Law 706: Major Paper Requirements

Course-based LLM students must register in Law 706, a full year course equivalent, for the completion of their major paper. The paper is to be prepared under the supervision of a Faculty member or other suitable person appointed by the Graduate Program Director. Completion of the Appointment of Supervisor / Supervisory Committee form (available on the Faculty of Graduate Studies website) is required. 

The major paper:

• must reflect extensive research on a topic and it must propose a solution to a problem or present a critical evaluation of an area of the law,
• shall be approximately 50 to 60 pages (15,000 - 18,000 words) in length, inclusive of footnotes,
• shall follow the requirements of the most recent edition of the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (McGill Guide),
• shall follow the Graduate Student Paper Style Guide (unless otherwise directed by the supervisor),
• shall include a table of contents and an abstract (of approximately 150 words),
• need not include a bibliography (unless required by the supervisor),
• will be evaluated according to the Criteria for Evaluating Papers document (unless otherwise advised by the supervisor).

The Graduate Program Director will appoint a second reader in consultation with the supervisor. The supervisor will advise the Graduate Program Director when the paper is in final form and ready to be submitted to the second reader.

The paper will be evaluated on a Pass/Fail basis by the supervisor and the second reader. In the event of disagreement between the supervisor and the second reader, the Graduate Program Director shall determine whether the paper is a Pass or Fail after reading the paper and then consulting with the supervisor and second reader.

Major paper deadlines are as follows:

• A complete, penultimate draft of the major paper must be submitted to the supervisor at least 4 weeks before the grade is due
• The final draft must be submitted to the second reader at least 2 weeks before the grade is due

This timetable gives the supervisor about a week to read the penultimate draft and the student about a week to make any required revisions before the second reader receives the final draft.

Major paper due dates for the 2011-12 academic year are as follows:

• December 5, 2011 (fall term)
• April 3, 2012 (winter term)
• August 28, 2012 (spring term)

It will still be possible for a student to defer their paper if it is not completed by the due date, but depending on the term, the student may then have to pay fees for another term and / or miss the Convocation deadline.