal study and research. The Faculty of Law anticipates that the prospective LL.M. student will have earned the LL.B. or equivalent degree in law with a first or high upper second (A or B+) standing. Applicants ordinarily hold a common law or Canadian civil law degree but applications from those whose legal education has been in another legal system will be given full consideration.
Contact the Faculty of Law at lawgrad@cc.umanitoba.ca for additional information and application procedures.
Applicants from non-English speaking countries must have an English language proficiency of 600-plus TOEFL score and may be required by the Faculty of Law to demonstrate proficiency based on other tests accepted by the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Some international students have arrived six to twelve months in advance of applying for admission to the LL.M. program in order to enrol in English as a Second Language courses at the University of Manitoba.
The Faculty of Law offers the Dickson, Freedman and Kristjiansson Graduate Fellowships. In partnership with the Faculty of Graduate Studies, the Faculty of Law may make additional awards. Applicants may wish to research other educational funding opportunities including support from the legal profession and awards, scholarships and bursaries available from or tenable at the University of Manitoba. Canadian embassies offer basic information services and should be contacted early. Criteria for admission, awards and fellowships are found on the Graduate Studies and Law web site.
Program Requirements
Minimum program requirements of the Faculty of Graduate Studies are found in the Graduate Studies Regulations Section of this Calendar. Students must attend the university full-time for a minimum of one academic year (normally September to May). Students are expected to complete the LL.M. program in one calendar year (normally, September to August for October convocation), although two years is permitted. Students must complete a satisfactory thesis on a subject approved by the advisor, to be submitted not later than eight weeks before the anticipated date of graduation. The student must successfully complete two courses in addition to Graduate Legal Research and Theory. Courses will be chosen in consultation with the advisor.
Subjects of Graduate Study
A candidate's subject of study shall be approved by the Graduate Studies Committee of the Faculty of Law. Thesis design, refinement and research will be supervised by a member of the Law Faculty.
Second language reading requirement: none
Expected time to graduate: one year, although two years is permitted.
Ph.D./S.J.D.
The Faculty of Law does not offer a Ph.D./S.J.D. Program
Course Descriptions
LAW 7110 Graduate Legal Research and Theory Cr.Hrs.2 (Formerly 045.711) Begins with visits to the Law Library and to the Provincial Archives of Manitoba, Government Records Centre, then epistemological problems are studied to define each student's research questions for the thesis; and thereafter weekly seminars explore doctrinal, interdisciplinary, comparative, and theoretical research perspectives (natural law to legal positivism, critical legal studies and post-modernism).
