Admissions to the LL.M and Ph.D. Programs

The LL.M. and Ph.D. programs in law at Queen's are limited to a small number of highly qualified students, and the admissions process is therefore competitive. Admissions decisions are made by the Faculty of Law and the School of Graduate Studies and Research at Queen's.

Admission to the LL.M. program:

Up to 12 LL.M. students may be admitted each year. Successful applicants will normally have obtained a high standing in an undergraduate or first law degree (LL.B., J.D. or equivalent). At very least, they will have achieved a B+ average (or upper second-class standing) in their first law degree.

Applications from highly qualified candidates without an LL.B. or J.D. (or equivalent first law degree) but with an advanced degree in another discipline, a superior record of academic achievement, and a special research interest in law, may also be considered.

Students for the LL.M. program are selected on the basis of their academic records, their references, their research proposals, and the quality of prior written work. Consideration will also be given to the availability of graduate supervision in the applicant's area of interest. Offers made to applicants still in the process of completing a first degree in law will be made conditional upon timely completion of that degree with a satisfactory standing.

LL.M. students must be proficient in English (see below).

Admission to the Ph.D. program:

Two or three doctoral students in law may be admitted each year. The faculty seeks graduate students with records of impressive academic achievement and demonstrated scholarly potential. Applicants will normally have a first or undergraduate law degree (LL.B. or J.D. or equivalent) and an LL.M. or equivalent masters-level degree in law. Exceptional applicants may be admitted directly to the Ph.D. program after obtaining a J.D. or LL.B. (or equivalent first law degree), without having completed an LL.M. or equivalent masters-level law degree.

Decisions will be based upon the student's academic record, including both transcripts and awards (with a standing of at least B+ or an upper-second class standing in previous university degree programs required); quality and strength of references; merits of the statement of proposed research; research capacities and potential as revealed by previous academic writing, especially published work; compatibility with faculty resources, in particular the availability of a qualified supervisor and the sufficiency of library holdings in the proposed area of research; and, where appropriate, weight may also be given to the ability of the student to participate as a research assistant in an externally-funded faculty research project.

Doctoral students must be proficient in English (see below).

Application Procedures and Deadlines for LL.M. and Ph.D. Programs

Applications to graduate study at Queen's University are found on the School of Graduate Studies website at: http://www.queensu.ca/sgs/index.html. There is a non-refundable application fee of $105.00 CAN for each application to a program.

The following materials are required to complete the application:

• Two current academic recommendations. Applicants applying online will have the option of having their referee submit the letter of recommendation to Queen's electronically. Photocopied or stale dated letters are not accepted.
• Two sets of official transcripts of the applicant's complete university-level academic record, sent to the School of Graduate Studies by each university the applicant has attended. If the transcripts are sent by the university to the applicant first, they will only be accepted if the applicant forwards them to Queen's in the original sealed envelope in which they were sent by the issuing university. Photocopied transcripts or those printed from university websites are not accepted. Degree and graduation certificates must be included if the transcript does not indicate the type of degree and date granted. Transcripts in languages other than English or French must be accompanied by an English or French translation provided by the institution issuing the transcript.

Applicants who apply with a paper application can refer to the Application Requirements section of the application package. This document is also available at: http://www.queensu.ca/sgs/index.html

In addition to the above listed materials sent to the School of Graduate Studies, applicants should send the following directly to the Graduate Program at the Queen's Faculty of Law:

1. A research proposal or statement of the subject area in which the applicant would like to do research in the LL.M. or Ph.D. program. This statement should be two to five pages in length and give an idea of the applicant's understanding of the topic and research plans. Once admitted to the program, students may alter their research plans, subject to availability of faculty supervisors.
2. A statement of the applicant's career objectives and reasons for wanting to pursue graduate studies in law.
3. One or two writing samples that demonstrate the applicant's research and writing abilities, written originally in English and, preferably, written in an academic context.

The research proposal, statement of career interest and writing samples may be sent as a WordPerfect or Word attachment electronically to lawgrad@queensu.ca, or in hard copy by mail to:

Graduate Studies Assistant
Faculty of Law
Queen's University
Macdonald Hall
128 Union Street
Kingston, ON
K7L 3N6
Canada 

Deadline for Applications/Late Applications

All applications for admission to the LL.M. and Ph.D. programs completed prior to March 1st (of the year for which admission is sought) will be considered without regard to the submission date. Students whose applications and supporting documents are not received by March 1st may still be considered, but they may have diminished access to Queen's student financial awards. Late applications will only be considered if places remain open.

LL.M. applicants wishing to begin their LL.M. studies in May by attending the Global Law Program in England must submit complete applications by February 1st of the year they wish to begin.

International Applicants

International applicants are advised to apply well in advance of the departmental deadline because immigration procedures may be lengthy. If you are an international applicant please review the information provided at:

http://www.queensu.ca/sgs/forstudents/InternationalStudents/consideringQueens.html.

International students will require a visa to study in Canada. Once admitted, international students are required to make their own applications to the closest Canadian embassy or consulate for a visa. Queen's will provide documentation to assist with this process by sending a letter of support to the embassy or consulate. Depending upon the country, a visa may take as long as three months to arrange.

Queen's welcomes students from all over the world. The International Student Centre has been established to help students with their transition to life in Canada, and to provide support and social and educational opportunities for them during their stay here. See http://quic.queensu.ca/. There is also information about housing for international students at http://quic.queensu.ca/resource/housing.asp

English Language Proficiency

Graduate students in law must have a very good command of spoken and written English to be admitted to the program. Applicants for whom English is not a first language and who have not attended an English-speaking post secondary institution for one complete year will normally be required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) administered by: The College Entrance Examination Board, Educational Testing Service, Box 899, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, USA. In some cases applicants may be permitted to take instead the test given by the English Language Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbour, Michigan, USA.

To be considered for admission, candidates must attain: a TOEFL paper-based total score of at least 600 or a computer-based total score of at least 250 or an internet-based total score of at least 100 and a minimum of 5.0 in the Test of Written English. Official TOEFL and TWE results must be received in the Faculty of Law by March 31.