The aim of the PhD program in law is to train first-rate researchers and lawyers with a clearly competitive profile in their chosen field of legal expertise. As the final stage of advanced training, this doctorate aims to combine the consolidation of legal knowledge with the development of such competence and skills as may be necessary for moving into the world of teaching or professional practice. A further aim of this doctorate is for the graduate to gain advanced training in research techniques. In this sense the purpose is to consolidate all the necessary analytical, methodological and technical skills so that the students can perform quality research, a valuable asset in debates and in international academic research in the field of law.
Attaining this aim will also require stressing the importance of the capacity to understand, analyse and use multidisciplinary materials and bibliography, and in different languages.
Selected majors/areas of research for a PhD in Law include
State and Citizen
Social Justice, Equality and Law
Law in the Digital Age
Law and Economic Governance
Legal Ethics, Process and Dispute Resolution
Clinical Legal Education
Legal Theory
Transnational Law
Students in a law doctoral program must pass a written and oral qualifying exam and then complete and formally defend a doctoral dissertation based on original research. In general, all law PhD programs require that successful candidates for the degree demonstrate:
The ability to conduct independent research at a high level, leading to completion of a dissertation which is defended before a committee of scholars. Because examinations given as part of a PhD curriculum assess expert knowledge, they are created and evaluated by a committee of experts, each of whom holds a PhD degree
Proficiency in the tools necessary to carry out this research, including but not limited to computer skills, bibliographic competence, and reading of one or more foreign languages
Mastery of general and specific subject matter in the field of study before a committee of scholars
Part- and full-time study options, along with various delivery modes - residential programs, distance education programs and online programs - are also available. North American PhD programs in the law welcome foreign students. However, fluency in spoken and written English is critically important.
