Compared with full-time graduate students, the advantage of on-the-job LLM students is that they have rich professional experience and social experience and don't worry about work problems after graduation. Moreover, many LLM students on the job have received better undergraduate education in law. Their disadvantage is that there is a big conflict between work and study, and their interest in reading professional books weakens with the formation of professional thinking. Some students have not received systematic legal education and their professional foundation is poor. In addition, most on-the-job LLM students have concentrated classes, so their time in colleges and universities is short.
Faced with such a huge group of in-service master of laws, the biggest problem facing the author as an in-service master of laws tutor is how to guide the in-service master of laws to choose the topic of graduation thesis according to their own characteristics, how to design the outline of graduation thesis, and how to sort out the references. Limited to space, the author discusses it separately.
(1) How do on-the-job LLM students choose topics for their graduation thesis?
In view of the above situation, the author puts forward the following suggestions for the reference of students and colleagues:
First of all, on-the-job graduate students should choose topics according to their own work, rather than unfamiliar topics, so as to foster strengths and avoid weaknesses. Facts have proved that any professional will face some legal problems in his post because of the universal norms of law, so it is easy to pick up a variety of rich writing materials in combination with his own work topics. Even those students who are not engaged in specialized legal affairs will always involve a lot of legal issues in their work or life, and there is no shortage of materials.
Secondly, determined by the above characteristics, in-service LLM students should try to avoid over-theoretical topics. Try to avoid topics that are too theoretical and have double meanings. The first layer means to foster strengths and avoid weaknesses. Because most on-the-job students have not systematically dabbled in legal classics after working for several years, the knowledge structure is not necessarily thick, such as the lack of legal knowledge reserves related to legal economics and legal sociology. Avoiding too theoretical topics is equivalent to avoiding the shortcomings of its own knowledge system reserves. The second meaning is to embody the characteristics of on-the-job master of law. On-the-job master of law education is originally applied education, and its topic selection should also reflect the characteristics of being pragmatic, practical and serving one's own work. Of course, this is only a principle, and individual exceptions are not excluded. For example, some in-service students have better knowledge of legal theory, prefer to read professional theoretical books for a long time, and are good at theoretical thinking.
After clarifying the direction of the above topics, the next task is how to screen the topics under the guidance of the tutor. Although in-service LLM graduates are not short of rich graduation thesis materials, some of these materials may not be real legal problems, such as some administrative system management problems encountered by administrators, which cannot be solved by law, or a master's thesis can explain clearly; Some legal issues may be commonplace, such as the protection of the rights and interests of ordinary consumers, which everyone may encounter. It is impossible for everyone to write a master's thesis on consumer rights protection, because the thesis may lack novelty, and students may not know what kind of problems are novel and representative. In addition, LLM students on the job, like students at school, are prone to choose too many topics when choosing papers.
As a tutor for master students, my job is to help on-the-job students choose thesis topics. The basic requirements of selecting a topic are (1) to highlight the distinct problem consciousness, select a topic according to the problem, and avoid empty talk; (2) Make a mountain out of a molehill, define the writing scope of the paper and exclude irrelevant writing content; (3) Keep pace with the times and highlight the practicality and novelty of the topic. (4) Classify all kinds of legal issues into different legal categories such as civil law, economic law, administrative law and criminal law, so as to further clarify the topic.
The author analyzes the problems encountered by 1 1 in-service LLM graduates in the process of selecting topics.
Example 1: a classmate works in the railway transportation court and initially draws up a topic of "railway transportation system reform and law application". This topic does have a clear sense of problem and novelty. But after reading its outline carefully, I think the scope is too large, so I suggest it further clarify the theme of the paper. Specifically, it is to choose a specific legal application problem in the reform of railway transportation system to write.
Example 2: A classmate is engaged in company trial and has rich experience in company trial. The title of the preliminary thesis is "An Empirical Study of Corporate Personality Denial". This is a very practical topic, but it is also a cliche. It can be said that there are probably thousands of such papers. If you choose this topic in this way, it is likely to lose its originality and the scope of the topic is too large. Imagine that some scholars have written all the monographs. Therefore, it is suggested that he choose a legal issue of corporate personality denial to write, and combined with his own work, it is suggested that he write "Research on the Judgment of Subjective Elements in Corporate Personality Denial", which is more representative and connected with the new Company Law, so it is also relatively novel.
Ex. 3: A classmate is a lawyer and serves as a company legal adviser. Its preliminary selected topic is "Research on Legal Issues of Cemetery Products". On the surface, this topic is novel, but because of its large scope, it is likely to lead to randomness in writing. It took my advice and changed the title to "Research on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests in the Sale of Cemetery Products", which is novel and representative, and it is easier to write after the title is clear. The reason is that the consumer protection law is applicable to a new field and has the characteristics of "utility model".
Example 4: A classmate works in a tax office, and the initial topic is "Legal Issues in the Implementation of Tax Collection and Management". Although this topic is very typical, it is too big and wide to grasp, and it may not be able to write a sense of freshness. I told this classmate a case in my own research field. At my suggestion, this classmate's topic should be "Research on the Application of Disregard of Corporate Personality in Taxation".
Example 5: A classmate works in the Propaganda Department of a county party committee, and his thesis is entitled "Legal Issues of Covert Interview". This topic is more specific and novel, so it is feasible. However, it is suggested to focus on one aspect, such as privacy protection in hidden interviews.
Example 6: A classmate works in the Electric Power Bureau. A typical problem is the maintenance and responsibility sharing of public power facilities caused by disputes between property management companies and owners after the power bureau installed transformers in residential areas. This issue is really novel and representative, but it involves too many legal issues, including property law and tort law. At my suggestion, the student finally decided on the subject of "Study on Legal Issues of Main Body Change of Distribution Facilities in Residential Areas".
Exodus 7: A classmate engaged in civil trial met with a lawsuit of speculation on "uncompleted residential flats". Combined with the characteristics of the new era, the topic chosen by the student is the legal issue of "renaming the contract" in the sale of commercial housing. Much better.
Example 8: A classmate is engaged in commercial trial, and the topic is "Research on the Protection of Shareholders' Right to Know". This topic is very specific and novel, making a mountain out of a molehill. However, judging from the cases collected by myself, this topic may be too small and too specific, so it is suggested to change it to "Research on the Company's Relief for Shareholders' Rights", which appropriately expands the scope of the paper.
Example 9: A classmate works in a university, and his preliminary selected topic is "Research on Legal Issues of Injury Accidents of Students in School". Although this topic is typical, its scope is too large. Students are divided into large, medium and small schools, which involve many legal issues and are difficult to write. At my suggestion, the student changed the topic to "Research on Civil Liability of College Students' Injury Accidents".
Example 10: A classmate works in the land department. Its initial title is "A preliminary study on the legal theory of rural collective land ownership change", which combines the pilot reforms of urban and rural planning in Chengdu and Chongqing and has a distinct era. But it seems that the topic is still too big and not very specific. At my suggestion, the student changed the topic to "Study on Legal Issues of Rural Collective Land Ownership Transfer".