Doctor of Philosophy in Law

Home to a community of 20 to 30 students from around the world, our graduate program combines personally-tailored study plans with close supervision by some of Canada's finest legal minds. Our goals are to develop students into future professors and jurists and to enable private and public sector practitioners to achieve deep specialization.

We offer an advanced graduate program in law leading to the PhD (Doctor of Philosophy in Law) to a small number of highly qualified candidates.

• One directed reading course
• One area exam
• Thesis proposal defence
• Course work and other examinations as required by the Graduate Studies Committee
• Thesis 

Requirements

• First-class thesis Master’s degree or its equivalent
• Minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 (B average) in the last 60 credit hours of study
• Degree granted by university of recognized standing
• Students for whom English is not their first language and who did not complete their previous degree at an English-speaking university will need to submit proof of English language proficiency.TOEFL iBT 100, TOEFL PB 600, IELTS 7.5
• An applicant is required to satisfy the Graduate Studies Committee of the Schulich School of Law that the suggested topic is suitable for development as a doctoral thesis.
• An applicant must submit a preliminary Thesis Proposal (maximum approximately 3,000 words). The Proposal should outline the proposed research, address existing literature in the area and methodological and theoretical approaches which will be employed. The Proposal should be sufficient to enable the Graduate Studies Committee to assess the suitability of the topic for development of the doctoral thesis, as well as the availability of supervisory resources and the capability of the applicant to undertake the project.
• Pay $100 application fee

Want to improve your English level for admission?

Prepare for the program requirements with English Online by the British Council.

• ✔️ Flexible study schedule
• ✔️ Experienced teachers
• ✔️ Certificate upon completion

📘 Recommended for students with an IELTS level of 6.0 or below.

Enroll in the course

Scholarships

• Bursaries
• Faculty of Graduate Studies Scholarships
• Eliza Ritchie Doctoral Scholarship for Women
• The President's Awards
• Phi Kappa Pi Joe Ghiz Memorial Award
• Nova Scotia Graduate Scholarship