The program requirements with which doctoral students at the Faculty of Law must comply are as follows:
Timely Completion of Graduate Program Requirements
Please find below the School of Graduate Studies Rules and Regulations regarding the satisfaction of degree requirements:
“Continuation in a degree program requires satisfactory progress towards the completion of that program. A student's progress in a degree program will be considered satisfactory only if the student satisfies and completes the various requirements for that degree in a manner consistent with the SGS General Regulations and Degree Regulations and the graduate unit's timeline for completion of the degree program.
A graduate unit may recommend to the School of Graduate Studies that a student's registration and degree eligibility be terminated when a student fails to maintain satisfactory progress towards the completion of the degree.”
The program requirements with which doctoral students at the Faculty of Law must comply are set out here and in the Faculty’s entry in the School of Graduate Studies calendar.
SJD Program Requirements Timeline
Please review the timeline below, which sets out the timeline according to which they must completed (absent, of course, exceptional circumstances or leaves of absence), and the forms that you must submit once you have completed each requirement.
First Year SJD Students must complete the following requirements within their first year in the program:
Coursework
Students must complete the mandatory graduate seminar LAW 1000H Alternative Approaches to Legal Scholarship (0.75 full-course equivalents [FCEs]). Other coursework requirements are optional and shall be determined upon consultation with the supervisor. All coursework shall be subject to the approval of the Associate Dean, Graduate Studies.
Annual Committee Meeting
Students must meet with their entire supervisory committee at least once a year every year in which they are registered in the program.
Area Exam
In order to continue into the second year, all SJD students have to pass an area exam at the end of the first year. The point of the area exam is to ensure that students are working productively in the first year and are ready to go forward with their thesis in subsequent years. Students must demonstrate competence in a broader area within which the topic falls before being allowed to proceed with formal research on a thesis topic. A secondary aim is to ensure that the committee system is up and running in the first year.
The student's supervisory committee (established by the student and approved by the Associate Dean, Graduate Studies) assists in framing that area and compiling an appropriate plan for carrying out the research. The research undertaken by the student culminates in a research project, which is either a draft of a chapter of the thesis or an overview of the general argument, based on the reading list (between 30 and 50 pages). The student then meets with their committee to discuss the written work and its relation to the thesis. The committee must be satisfied, on the basis of both the written work and the discussion, that the student has put in place the foundation for further work and has a sense of how to negotiate their research project. It is important therefore that the written work not amount to a mere survey of material. It should also demonstrate the student’s ability to argue.
Please note that students are not permitted to proceed with their doctoral studies if they are unable to pass their areas exam. If the committee does not think that you have produced sufficient material for the area exam, or if you have not performed adequately at an area exam, you must be informed and given precise direction about how to improve your performance. In the latter case, a second exam should be scheduled as soon as possible. If at this second exam you again fail to perform adequately, we will discuss with the committee whether you should be asked to withdraw from the program. The same is true if you fail to produce sufficient material for an area exam to take place in the first place. We urge supervisors to ensure that the committee is in fact confident that the student has demonstrated an ability to proceed with the thesis.
After completing the area exam, students must submit the completed Area Exam and Annual Meeting forms to the Graduate Program Coordinator.
Forms required
Please log in to MyUofTLaw to access the required forms.
Second Year SJD students must complete the following program requirements during their second year in the SJD program:
Second Year Presentation
In the second year, SJD students must present an overview of their dissertation and one chapter in a public presentation including their committee members, other interested faculty, the Associate Dean, and fellow SJD students. Students must canvass the Associate Dean and faculty supervisor first for their availability. Once a date has been confirmed, students must submit an abstract to be circulated with email invitation (sent by the Graduate Program Coordinator) to all prospective attendees.
Please ensure, where possible, that you provide the Graduate Program Coordinator with at least four weeks’ notice, so that an invitation can be circulated well in advance of your presentation and attendees given a reasonable amount of time to review your abstract and come prepared to provide helpful feedback.
Most presentations take place between March and June of a student's second year.
Annual Committee Meeting
Students must meet with their entire supervisory committee at least once a year every year in which they are registered in the program. In the second year, the annual committee meeting can be separate from the second year presentation or can be held before/after the second year presentation.
Forms required
Please log in to MyUofTLaw to access the required forms.
Third Year SJD students must complete the following program requirements during their third year in the SJD program:
Candidacy
Students in their third year of the SJD program must achieve candidacy in order to be allowed to register for a fourth year. To achieve candidacy, students must remain in good standing (no grades below B-) and have successfully completed each of the following program requirements and submitted the required form to the Graduate Program:
- 1st year area exam/1st year committee meeting
- 2nd year presentation
- 2nd year committee meeting
- 3rd year committee meeting
If students fail to complete one (or more) of the requirements listed above, they will need to fill out the SGS Extension to Achieve Candidacy Form and submit it to the Graduate Program Coordinator. Students will need to complete any of the outstanding activities above before the end of the first semester of their fourth year (typically the fall semester). Students who fail to complete the requirements by then will need to meet with the Associate Dean, Graduate Programs.
Annual Committee Meeting
Students must meet with their entire supervisory committee at least once a year every year in which they are registered in the program.
Forms required
Please log in to MyUofTLaw to access the required forms.
Annual Committee Meetings
Students must meet with their entire supervisory committee at least once per year in which they are registered in the program. The supervisor must submit an SJD Meeting Report after each meeting and the student should submit a SJD Meeting Tracker every year.
Program Time Limit and Program Extension
The SJD program has a degree time limit of 5 years, after which students need to request a program extension for each subsequent academic year in order to register.
In order to be invited to register for their 6th year and beyond, students will need to fill out the SGS Program Extension Form (please note that supervisors need to fill out section 2 of the form).
Doctoral students can request up to 4 program extensions.
Forms required
Please log in to MyUofTLaw to access the required forms.
Ready to Defend?
We can start scheduling a student's defence once your thesis has been approved by a student's supervisory committee:
- The supervisor will need send the Associate Dean and the Graduate Program Coordinator an email to let us know that the thesis has been approved by the supervisory committee and is ready for submission.
- The student will need to complete the Final Oral Examination form (log in to MyUofTLaw to access the form). The final approved version of the thesis (PDF format) will need to be submitted using the online FOE form.
It usually takes 8 to 10 weeks to schedule a final oral examination (FOE) – please note that it is sometimes harder to find a date during the summer as professors might be on vacation/travelling for conferences, etc. Please note that neither a supervisor nor a student should have any contact with the proposed external examiner. The program will handle the FOE scheduling and circulate your thesis to the FOE committee.
You can find more information about the FOE process on the SGS’ website.
Please note that academic fees for doctoral students in the final year of their program are pro-rated and are calculated on a month to month basis. You can find the fee schedule on the Student Account's website.