General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW6014 |
| Course name: | 18-credit Dissertation |
| Programme offered under: | LLM Programme |
| Semester: | Full year |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | Have taken and passed LLAW6022 Advanced Research Methodology |
| Credit point value: | 18 credits |
1.2 Course description
This course involves an individual research project on an approved legal topic, conducted under the supervision of a dissertation supervisor. An 18-credit dissertation shall comprise a paper with required length ranging from 16,000 to 20,000 words (excluding tables of cases and statutes, notes, appendices and bibliographies) on a legal topic approved by the Programme Director. The dissertation must provide evidence of original research work and a capacity for critical legal analysis and argument.
1.3 Instructions and Important Dates
Candidates intending to undertake a research dissertation to fulfil part of their curriculum requirements must first successfully complete LLAW6022 Advanced Research Methodology in order to be eligible to submit a dissertation.
Secondly, candidates, whether full-time or part-time, must (i) contact their Programme Director as early as possible and discuss their proposed dissertation topic. If the Programme Director considers the dissertation topic to be feasible, candidates must then (ii) proceed to identify and contact a potential dissertation supervisor to discuss their proposed plan and ideas for the dissertation, and secure the potential supervisor’s agreement to supervise their dissertation.
Finally, candidates, whether full-time or part-time, must submit a written request to the Programme Director, including proposed dissertation topic, a brief proposal of 500 -1000 words, and name and confirmation of supervisor, for consideration and approval, at latest by November 30 of the academic year in which they intend to submit a dissertation.
Candidates who do not satisfy the above eligibility procedures for enrolment in the dissertation course will be automatically withdrawn from the course by the Faculty if already enrolled. Should this occur, candidates will be required to select an alternative course during the add/drop period of the regular semester at the next available opportunity.
It is advised to begin by reviewing the research interests of faculty members listed at the Faculty’s website. It is the responsibility of each candidate to identify and secure a full-time member of the academic staff to act as their dissertation supervisor. Faculty members may have varying considerations and requirements when deciding whether to supervise a candidate. Typically, it is expected that candidates should approach the faculty member with a reasonably viable research topic or proposal that aligns with the faculty member’s research or teaching interests.
Please take note of the following important dates for the dissertation course. A comparison of important dates for the LLAW6014 18-credit Dissertation, and LLAW6054 9-credit Dissertation courses is provided below.
| To do list and deadline (See also the Important Note below this table) |
LLAW6014 18-credit Dissertation |
LLAW6054 9-credit Dissertation |
| Full-year course | 2nd semester course | |
| Successfully completed LLAW6022 Advanced Research Methodology | Passed the course in AY2024-25 or complete it by December 31, 2025 in AY2025-26 | Passed the course in AY2024-25 or complete it by December 31, 2025 in AY2025-26 |
| Add-drop deadline | Sep 22, 2025 | Feb 9, 2026 |
| Contact (i) Programme Director for initial feasibility assessment and (ii) secure a dissertation supervisor | Sep – Nov 30, 2025 | Sep – Nov 30, 2025 |
| Obtain final approval from your Programme Director | Sep – Nov 30, 2025 | Sep – Nov 30, 2025 |
| Declare dissertation title and name of supervisor (via Moodle) | Feb 28, 2026 | Feb 28, 2026 |
| Submit request to change the dissertation title (See also Note 5 below) | Mar 31, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Submission of final dissertation (via Moodle) | May 1, 2026 | May 1, 2026 |
| Release of assessment result | Mid-June 2026 | Mid-June 2026 |
Important Note
- Candidates can only enrol in either LLAW6014 18-credit Dissertation or LLAW6054 9-credit Dissertation.
- Candidates intending to enrol in LLAW6054 9-credit Dissertation are strongly advised to defer selection of the course until the add/drop period of the 2nd semester, in order to ensure that all eligibility requirements, including successful completion of LLAW6022 Advanced Research Methodology, securing a dissertation supervisor, and obtaining approval from the Programme Director, have been satisfied during the first semester.
- Candidates intending to enrol in LLAW6014 18-credit Dissertation may do so only during the add/drop period of the 1st semester. The study load of the LLAW6014 18-credit Dissertation is evenly distributed, with 9-credit allocated to each of the 1st and 2nd semesters. Candidates are reminded to reserve sufficient credit load to enrol in this course.
- Part-time candidates must only enrol in either LLAW6014 or LLAW6054 in their second year of studies.
- Candidates are reminded to retain their approval records in a written and neat format, as such documentation will be required for submission to the course Moodle during the declaration process.
- The dissertation title will be printed on the official transcript. Once declared, changes will not be accepted, except in cases where a request, recommended by the dissertation supervisor and supported by valid documentation, is submitted by the stipulated deadline. Late requests will not be considered.
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Formulated a thesis that a member of staff has supervised;
CLO 2 Undertaken a sustained piece of legal research under the guidance of the supervisor;
CLO 3 Developed skills in legal research;
CLO 4 Refined their abilities in legal writing;
CLO 5 Developed their capacity to identify good legal writing; and
CLO 6 Completed a substantial written paper that aims to be of publishable standard.
2.2 LLM Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link: https://course.law.hku.hk/llm-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 6 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Dissertation | 1 May 2026 | 100% | 1 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by the dissertation supervisor.
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
The Graduate School has a number of publications which you may find useful during the preparation phase:
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/