LL.B. – MA (International Affairs)
The Common Law Section, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) at Carleton University offer a combined four-year program leading to a Master of Arts (International Affairs) and a Bachelor of Laws degree. The program is designed for students with a strong interest in international law and relations and provides an excellent basis for a career in government or the private sector, as well as advanced studies in international affairs and international law.
By pursuing the two degrees jointly, students have an opportunity to weave together research interests in law and international relations and are able to tap into the extensive work on international affairs and law conducted at the two institutions located in the National Capital region. Students also reduce their net credit load relative to the credit demands applied to students studying for the two degrees outside of the joint program. The four-year joint program of study represents a more compressed period than the typical three years required to complete the LL.B. degree and the typical 1 ½ years required to complete the M.A. degree.
Applying to the Joint Program
A student must apply separately to the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University and to the Faculty of Law (Common Law Section) at the University of Ottawa, and be accepted by both institutions in accordance with the normal admission requirements of each program. Interest in pursuing the joint program must be specified in each application.
Course of Study
Summary of Program Requirements
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Location |
Requirements |
Status |
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Year 1 |
Faculty of Law |
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Law student |
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Year 2 |
NPSIA |
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Graduate student |
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Year 3 |
Faculty of Law |
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Law student |
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Year 4 |
Faculty of Law |
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Law student |
Year 1
In Year 1 of the program, students follow the normal LL.B. program. In accordance with changes made for 2008-09, students entering Year 1 in the English LLB program in 08-09 must register in the Public International Law course open to first year students in the Winter term.
As law students, joint program students in Years 1 (as well as those in Years 3 and 4) are eligible for the various forms of funding available to law students. Students meeting all mark and credit requirements associated with the first year of the LL.B. program proceed to Year 2.
Year 2
In Year 2, students transfer to Carleton University. Students choose at this time whether to pursue a coursework-only MA option, or one with either a thesis or research essay. Students complete the mandatory joint program course in this year. During this year, students are full-fledged graduate students at Carleton University and are thus eligible for the various forms of funding available to graduate students (but they generally must apply for this funding in Year 1, while at the University of Ottawa – e.g. deadlines for the Ontario Graduate Scholarships are typically in early fall of Year 1). Students use Year 2 to pursue their course of study at NPSIA. Students in Year 2 are required to enroll in INAF 5509: Law, Politics and Economics in International Affairs, a course taught jointly by faculty at NPSIA and the University of Ottawa (NB: For the time being, students in the French LLB program also must complete International Law, CML 3531 (French), at the University of Ottawa, as “transfer students” from Carleton during Year 2). In order to proceed to Year 3, students must meet NPSIA mark and credit requirements in Year 2. In practice, this obliges students to score no lower than B- (as measured on the Carleton scale) in each of the courses pursued at Carleton (and no lower than B as measured on the University of Ottawa scale in the course International Law that at present is still taken as a transfer course at the University of Ottawa for French program).
Students electing to complete the NPSIA degree by coursework must complete 4 Carleton credits (8 courses) during Year 2, including all required courses. If students do not complete all 4 credits during the fall and winter term, they may complete the remaining credits during the summer following Year 2.
Students electing to complete the NPSIA degree with a major research paper must complete 3 Carleton credits (6 courses) during Year 2, including all required courses.
Year 3 and 4
In Years 3 and 4, students return to the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. During these years, students are considered law students at the University of Ottawa and not graduate students at Carleton University. However, students maintain a Carleton spring/summer registration in the M.A. Research Essay.
Years 3 and 4 are devoted to completing upper year LL.B. course work and to the preparation and defence of the Research Essay or Thesis required for completion of the NPSIA Master of Arts program, if the student has opted to pursue one of these options to graduation from the MA. During each of Years 3 and 4 students are required to take a half-year course at NPSIA. This half-year course in each of Years 3 and 4 counts as both Carleton and University of Ottawa credit (3 credits at the University of Ottawa, 0.5 credits at Carleton). Both the University of Ottawa and NPSIA must approve these two half courses.
Research Essay or Thesis
Joint program students who decide not to complete a course-work only degree must complete either a Research Essay or Thesis in partial fulfillment of the Master of Arts degree requirements. Research Essays and Theses are supervised by professors at NPSIA and the University of Ottawa. NPSIA ensures that students are assigned faculty supervision from both institutions. All students in the program on, or after, September 2007 with a Law School co-supervisor are entitled to receive 6 University of Ottawa credits for their Research Essay or Thesis. These credits are recorded as a special Law School “Directed Research”. Students wishing to take advantage of this credit “double counting” must enroll in Directed Research CML 4203 in the terms of Years 3 or 4 during which the Research Essay will be completed or substantially completed. No credits are awarded for works in progress, although grades for work that remains uncompleted at the end of the course period may be deferred for a limited period. To receive any of these credits, the uOttawa co-supervisor must certify that the Research Essay or Thesis is suitable for defence.
Research Essays do not satisfy the separate LL.B. requirement that students complete at least one “major paper” in the course of their law school studies. In most instances, students complete this “major paper” in a law seminar class in which evaluation is conducted by paper.
Timing of Research Essay or Thesis
By virtue of the double counting of credits for NPSIA courses taken in Years 3 and 4, students who opt for a Research Essay or Thesis bear a lesser course load in Year 2 of the joint program than would otherwise be the case for regular MA students or students following a course-work only route to graduation. Further, because students may receive uOttawa credit for this Research Essay or Thesis, they may reduce their classroom course load relative to regular law students during the uOttawa portions of the program. Accordingly, students are strongly encouraged to begin preparing for their Research Essays or Theses during Year 2 and to complete their project by the end of Year 3. And ideal scenario for Year 3 would be for a student to register for the CML 4203 in January term and Winter term, and defend their Research Essay or Thesis in the spring of Year 3. Students who prolong or delay their Research Essays or Theses to Year 4 sometimes experience difficulties in completing their project before Law School graduation date. Further, those who begin projects in Year 2 often find their material out-dated by Year 4, a development that may necessitate substantial revisions.
However, in deciding when to register for CML 4203, students are cautioned about registering in CML 4203 in Year 3 and then failing to complete the Research Essay or Thesis in that year. Since no credit is assigned from CML 4203 until the Research Essay or Thesis is certified ready for defence, a failure to complete the Research Essay in Year 3 will mean that the student has insufficient uOttawa credits to be promoted to a third year law school student in Year 4 of the program.
Completion of Research Essay or Thesis
Full completion of the Research Essay or Thesis is a requirement for receiving the Master of Arts (International Affairs) for all students who do not opt for the course-work only route to graduation. Students who do not fulfill this requirement by Law School graduation may still receive their LL.B., assuming they have fulfilled all LL.B. degree requirements. However, students who do not complete their Research Essay or Thesis by the end of Year 4 will be ineligible to receive law school credit through Directed Research CML 4203 . Students who fail to complete their Research Essay or Thesis by the end of Year 4 may, therefore, find themselves up to 6 LL.B. credits short of degree requirements. Students who have completed the LL.B. portion, but not the M.A., will be required to register in their Research Essay or Thesis at Carleton each term until it is completed.
Joint Course
All students in the joint program complete a mandatory joint course during Year 2. This joint course is co-taught by professors from NPSIA and the law school and is as follows:
Law, Politics and Economics in International Affairs
To consider the linkages and differences between the disciplines of law, political science and economics as they relate to international affairs. Students will study the underlying assumptions of each discipline and then analyze how these assumptions affect the way different issues in international affairs are considered. Students, who will be drawn from both graduate students at the law school and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, will be expected to research and prepare a paper on one of the substantive topics and present that research at one of the seminars.
Exchange Programs
Students occasionally pursue exchange programs during Year 3 and 4 of the program, while at uOttawa. Credits earned during these exchange programs do not count towards the NPSIA course students must take in Years 3 and 4. However, students may satisfy these NPSIA course requirements by concentrating the two NPSIA half-year courses into the year when the student is not on exchange.
More information
The Faculty contact for the joint program at uOttawa is Professor Craig Forcese, cforcese@uottawa.ca. For questions concerning admission to the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa, please contact Admissions at comlaw@uottawa.ca. For questions concerning admission to the Norman Paterson School please contact Roberta Chouchani at roberta_chouchani@carleton.ca.
11/09