Upper Years
The upper-year program at Jackman Law is rich and varied, with more than 180 courses offered each year. The breadth and depth of the curriculum allows the law school to tailor programs of study to the individual interests and ambitions of students. Students are encouraged to pursue their own interests and to undertake advanced work, including independent study under the supervision of a faculty member.
All students must complete a course on Canadian Administrative Law in order to graduate. Because this is a co-or pre-requisite for many upper year courses, the Faculty advises students to take Administrative Law as early in the program as they can
All students must complete at least one Critical Perspectives course concerned with the nature, source, and purpose of legal regulation in general rather than with the study of legal doctrine in a particular area. Intensive courses cannot satisfy the Critical Perspectives course requirement.
All students must complete at least one International, Comparative, or Transnational Law (ICT) course for a minimum of 2 credits. An ICT course is cncerned with global themes and requires student to examine law from a non-Canadian perspective. ICT courses contain a significant international, comparative, or transnational component. Intensive courses do not satisfy the ICT course requirement.
All students must complete a moot that is part of the law school's oral advocacy program, either by trying out for and being selected to represent the Faculty in a Competitive Moot, or enrolling in the Upper Year Moot.
In addition to mandatory participation in first year ethics and professionalism programming, students must complete an upper year course of at least 2 credits that is dedicated to ethics and professionalism.
Students must complete an intensive course during January of either their second or third program year. The Intensive credit is counted toward the Winter term. (See Distinguished Visiting Faculty Program, below.)
Students must complete a course dedicated to the study of legal procedures for a minimum of two credits. A course that satisfied this requirement studies legal procedures designed to resolve disputes and problems. Courses that meet this requirement include Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, and Alternative Dispute Resolution.
In the upper years, students have many opportunities to develop their legal research and writing skills. These include:
Seminars: Many professors offer seminars in their areas of research. By enrolling in a seminar, students have the opportunity to interact closely with a faculty member and to complete a significant piece of legal writing. In addition, many seminars offer a “supervised upper year research paper” option: the opportunity to produce a more substantial paper under the instructor's supervision, for additional credit (LAW599H).
Directed Research Program (LAW291H or Y): Students wishing to undertake original doctrinal, interdisciplinary or empirical research may approach professors to seek supervision for a research project, and then propose the project to the Faculty’s Directed Research Committee for approval.
Advanced Legal Research, Analysis & Writing (LAW307H): This course, taught by professional research lawyers, develops students' research and writing skills further than the first year required course.
A defining feature of the Faculty's upper-year program is the Distinguished Visiting Faculty Program. Each year the Distinguished Visiting Faculty Program brings approximately 10 world-renowned academics to the Faculty to teach intensive courses in their area of specialty. This program allows students to learn from some of the best legal scholars, jurists and policy-makers in the world. In past years, Distinguished Visiting faculty have included justices from the Canadian Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal, and from the supreme courts of numerous other countries; leading legal scholars from Canada and from around the world, including from Europe, Asia, Australasia, Africa and the Middle East; and Canadian and international scholars in a wide range of other disciplines. The Faculty offers these intensive courses in early January, before the Winter term upper year classes begin.
Students continue to learn outside the four walls of the Faculty's classrooms through an experiential education program that includes legal clinics, externship placements, student-run law journals, and an extensive mooting program.
Through various exchange programs and internships, upper-year students can study and work across Canada and around the world.
Jackman Law also offers a wide range of Combined Programs. Students in the Combined Programs earn a law degree and a second graduate-level degree throu another Division at the University.
For detailed information about the Upper Year Program, see the JD Degree Requirements in the Academic Handbook.