International Commercial Law

Course content

This is a one-year full-time postgraduate law course, leading to the award of a Master of Laws (LL.M) in International Commercial Law. The programme is aimed at students who wish to develop expertise in legal aspects of trade, finance, commerce and corporations at international level. It is designed for students from any legal jurisdiction, who wish to specialise in international commercial law.

Completion of the programme requires 180 credits. Students will be required to study four 30 credit optional modules and the compulsory 60 credit LLM Dissertation.

Compulsory module:

Dissertation

Optional modules:

-International Regulation of Companies
-Regulation of Financial Markets
-Comparative Takeover Regulation
-Law of International Trade
-International Banking Law
-Intellectual Property Law
-EC Competition Law

Module Details:

Dissertation

The Dissertation is a compulsory module for all students studying the LLM. The module aims at providing graduate students with the opportunity to develop core skills in legal research. It provides an opportunity for students to complete a dissertation on a topic related to international commercial law, as agreed between the student and the course leader. Expert guidance is provided in locating and using international law sources especially electronic sources. Particular attention is paid to analysis of research legal texts, reasoning skills, presenting research findings and appropriate referencing.

International Regulation of Companies

The module will examine the fundamental principles that underlie international regulation of companies, using the UK model as the springboard for study. The module is highly relevant for academics and practitioners seeking to develop expertise, and also relevant for people contemplating a career in finance or industry, for no one can operate effectively in any commercial field without a thorough understanding of company law. The module examines aspects such as corporate personality, corporate governance, shareholders’ rights and remedies, and EC policy on harmonisation of corporate laws of member states. Case law and statutes of other jurisdictions outside the EU will be referred to as and when relevant. It is an advantage to have some prior knowledge of company law, but it is not necessary. Prior knowledge of basic principles of contract, tort and trusts is essential, although this is not to be overstated.

Regulation of Financial Markets

The module will examine the regulation of the financial markets in the UK and in the European Union. The module will seek to examine the current scope of regulation over financial services and markets, focusing specifically on regulation relating to the conduct of financial services such as authorisation, compliance and market abuse prevention policies in the UK and the EU. The new EU securities regulation directives will be examined, discussing particular issues of interest to the EU such as harmonisation, home country control and regulatory effectiveness. Whereas the module lends itself to economic analysis, it aims at discussing market regulation such as banking, insurance and securities regulation in their legal context where for instance company law is an important factor.

Comparative Takeover Regulation

The module will examine the principles that underpin regulation of takeovers of public companies in the UK and in the European Union. The European Directive on Takeover Bids will be assessed. The module will focus on principles in regulatory codes, legislation and judicial decisions, designed to facilitate restructuring of companies through takeovers. In particular, the principles of market equality and protection of shareholders will be examined. The module will provide an opportunity to compare takeover regulatory principles in the UK with those in other member states of the EU, as well as of Australia and the USA.

Law of International Trade

The module will examine principles governing international trade. For avoidance of ambiguity on the ambit of the module, as international trade may also be studied as a version of international economic law, this module is only concerned with private law transactions of a cross-border nature. Owing to the leading role played by English law in international trade agreements, a significant part of this module is devoted to English law in its application, examining aspects such as international commodity sales and carriage of goods by sea. The module will discuss various aspects of trade transactions such as types of sales contracts (FOB and CIF), trade financing, relevant insurance and carriage of goods by sea contracts. The module will also examine aspects of international uniform and harmonised law, such as the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods 1980, and Customs and Practices for Documentary Letters of Credit.

International Banking Law

The module will examine both the private and public law principles that underpin the regulation of banking. Because banks are regulated domestically but their activities impact on the banking industry internationally, domestic banking regulation will be used as a springboard to examine the rationale of international banking regulation and supervision. This will involve examining UK statutes, European Directives and International standards and agreements.

Intellectual Property Law

The module will examine the application of intellectual property laws (including patent law) to new technologies such as biotechnology, multi media platforms, and information and communication technologies. The module will focus on interpretation of relevant legislation, relevant case law of the UK courts and the European Court of Justice, and academic literature in intellectual property laws.

EC Competition Law

The module will examine the legal aspects of EC competition rules and practices. The module will analyse the fundamental provisions of EC competition law, that is, Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty, and will analyse provisions of the EC Merger Regulation. Taking a case-law approach, the modules will examine vertical and horizontal agreements, abuses of market power, merger control policy and practice. The module will also draw from basic concepts of applied economics relevant to EC competition. Focusing on the relationship between EC and national laws, the module particularly examines detailed aspects of competition such as price-fixing and market sharing agreements, boycotts and discrimination, exemptable forms of collaboration, abuse of dominant position, fee movement of goods and industrial property rights.

Teaching and Assessments:

The modules on this course are delivered through a combination of lectures and seminars. Each module is taught by way of a two-hour lecture per week and a one-hour seminar per fortnight. All delivery and teaching methods are aimed at providing an opportunity for advancement of knowledge in the particular area of study whilst enabling students to reflect on and evaluate the practical operation and effectiveness of the law.

In addition to conventional face-to-face teaching strategy, the programme adopts an e-learning strategy. In particular, the programme delivers some lectures and some seminars through internet-assisted facilities.

Assessment is by a combination of written coursework assignments, examination, and a dissertation of 15,000 words completed under supervision.

Entry requirements:
The minimum entry requirement for this programme is:
(a) a degree in law with a 2.1, or
(b) a degree with substantial law content with a 2.1, or
(c) a law degree with a 2.2 and Bar Vocational Course/Legal Practice Course, or
(d) a law degree with a 2.2 and two years professional legal experience, or
(e) a non-law degree with a 2.1 and a graduate diploma in law (or CPE), or
(f) a non-law degree with a 2.2 with a graduate diploma in law (or CPE) and Bar Vocational
(g) other applicants considered suitable to study this programme on the basis of previous relevant professional experience (each such applicant will be interviewed).

International students are also required to have passed:

• either TOEFL with a minimum score of 575 (paper)
• or TOEFL with a minimum score of 232 (computer)
• or IELTS with a score of 6.5

Fees for 2010-11

Home - £5,250
International - £8,300

Enquiries
Further information is available from:
Tel: 0800 0565 660
International: +44 (0) 1494 522141
Email: advice@bucks.ac.uk

How to apply:
All applications should be made directly to the University.
Click here for a direct application form.