1. I am an non-law degree holder, but I have various years of working experience. The course brochure says that if a non-law degree holder has relevant experience, she or he may apply to the Master course. What is the definition of "relevant experience"?

Answer:

According to the regulations applicable, candidates who have relevant professional experience and hold a non-law degree may indeed exceptionally be admitted to the Master programme.

The Master program involves writing and defending a thesis. This means two things. First, it is the job of the candidate to demonstrate that, despite not being a trained lawyer, he is sufficiently conversant with legal issues so as to be able to write a quality thesis on a legal matter or on an interdisciplinary issue which articulates law with other discipline. Second, the professional experience of the candidate has to be related to the area of thesis research. If a candidate has years of working experience in a certain field, this may be quite relevant if the candidate wishes to write a thesis related to that field. However, it may not be considered relevant if the thesis topic has no relation with the professional experience.

Therefore, candidates for the Master program who do not hold a law degree are advised to clarify from the start on which topic they want to write their thesis. They are also advised to submit a draft thesis project, if possible, so that the admissions committee can clearly see the connection between the thesis and the professional experience.