Course summary

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2023). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas. The MPhil in Law is a one-year research master’s degree during which you will write a dissertation. The course can either serve as a qualification in its own right or a route into the DPhil in Law. Prior to 2018-19, the MPhil was exclusively for students who had completed the BCL, Magister Juris, or MSc in Law and Finance and students who had not first completed these degrees were instead admitted to the MSt in Legal Research. From 2018-19, the restrictions on MPhil admission were removed, so all suitably qualified graduates were eligible for admission, and the MSt was absorbed into the MPhil. Students undertake the faculty’s course in legal research methods during their first two terms. This provides training in legal research methodology, but will also expose you to the diversity of intellectual challenges involved in legal scholarship and will serve as a forum of peers in which you will be able to discuss the methodological challenges involved in your own research. The course comprises seven compulsory two-hour seminars during Michaelmas term while in Hilary term, students must attend eight hours of seminars from a wider range of options, including seminars offered by other social sciences departments and the faculty’s Centres for Criminology and Socio-Legal Studies. Students must also attend the course conference at the start of Trinity term. For the most part, however, students will be spending their time undertaking self-directed study, though with the help of their supervisors. Throughout the period of your studies, you will work with an assigned supervisor who will meet regularly with you to discuss your work and provide feedback and advice. You will also be able have the opportunity to take part in a range of seminar programmes and discussion groups, affording plentiful opportunities for interaction with your peers and academics working in the same or related research areas to yours.