Professional LLM in International Business Law

Course Requirements

The Professional LLM in International Business Law requires completion of 36 credits including a research requirement.  The program is designed to be completed in two years (six active terms) through a combination of required courses, Designated Electives, and up to 12 credits of Outside Electives.

What You Can Expect

The program is designed to be completed in two years (six active terms) by completing 6 credits (one to two courses) per term. Part-time students have the option to either take courses in person or through live two-way video conference.

Courses in the International Business Law specialization are scheduled in a variety of ways, primarily as daytime intensive courses or weekly evening courses. In-person courses may be held at our downtown Toronto location or on the York University Keele campus.

In your first term of admission, you may be assigned a course as a condition of your admission. Admission condition courses count towards your degree requirements. Students with the following profiles usually have required introductory courses:

• Internationally-trained lawyers:  GNRL 6209 – Canadian Graduate Legal Research & Writing (Online) (3 Credits) 
• Professionals without a law degree: GNRL 6149 Introduction to Graduate Legal Studies (3 Credits) 
• International students from civil law or distance education backgrounds: GNRL 6514 Introduction to Canadian LLM Studies (no weighting) 

You will start the International Business Law program by completing your required course and any course(s) given as a condition of admission. You should expect your first term to be heavier, particularly if you are taking introductory and required courses. These courses are designed to support new students and to scaffold your knowledge and skills, so they tend to have a larger number of class hours and assignments than elective courses do. 

Required Course

The required course is typically offered every Fall and Winter term, and must be completed in your first term of study:

Elective Courses

You must complete at least 18 credits from International Business Law course list (not including BLIS 6501). Most electives are drawn from within your home specialization. Some courses with topics related to your specialization may count as Designated Electives for your program even if they are housed within a different specialization. You’ll know a course is a Designated Elective for your program if it appears under your program on the Course Planner below. Courses that do not appear when you select your program do not count as Designated Electives for your program. (They count as Outside Electives instead.)

Up to 12 credits may be drawn from courses in unrelated specializations, so long as you have any required prerequisite knowledge for those courses. Internationally trained lawyers working toward accreditation may use their Outside Elective space to take NCA-accredited courses. To see course offerings for upcoming terms, review the Course Planning information below.

Research Requirement

The research requirement can be fulfilled through one of the following three options. Most students elect to fulfill the requirement through option 3:

1. A Major Research Paper (70 pages, 6 Credits) 
2. An Independent Significant Research Paper (30 pages, 3 Credits) 
3. A Significant Research Paper (30 pages) completed as the means of assessment for one of the courses within the specialization. 

Course Planning

Courses are not available every term, so we advise planning your courses in advance.  

This tool is for planning purposes only. Selecting courses using this tool does not enroll you in the course or reserve a space in the course for you.