Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD)

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Overview

The PhD in Law is designed to provide advanced training for outstanding graduate students who have already obtained a Master of Laws (LLM) degree or its equivalent. The PhD is a research-intensive degree that prepares graduates for opportunities in law teaching, legal research, policy development, public and governmental service, and the practice of law.

The degree requirements include course work, comprehensive exams, a dissertation proposal and defence, a dissertation, and an oral dissertation exam. Working closely with a supervising faculty member, a student in the PhD program is expected to produce a book-length piece of original legal scholarship and of publishable quality.

The PhD provides an opportunity for focused study in a chosen field of law. It does not, of itself, qualify a holder for entry to the legal profession in British Columbia or any other certification for legal practice.

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Quick Facts

Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Subject
Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities
Mode of delivery
On campus
Registration options
Full-time
Specialization
Law
Program Components
Dissertation
Faculty
Peter A. Allard School of Law

Research Information

Research Facilities

Allard Hall, the home of the Peter A. Allard School of Law, was opened in 2011. The latest technology connects the Faculty with campuses, courthouses and offices around the world, and a new, state-of-the-art UBC Law Library serves as a vital academic hub for students and the legal community. Natural light, contemporary classroom designs, expanded student service spaces, a student forum space at the centre of the building, and new research spaces are all part of the new facility. The Law Library has a research collection of approximately 225,000 volumes.

Requirements

Document Requirements

Additionally to the required documents please submit:
C.V. or resume
Dissertation Proposal: PhD degrees in the Allard School of Law at UBC are dissertation-based degrees involving original research. Dissertation (PhD) proposals form an important part of the admissions process and help to guide the assignment of supervisors and supervisory committees. A proposal should outline a research project that could reasonably lead to a dissertation that makes an original scholarly contribution in the chosen field of legal study. The PhD dissertation proposal is approximately 10 pages (2,500 words), excluding bibliography. Clarity of expression is important. Please upload your thesis proposal under "Writing Sample".
List of possible thesis supervisors: All applicants must submit a list indicating your first and second choice for a thesis supervisor, this list should be uploaded to your application form. There is no need to secure a thesis supervisor nor is it is necessary to contact potential thesis supervisors prior to submission of an application as many faculty members prefer that applications are referred by the Graduate Committee for their review.

TOEFL (ibT) Overall Score Requirement

100
25
25
25
25

IELTS Overall Score Requirement

7.0
7.0
7.0
7.0
7.0

Supervisor commitment required prior to application?

No

Prior degree requirements

Completion of either an LLB or JD and a Masters degree.

Funding Sources

All full-time students who begin a UBC-Vancouver PhD program in September 2018 or later will be provided with a funding package of at least $18,000 for each of the first four years of their PhD. The funding package may consist of any combination of internal or external awards, teaching-related work, research assistantships, and graduate academic assistantships. Please note that many graduate programs provide funding packages that are substantially greater than $18,000 per year. Please check with your prospective graduate program for specific details of the funding provided to its PhD students.

Career Outcomes

24 students graduated between 2005 and 2013: 1 is in a non-salaried situation; for 1 we have no data (based on research conducted between Feb-May 2016). For the remaining 22 graduates:


RI (Research-Intensive) Faculty: typically tenure-track faculty positions (equivalent of the North American Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor positions) in PhD-granting institutions
TI (Teaching-Intensive) Faculty: typically full-time faculty positions in colleges or in institutions not granting PhDs, and teaching faculty at PhD-granting institutions
Term Faculty: faculty in term appointments (e.g. sessional lecturers, visiting assistant professors, etc.)
Sample Employers in Higher Education
Thompson Rivers University (2)
University of Victoria (2)
University of Manitoba (2)
University of Calgary (2)
University of Hong Kong
University of Alberta
La Trobe University
University of Macau
University of British Columbia
Institute of Development Studies
Sample Employers Outside Higher Education
OneBusinessAsia Group
Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada
Laramie County, Wyoming
Sample Job Titles Outside Higher Education
Lawyer (2)
Founder, Chairman
Senior Resolution Manager
Deputy County Attorney
PhD Career Outcome Survey
You may view the full report on career outcomes of UBC PhD graduates on outcomes.grad.ubc.ca.
Disclaimer
These data represent historical employment information and do not guarantee future employment prospects for graduates of this program. They are for informational purposes only. Data were collected through either alumni surveys or internet research.

Alumni on Success

Robert Russo

Job Title
Resolution Manager
Employer
Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs
All Alumni Profiles

Tuition / Program Costs

FeesCanadian Citizen / Permanent Resident / Refugee / DiplomatInternational
Application Fee$102.00$165.00
Tuition *
Installments per year33
Tuition per installment$1,632.61$2,868.22
Tuition per year$4,897.83$8,604.66
Int. Tuition Award (ITA) per year (if eligible) $3,200.00 (-)
Other Fees and Costs
Student Fees (yearly)$923.38 (approx.)
Costs of living (yearly)starting at $16,884.10 (check cost calculator)
* Regular, full-time tuition. For on-leave, extension, continuing or part time (if applicable) fees see UBC Calendar.
All fees for the year are subject to adjustment and UBC reserves the right to change any fees without notice at any time, including tuition and student fees. In case of a discrepancy between this webpage and the UBC Calendar, the UBC Calendar entry will be held to be correct.

Statistical Data

Enrolment Data

 20172016201520142013
Applications5332254241
Offers85646
New registrations65534
Total enrolment4342494854

Completion Rates & Times

This program has a graduation rate of 50% based on 38 students admitted between 2004 - 2007. Based on 20 graduations between 2013 - 2016 the minimum time to completion is 3.33 years and the maximum time is 7.33 years with an average of 5.51 years of study. All calculations exclude leave times.
Disclaimer
Admissions data refer to all UBC Vancouver applications, offers, new registrants for each year, May to April [data updated: 9 March 2018]. Enrolment data are based on March 1 snapshots. Program completion data are only provided for datasets comprised of more than 4 individuals. Rates and times of completion depend on a number of variables (e.g. curriculum requirements, student funding), some of which may have changed in recent years for some programs [data updated: 29 September 2017].

Research Supervisors

This list shows faculty members with full supervisory privileges who are affiliated with this program. It is not a comprehensive list of all potential supervisors as faculty from other programs or faculty members without full supervisory privileges can request approvals to supervise graduate students in this program.

  • Affolder, Natasha (International Environmental Law, Biodiversity Law, Law and Sustainability)
  • Aloni, Erez (Law, law and sexuality, family law)
  • Arbel, Efrat (Law, Refugee Law, Constitutional Law, Prison Law and Policy, Tort Law, Legal and Critical Theory , Gender and Law)
  • Bakan, Joel Conrad (Constitutional Law, Legal Theory, Socio-Legal Studies)
  • Beaudry, Jonas-Sebastien (Human Rights; Legal Theory; Disability Studies; Bioethics)
  • Benedet, Janine (Penal Law, Labor Standards and Laws, sexual violence against women, prostitution and pornography, sexual harassment in employment and education)
  • Biukovic, Ljiljana (Adaptation of international legal norms by national governments, the impact of regionalism on multilateral trade negotiations and the development of European Union Law,European union Law, International Trade Law, International Dispute Resolution, E-commerce, Comparative Law )
  • Bobinski, Mary Anne (legal education (including costs of education/tuition), health law, bioethics, reproductive health law (including cloning, fetal protection, abortion), comparative health law (U.S. and Canada), HIV (legal and policy issues), health care disparities, medical research (legal and ethical aspects of), Health Law, Comparative Health Law, Bioethics, HIV Law & Policy, Reproductive Law & Policy, Torts)
  • Christie, Gordon (Legal Theory, and trans-cultural tort law, Aboriginal law, Indigenous legal orders, Indigenous legal theory, Legal Theory and trans-cultural tort law)
  • Cui, Wei (Taxation, Law, Social Organization and Political Systems, tax and development, law and development, tax policy, Chinese legislative system, Chinese administrative law, Law and economics)
  • Cunliffe, Emma (Women and the law, evidence, experts, courts and media, open justice, pathology and law, criminal law, SIDS, child homicide )
  • Dauvergne, Catherine (Immigration, Immigration Law, Refugee Law, Legal Theory, Globalization)
  • Duff, David (Tax Law Tax Policy Environmental Taxation Charities, Tax law and policy, environmental taxation, comparative and international taxation, and distributive justice)
  • Edinger, Elizabeth (Constitutional Law, Conflicts (Private International Law), Creditor-Debtor Law )
  • Ford, Cristie (Law, Regulation, Administrative Law, Laws, Standards and Regulation Impacts, financial regulation, securities regulation, regulation & governance theory, administrative law, financial innovation and "fintech", legal innovation and "law tech", the legal profession)
  • Goldbach, Toby (Procedural Law, Jurisprudence, Dispute Resolution, Comparative Law, Judicial Politics, Law and Development)
  • Goold, Benjamin (Law, Privacy, Security, Criminal Justice, Human Rights)
  • Grant, Isabel (Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Psychiatry and Law)
  • Harris, Douglas (Law, People, Cities and Lands, Urban Spaces and Urbanity, property law , condominium law, legal history)
  • Hastie, Bethany (Labour & Employment Law, Human Rights, Socio-Legal Studies, Access to Justice)
  • Hutchison, Camden
  • Johnston, Darlene (First Nations legal issues, Indigenous legal traditions, canadian aboriginal and treaty rights, law and colonialism, relationship between totemic identity, territoriality and governance)
  • Kaushal, Asha
  • LeBaron, Michelle (law, dispute resolution, conflict resolution, community conflict, cross-cultural conflict resolution, Cross-cultural Conflict Resolution, Law, Legal Culture and Conflict Resolution, Conflict across Worldview Differences, Creativity and Conflict, Gender and Conflict, Religion and Conflict, Teaching Innovation and Effective Teaching and Learning)
  • Liao, Carol (Business Law, Corporate Governance, Sustainable Development Law, Law and Economics, Social Enterprise Law, Access to Justice)

Pages

Recent Doctoral Citations

  • Dr. Maggie Juan Li
    "Dr. Li examined the Chinese migrant construction workers' values, ideas, opinions, and attitudes with regard to the general legal system in China, especially with respect to labour dispute resolution, and trade unions. This study explores how traditional local values in China still play a dominant role in the migrant workers' daily lives." (November 2017)
  • Dr. Gerardo Juan Munarriz
    "Dr. Munarriz studied the opposition and resistance of Indigenous communities in Peru to extractive projects that affect their lands, health and life. He examined the central role of law in the dispossession of Indigenous lands by multinational corporations, as well as in the increasing criminalization and repression of affected communities." (November 2017)
  • Dr. Fernando Villasenor Rodriguez
    "Dr. Villaseñor compared the right to social security in two countries with very different economies but with similar social and legal problems: Japan and Mexico. This study revealed the roles of conservative culture, the judiciary and society in determining constitutional outcomes." (November 2017)
  • Dr. Wenqin Liang
    "Dr. Liang studied the oversight and regulation regime of China's domestic cap-and-trade carbon market in the context of the country's environmental governance reform. Her research provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between law, administrative regulation and market in China, in both their long-run equilibrium and dynamic interactions." (May 2017)
  • Dr. Yue Liu
    "Dr. Liu studied judicial reform in China from the 1980s to 2015, focusing on the autonomy of judges in Chinese courts. Her research investigated the main influence in the adjudication and independence of the judges. This research will inform policy making and implementation of future judicial reform in China." (May 2017)

Sample Thesis Submissions

Further Program Information

 
 

September 2019 Intake
Application Open Date
01 September 2018
Canadian Applicant Deadline
15 December 2018
International Applicant Deadline
15 December 2018

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