Media Releases

Faculty of Law launches innovative Global Professional LL.M.

November 16, 2010

Unique, exec­u­tive-style master’s degree focus­ing on glob­al busi­ness law address­es the chal­lenges and changes in today’s busi­ness envi­ron­ment

TORONTO,ON — As the chal­lenges of a mod­ern glob­al econ­o­my force law firms to rethink their busi­ness mod­els and nav­i­gate an increas­ing­ly com­plex net­work of finan­cial reg­u­la­tions, cross-bor­der rules and high­ly mobile work­forces, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to Fac­ul­ty of Law announces the launch of its inno­v­a­tive Glob­al Pro­fes­sion­al LL.M. pro­gram to address these issues and more for the work­ing prac­ti­tion­er.

In the wake of Ogilvy Renault’s merg­er announce­ment with inter­na­tion­al legal pow­er­house Nor­ton Rose Group, this time­ly, for­ward-think­ing degree program—the only one in Cana­da focus­ing on glob­al busi­ness law—will pro­vide an inten­sive expe­ri­ence unlike any oth­er cur­rent­ly avail­able in Cana­da.

“The Fac­ul­ty of Law’s new Glob­al Pro­fes­sion­al LL.M. degree address­es the need for fur­ther pro­fes­sion­al edu­ca­tion around the glob­al­iza­tion of the legal pro­fes­sion, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the area of trans­ac­tion­al law,” says Michael Tre­bil­cock, pro­fes­sor of law and Chair in Law and Eco­nom­ics at the U of T law school. “I am con­fi­dent that the cur­ricu­lum will offer stu­dents a new way to think about their own pro­fes­sion­al paths and the sit­u­a­tions they face on the job.”

A unique, exec­u­tive-style master’s degree, the GPLLM is a 12-month pro­gram offered dur­ing evenings and week­ends and taught by a stel­lar com­bi­na­tion of dis­tin­guished law and busi­ness fac­ul­ty, and lead­ing legal experts.

The GPLLM is specif­i­cal­ly designed for prac­tic­ing lawyers in the pri­vate and pub­lic sec­tors, as well as lawyers in cor­po­ra­tions, and oth­er busi­ness exec­u­tives and gov­ern­ment offi­cials with a strong inter­est in law. The GPLLM com­bines the best of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to’s rep­u­ta­tion for aca­d­e­m­ic rigour with prag­mat­ic real-world exper­tise.

Based on its inno­v­a­tive cur­ricu­lum and pro­gram-deliv­ery mod­el, the Glob­al Pro­fes­sion­al LL.M. was select­ed for pre­sen­ta­tion at Future Ed 2: Mak­ing Glob­al Lawyers for the 21st Cen­tu­ry, an invi­ta­tion­al con­fer­ence at Har­vard Law School in Octo­ber 2010.

“Com­pa­nies with oper­a­tions off­shore need com­plex and sophis­ti­cat­ed legal advice today—ideally a coun­selor in Cana­da, who plays a coor­di­nat­ing role, and access to top qual­i­ty lawyers in oth­er juris­dic­tions,” says John Clay­don of Lex Mun­di.  “Cor­po­rate lawyers in the future will have to ‘quar­ter­back’ strate­gi­cal­ly among lawyers from var­i­ous coun­tries, audi­tors, reg­u­la­tors, and gov­ern­ment offi­cials to get the best results for their clients.”

A pan­el dis­cus­sion today at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to Fac­ul­ty of Law (“The Future of Trans­ac­tion­al Legal Prac­tice”) offi­cial­ly launch­es the GPLLM, and explores these and oth­er issues cur­rent­ly impact­ing the legal pro­fes­sion. Mod­er­at­ed by inter­na­tion­al­ly renowned busi­ness law expert Prof. Tre­bil­cock, the pan­el fea­tures John Clay­don of Lex Mun­di, Car­ole Sil­ver of The Cen­tre on the Glob­al Legal Pro­fes­sion at Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty, and Nor­man Leta­lik of Bor­den Lad­ner Ger­vais LLP.

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For fur­ther infor­ma­tion on the pan­el, view: http://www.law.utoronto.ca/forms/transactional.html

For fur­ther infor­ma­tion on the GPLLM, view:
http://www.law.utoronto.ca/visitors_content.asp?itemPath=5/5/0/0/0&contentId=2061

For more infor­ma­tion, please con­tact:

Jane Kid­ner
Assis­tant Dean
Pro­fes­sion­al Legal Edu­ca­tion
j.kidner@utoronto.ca
416–978-6702

Archana Srid­har
Assis­tant Dean
Grad­u­ate Pro­grams
Archana.sridhar@utoronto.ca
416- 946‑7384

Lucian­na Cic­co­ciop­po
Direc­tor
Exter­nal Rela­tions
lucianna.ciccocioppo@utoronto.ca
416–946-0334