Graduate Program Admissions

Two students sit on the stairs in the lobby of the law building

Our world-class graduate program, which builds on UVic Law's commitment to experiential learning, to public policy, to environmental law, and to the resurgence of Indigenous Legal Orders, is strongly grounded in a collaborative law and society approach. 

As an interdisciplinary graduate program, each student's supervisory committee has a scholar from outside the law faculty.

Our students take courses with leading scholars from history, philosophy, anthropology, political science, sociology, visual arts, Indigenous governance, business, and other fields, as well as in legal theory and legal research methodology.

Explore our areas of specialty and the faculty members who supervise graduate students.

Thesis-based LLM and PhD programs in Law and Society

We offer two research-focused graduate programs with an interdisciplinary Law and Society focus, culminating in a thesis (LLM) or dissertation (PhD):

  • LLM in Law and Society
  • PhD in Law and Society

What we expect

  • You have strong research and writing skills
  • Your research proposal has a clear interdisciplinary focus, or at least references other non-law discipline(s) that you hope to draw from
  • You identify graduate program faculty member(s) that you wish to work with, and explain why

We encourage you to pay close attention to the strengths of our school, and what areas of supervision our graduate program faculty are currently interested in.

The online application is available on September 1 each year for the following year, and the application deadline is December 15, 2024 for September 2025 entry. 

Applicants are responsible for checking their own applications to ensure that all documents are submitted by December 15, 2024.  Late applications and applications missing required documents will not be considered. References to be submitted by December 22, 2024 - one week after the deadline.

  • We offer September entry term only
  • Late applications are rarely considered, except for Indigenous persons
  • As a general rule, we do not offer deferrals to admission

Find out our minimum requirements and how to apply.

Questions?

Go to our Graduate Admissions FAQs 
See our Graduate Studies pamphlet

NOTE: Completion of our graduate degrees will not permit you to practice law in Canada. The UVic JD admissions office does consider a limited number of NCA applicants with foreign law degrees who wish to fulfill requirements of the National Committee on Accreditation.  At UVic, NCA students are only permitted to study during summer session and cannot be concurrently enrolled in our graduate programs.

Visiting Research Students

A small number of visiting research student opportunities are available on a rolling basis.  Applicants who are registered for a graduate program at any other institution (Canadian or international) who are interested in visiting UVic Law to work with faculty for any length of time should follow the visiting research application instructions.