Curriculum
Required Courses
a) Thesis-based LLM
Graduate students enrolled in the thesis-based LLM program must take both Law 703: Graduate Seminar in Legal Research & Methodology and Law 705: Graduate Seminar in Legal Theory and two (2) elective courses in natural resources, energy or environmental law or a related area.
b) Course-based LLM
Those enrolled in the course-based LLM program must take Law 703: Graduate Seminar in Legal Research & Methodology and five (5) elective courses in natural resources, energy or environmental law or a related area.
c) Post Graduate Certificate
Those enrolled in the Post Graduate Certificate program must take four (4) elective courses in the areas of natural resources, energy or environmental law or a related area.
Law 703: Graduate Seminar in Legal Research & Methodology (Fall term; 2 hours; enrolment limited to LLM students)
The purpose of this course, together with the Graduate Seminar in Legal Theory, is to prepare LLM students to develop, research and write a thesis or major research paper and to assist LLM students in their development as legal scholars. The distinctive nature of legal scholarship and its professional context will be explored. This course will help students define the research question(s) to be answered through their thesis or major research paper and examine research methodologies that assist scholars working in particular areas of law or within specific theoretical frameworks. Students will be introduced to specific research techniques such as quantitative social science research and qualitative social science research (including structured interviews). The challenges of comparative and cross-cultural work will also be addressed. This course will also provide LLM students with a forum to discuss their ongoing research. It will therefore include the development of oral presentation skills for participation in conferences, workshops, etc. Assignments: Short, closed-research paper; statement of thesis or major paper; reiteration of the statement of thesis or major paper; web-based annotated bibliography; and oral presentation.
Law 705: Graduate Seminar in Legal Theory (Winter term; 2 hours; enrolment limited to LLM students)
This course explores a wide array of schools of legal theory, with the goal of helping students situate their graduate research within one or more of those approaches to legal scholarship. The seminar will be structured primarily around a series of readings describing different theoretical approaches and applying these approaches to the areas of natural resources, energy and environmental law. In addition to discussing the content of these readings, students will also be introduced to the process of reflection that lies behind a piece of scholarship by exploring why and how the various authors pursue their research questions, and why those questions are important. Assignments: Literature review of a perspective on law; and oral workshop presentation of thesis and its theoretical perspective.
Elective Courses
The law school is currently engaged in curriculum review and additional courses in the natural resources, energy and environmental law areas will be added to the curriculum. Currently, we offer the following courses in our areas of specialization:
- Environmental Law - Law 681.11
- Corporate Governance and Litigation - Law 681.19
- International Development Law - Law 681.21
- Municipal Law - Law 681.32
- International Trade Law - Law 681.42
- Oil and Gas Law - Law 681.51
- Theoretical Foundations of Property Law - Law 681.53
- Aboriginal Law - Law 635
- International Tax - Law 681.23
- Energy Law - Law 681.30
- Water Law - Law 681.33
- International Petroleum Transactions - Law 681.37
- International Environmental Law - 681.38
- Oil and Gas Contracts - Law 681.60
- Public Lands and Natural Resources - Law 681.61
- Law of Species and Spaces - Law 681.64
- Biotechnology and the Law - Law 649.20
Courses currently offered in related areas include the following:
- Law 651 Directed Research I
- Law 653 Directed Research II
- Law 609 Canadian Legal History
- Law 663 Dispute Resolution
- Law 649 Law and Contemporary Problems
Please see the course descriptions for the above list of courses. Descriptions for courses offered for one term but described in the Law Calendar are available as a link from the Timetables / Registration page.
In the future, we plan to offer the following courses, some to be offered every year and others to be offered alternate years:
- Oil and Gas and Mining Taxation Law
- Alternative Energy Law: Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
- International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
- International Investment Law
- Environmental Law and Ethics
- Pollution Control and Waste Management Law
- Environmental Impact Assessment Law
- Regulatory Theory and the Law
- Law and Economics