Yong Pung How School of Law

Programme Structure

The PhD in Law, Commerce and Technology programme emphasizes the interdisciplinary study between law, business, and technology. In particular, students can choose to specialize in either of its two tracks, Law and Commerce, or Law and Technology. The Law and Commerce track focuses on the study of legal and regulatory responses to business, commercial or financial activities. The Law and Technology tracks focuses on the study of legal and regulatory responses to technology developments. Both tracks are open to students working on topics involving the three-way interaction of law, commerce and technology. PhD students are supposed to determine and declare their tracks no later than the beginning of Year 2.

The curriculum consists of foundation courses, elective courses, a PhD Qualifying Examination (QE), and a PhD dissertation. The coursework and the number of course units are listed below.

Summary 

  • Foundation courses (6 CUs)
  • Elective courses (6 CUs)
  • Completion of PhD Dissertation (28 CUs)
YearCourses
1 & 2
  • Foundation Courses (6 CUs)
    • Law in a Commercial Context (1 unit)
    • Essential Technology for Lawyers (1 unit)
    • Applied Econometrics for Social Science Research (1 unit)
    • Methods for Empirical Business Research (1 unit)
    • Introduction to Interdisciplinary Research (1 unit)
    • Literature Review and Research Proposal Workshop (1 unit)
  • Elective Courses (6 CUs)
    • Students are required to take a minimum of three elective courses offered by an SMU school other than YPHSL.
    • Students in the Law & Tech track are required to take a minimum of two elective courses at SMU School of Computing and Information Systems (SCIS), which can be counted toward the three electives required to be taken outside YPHSL.
    • Elective courses outside YPHSL are likely to be corporate finance, financial accounting, business management, industrial organizations, political economy, behavioral science and computer science etc.
  • Prepare Dissertation Proposal
  • PhD Qualifying Examination (QE)
3
  • Work on Dissertation
  • Complete Teaching Requirement (at least 0.5 CU undergraduate section)
  • Attend at least one high-quality conference (Years 3 & 4)
4
  • Overseas Exchange Programme, internship or fellowship
  • Complete Dissertation and Oral Defence

Programme Schedule

YearTerm1Term2Term3Remarks
1Foundation Courses
Elective Courses		Foundation Courses
Elective Courses		Prepare Dissertation ProposalComplete Foundation & Elective courses
2Foundation Courses
Elective Courses		Foundation Courses
Form Dissertation Committee
Prepare Dissertation Proposal		Prepare Dissertation Proposal
Pass PhD Qualifying Examination (QE) (deadline)		Complete Foundation & Elective courses
Sit for, and Pass the QE
3Submit Written Dissertation Proposal
Form Dissertation Committee (deadline)
Approval of Dissertation Proposal
Conduct Dissertation Research		Conduct Dissertation Research
Approval of Dissertation Proposal (with special permission)		Conduct Dissertation ResearchSubmit Written Dissertation Proposal
Possible Oral Defence of Dissertation Proposal 
Get Approved by Dissertation Committee
Conduct Research
Attend High-Quality Conference
4Conduct Dissertation ResearchConduct Dissertation Research
Submit Written Report of Completed Dissertation Research
Oral Defense of Completed Dissertation		Revise and Re-submit Dissertation ReportOral Defence 
Possible Overseas Exchange
Attend High-Quality Conference