Teaching

Throughout the first year, PhD students are required to attend, during term-time only, the research training classes provided by the Faculty's Research Training and Development Programme (RTDP). Classes are held weekly in the Michaelmas and Lent Terms and typically last for up to two hours. During the Easter Term of the Research Training Programme, all first year students are invited to give a short presentation to the convenors of the RTDP and their peer group of their own research up to that point. These presentations are usually held towards the end of April/early May. Arrangements will be made for any part-time students, who are unable to attend any of the classes in-person, to attend remotely although in-person attendance is strong encouraged for networking and other reasons. The classes are not recorded.

In the second and third year there are no compulsory taught classes. However, students may attend (either in-person or online (if students are undertaking fieldwork and have permission to work away from Cambridge), the Research Training and Development (Extension) Programme which offers students the opportunity to present their work-in-progress (eg. a PhD chapter or a draft article) to their peers and Faculty members.

PhD students may audit LLM classes.

One to one supervision	While individual arrangements may vary considerably, PhD students may normally expect to receive one-on-one supervision once a month during the early stages of their research. Meetings may be less frequent thereafter. The University of Cambridge publishes an annual Code of Practice for Research Students which sets out the University's expectations regarding supervision.
Seminars & classes	First-year PhD students are required to attend the compulsory weekly classes (during term time only) provided by the Faculty's Research Training and Development Programme. Arrangements are made to accommodate the attendance of part-time students.
Lectures	Students are encouraged to attend lectures, especially at the LLM level, within the general field of their research.
Posters and Presentations	First-year students are required to give a presentation as part of the requirements of the compulsory Research Training and Development Programme. Students also have the opportunity to present their work at later stages of their research through the Research Training and Development (Extension) Programme or at postgraduate research seminars.
Taught/Research Balance	Entirely Research

Feedback

Supervisors are required to submit termly reports on the progress of each of their research students through the Postgraduate Feedback and Reporting System. Once a report has been written and submitted, it is immediately available to students as well to the Faculty, the Degree Committee and the College.

Assessment

Thesis / Dissertation

The PhD in Law may be awarded on the basis of the examination of a thesis, which must not exceed 100,000 words, exclusive of bibliography, table of contents and any other preliminary matter. The Faculty's Degree Committee will appoint two examiners to examine the student's thesis, normally one internal examiner and one external examiner. Neither examiner may be the student's Supervisor. An oral examination is compulsory (which may take place in-person in Cambridge or online via videoconference). At the discretion of the Degree Committee, an Independent Chair may also be appointed to attend the oral examination.

Other

Candidates for the PhD are also formally reviewed towards the end of the first year (or at a proportionally later date for part-time candidates) by two assessors appointed by the Degree Committee. Students must submit for the first year assessment/registration exercise (i) a thesis or not more than 15,000 words in length, inclusive of footnotes but exclusive of bibliography and appendices, (ii) a Research Personal Progress Log and iii) a short explanation of the overall plan for the final PhD thesis . After the oral examination, the Degree Committee will decide whether or not candidates should be formally registered for the PhD after considering the report from the assessors.