Mentorship, Teaching, and Supervisory Programs

Doctoral students in the Faculty of Law have the opportunity to participate in the following programs:

Mentorship Program

The Mentorship Program allows students to shadow a professor in the Faculty for a semester in one course:

1. The student attends classes for the course in which the mentorship takes place. The student may not teach any component of the course, design any assignment, provide initial assessments on assignment, give feedback to the instructor on teaching, or give a guest lecture/class (or part of a class). Mentors must not ask students to take on any of these roles.
2. Responsibility for the course in which the mentorship takes place rests with the mentor (professor).
3. The objective of this program is to establish a framework for thinking about pedagogy and law teaching through an interactive relationship with a law professor who does not participate in supervising the student’s larger research project.

Teaching Fellowship Program

The Teaching Fellowship program is designed to give DCL students an opportunity to gain in-depth teaching experience within the Faculty of Law as part of their DCL program of studies. Working under the close supervision of a law professor who retains ultimate responsibility for the course, the fellow will contribute to the instruction in a course within the Faculty. The student may take responsibilities for teaching up to 3 classes and developing and doing an initial grading review of 1 assignment other than a final exam or term paper. The student will discuss all aspects of the course, including its design, instruction, and student evaluation with the supervisor. By the end of the fellowship, the DCL teaching fellow will have had the opportunity to take a leadership role in:

1. Designing a course plan or syllabus
2. Selecting course readings and learning materials
3. Developing class plans and classroom activities and learning exercises
4. Imagining possibilities for integrating technology in the classroom
5. Conceiving methods of evaluation
6. Engaging in student evaluation and feedback
7. Holding office hours and meetings with students

Associate Supervisory Program

The Associate Supervisory Program provides DCL students, under the supervision of a Faculty member, with an opportunity to advise 3 LLM (non-thesis) students preparing their research paper. DCL advisors learn how to guide students in selecting and refining their research projects, formulating clear research questions, researching law and theory, organizing the project, and writing and revising drafts. The DCL advisor will regularly meet with his/her assigned professor to discuss issues, concerns, and expectations; he/she will also recommend an assessment of the final paper (on a Pass or Fail basis) to the DCL student’s supervisor.