Article 1

(Object)

The purpose of these regulations is the LL.M. (Legum Magister) programme taught by the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon (hereinafter FDUL).

Article 2

(Admission)

Holders of a bachelor’s degree or higher may apply to the LL.M. programme.

Article 3

(Vacancies)

1 — Each academic year, 20 vacancies are available for each LL.M. programme, and this number may be reduced temporarily by decision of the Scientific Council.

2 — The number of vacancies is publicised on the FDUL website.

Article 4

(Application rules)

1 — Applications for the LL.M. are submitted by the deadline set by order of the Director of FDUL, to be published on the FDUL website.

2 — Students attach the following documents to their application:

a) Academic degree certificate;

b) Academic, scientific or professional CV, with a copy of the documents to which they refer;

c) Letter of application to attend the study cycle, if applicable;

d) Proof of knowledge of English.

e) All other documents required by the competent services.

3 — Documents, whether national or foreign, must be original and comply with the legally required formalities. However, at the time of application, scanned documents may be provisionally submitted.

Article 5

(Assessment of applications)

1 — The criteria governing the assessment of applications are defined by the Coordinating Professor of the Postgraduate Studies Commission, in consultation with the Scientific Council.

2 — The criteria must be relevant to the candidate’s academic, scientific and professional curriculum.

Article 6

(Enrolment)

1 — The Director of FDUL sets the dates for enrolment each academic year, as well as any extensions to the deadline for this purpose.

2 — Students who need to obtain recognition of academic degrees awarded by foreign universities can only enrol after the respective process has been completed by the relevant departments.

3 — A letter of acceptance of the application will be issued prior to enrolment to students who provide proof of verification of the conditions for access under the terms of these regulations.

4 — Students may enrol in the LL.M. subject to completion of the degree by 15 October of the academic year in question.

Article 7

(Curricular structure and syllabus)

1 — Each LL.M. programme consists of eight modules, four per semester, and two course units from the Master’s course in Law and Legal Practice, one per semester.

2 — Each module corresponds to a course unit.

3 — Each module has 48 hours of teaching time, spread over two weeks, followed by one week for work subject to assessment.

4 — The programme and bibliography for each module are defined by the lecturer and published on the FDUL website, in accordance with the following timetables:

a) Before the opening of applications, by means of a summary indication;

b) Before the start of each semester, by means of a full announcement.

5 — The curricular structure and syllabus of each LL.M. programme is attached to these regulations.

6 — Students can customise the curricular part of the LL.M. programme they are attending, namely by composing it with modules from the different LL.M. programmes.

Article 8

(Programme duration and credits)

1 — The LL.M. programme lasts three semesters.

2 — Successful completion of the LL.M. programme entitles the holder to 90 credits (ECTS), with 60 credits corresponding to the curricular part and the remaining 30 to the dissertation.

Article 9

(Teaching language)

The course units are taught in English.

Article 10

(Teaching staff)

1 — The lecturing is ensured by teachers whose academic and/or professional curriculum shows a high degree of specialisation in the subjects taught in the course units under their coordination.

2 — The teaching staff will be made up of FDUL professors, but also professors from other national and foreign universities, as well as non-PhD specialists with recognised professional experience, preferably chosen from among FDUL’s prestigious Alumni.

Article 11

(Classroom teaching)

1 — Teaching at the LL.M. is classroom-based. Attendance at classes is compulsory and student attendance may be monitored.

2 — Except in the case of maternity, in which case the current legal regime applies, missing more than a third of the classes scheduled for each course module means losing attendance and consequently failing the curricular unit.

3 — In the case of duly proven illness, paternity or family assistance, the number of absences allowed is half the total number of lessons; in the case of maternity absences, the current legal regime applies.

4 — Exceptionally, in cases of duly proven incapacitating illness, and taking into account all the circumstances of the case, class attendance may be waived.

5 — Without prejudice to the provisions of the preceding paragraphs, LL.M. programmes may be taught online, under the terms of distance learning and assessment regulations. The same programme may be taught exclusively at a distance or concurrently with the classroom regime for part of the students.

Article 12

(Assessment and qualitative grades)

1 — Without prejudice to the provisions of the following article, the assessment method for each course unit is defined by the teaching professor. The following elements may be taken into account: oral interventions during teaching periods; written resolution of practical hypotheses; projects; written or oral examination.

2 — The assessment of the dissertation takes into account the merit of the written work and its defence in an oral exam.

3 — Approved students are awarded the grades of Sufficient (from 10 to 13), Good (14 and 15), Very Good (16 and 17) and Excellent (18 to 20).

Article 13

(Passing and classification of the curricular part)

1 — Students are considered to have passed the curricular part of the LL.M. if they have passed all the course units that make up the respective programme.

2 — Students who fail three or fewer course units may retake them once in the following academic year, subject to assessment. In this case, the tuition fee corresponding to the course units attended will be charged.

3 — The final classification of the LL.M. programme is calculated according to the following formula: weighted arithmetic average, calculated to the hundredths and rounded up to the nearest unit, considering as a unit a fraction of not less than 50 hundredths, of the classifications obtained in the course units defined in the terms of the study plan, up to a limit of 60 credits. The weighting unit is the number of credits assigned to each course unit.

Article 14

(Dissertation)

1 — Successful completion of the LL.M. entitles the student to write a dissertation or internship report.

2 — The student must choose the topic and supervisor of the dissertation by the end of the first semester of the LL.M., and the choice will be communicated to the Scientific Council in due course.

3 — The dissertation supervisor must be the lecturer of one of the course units to be attended by the student during the LL.M. programme.

4 — The dissertation or report must be between 100,000 and 150,000 characters long, including spaces, not including the abstract, table of contents, list of abbreviations, bibliography and list of case law.

5 — The dissertation or report must be submitted for assessment by 15 November of the academic year following that in which the course began.

6 — The assessment of the dissertation, which includes an oral debate on the work presented, must take place by 31 December of the academic year following that in which the course began.

Article 15

(Approval and classification)

1 — Students who successfully complete the LL.M. are awarded the degree of Legum Magister (Master of Laws), with the corresponding speciality being identified on the certificate if the student successfully completes at least three of the modules that make up the respective programme.

2 — The final classification of the LL.M. is based on the weighting of the average classification, rounded to the nearest integer, obtained in the curricular part, which is worth 60% of the final classification, and the classification awarded at the end of the public dissertation defence exam, when positive, which is worth 40% of the final classification.

3 — Students who decide not to write a dissertation or internship report under the terms of the previous article will be awarded a certificate that contains the mention Postgraduate Diploma and identifies the corresponding speciality, if the student successfully attends at least three of the modules that make up the respective programme.

4 — In the case provided for in the previous paragraph, the classification corresponds to the grade awarded in the curricular part of the LL.M. programme.

Article 16

(Omitted cases)

Without prejudice to the provisions of the law, any cases not covered by these Regulations shall be dealt with by means of the Regulations for Master’s Degrees and Doctorates of the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, and if this is not sufficient, by application of the Regulations for Postgraduate Studies of the University of Lisbon, and if this is not sufficient, by Order of the Coordinating Professor of the Postgraduate Studies, appealable to the Scientific Council.