Master of Laws

Program Overview

LLM Master of Laws

About this course

LJMU's Master of Laws LLM provides a broad liberal arts education in the law for students wishing to undertake a wide range of legal study options.

• Develop knowledge of business, corporate and finance law, global crime and security and criminal justice
• Examine key legal and justice issues in both a domestic and global context
• Learn from tutors who have extensive experience with a variety of backgrounds and research interests
• Pursue new areas of interest in-depth or deepen already acquired undergraduate understanding in a given area
• Provides opportunities to critically analyse key themes in law and criminal justice and global crime
• Generous funding scholarships available for home and overseas students
• Part-Time Study Option

This flexible LLM is suitable for students from experienced practitioners, graduates, career changers and overseas students wishing to broaden their legal knowledge.

The School of Law has decades of experience providing postgraduate legal education. The LLM programmes are consistently highly rated by students and practitioners alike.

The aim of this programme is to create a positive learning environment for students in which to practice advanced scholarship and research and gain academic and intellectual progression, together with the acquisition of specific knowledge and skills.

The programme will give you the opportunity to critically analyse key themes in law and criminal justice and will challenge your thinking and stimulate your academic aspirations in these fields.

The Rice-Jones Trust Scholarship

The Rice-Jones Charitable Trust was set by an individual who wanted to benefit postgraduate law students studying in the North West of England. The individual's late husband and father were both lawyers, and this inspired her to help students who show academic promise and a commitment to the legal profession, but who may not necessarily have the financial support to undertake their studies.

The Rice-Jones Charitable Trust is registered at the Charity Commission with registration number.

Course modules

Core modules

• Dissertation (60 credits)
  • This module will enable you to undertake a detailed study of a clearly defined legal or criminal justice topic, issue or problem. It aims to:
    • increase knowledge of a selected subject area and develop a greater critical awareness
    • present findings in an appropriate form
• Advanced Legal Research Methods (20 credits)
  • This module introduces research methodologies available for conducting research in law and criminal justice. It aims to:
    • facilitate development of Masters-level technical legal and criminal justice research
    • encourage a Masters-level degree of independence and responsibility
    • introduce key research methodologies for researching law and criminal justice
    • develop the technical research requirements of a Masters dissertation

Optional modules

• Drugs, Alcohol and Criminal Justice (20 credits)
  • This module aims to develop your understanding of drug and alcohol use within contemporary society. It deconstructs the drug and alcohol status quo so you can acknowledge the complexities and contradictions that exist within this sphere. It aims to:
    • provide a broad critical understanding of the different paradigms and perspectives on substance (mis)use and relevant policy in relation to crime and criminal justice
    • set a critical socio-cultural scene for you to build up a comprehensive picture of drug and alcohol use within contemporary capitalist society
    • develop your understanding of drug policy and critically consider the rationale and motivations that mould policy developments within this sphere
    • develop your knowledge of how drug and alcohol users are responded to within a criminal justice context
• Youth Justice (20 credits)
  • This module aims to give you a critical, theoretically-informed and socially-orientated grounding in the study of youth justice. It enables you to:
    • develop an analytical approach to understanding the treatment and experiences of young people within, and at the hands of, the criminal justice system
    • consider the historical basis of the youth justice system and how political influence has played a significant role in the current development of youth justice policy
    • critically compare youth justice policy and practice in England and Wales
• The Sociology of Policing (20 credits)
  • This module seeks to critically explore the complex and dynamic relationship between policing services/agents and members of the diverse public these organisations serve. It will help you develop a critical appreciation of the historical and conceptual development of modern policing forms, evaluate contemporary policing structures/methods
    etworks, and explore future challenges for service provision.
• International Criminal Law (20 credits)
  • This module will:
    • introduce you to the basic concepts, institutions and processes of international criminal law
    • introduce you to current debates regarding the application of international criminal law
    • provide you with an appreciation of contemporary issues of global concern relating to the prosecution of international crimes
• Conflict and Warfare in International Law (20 credits)
  • This module aims to:
    • consider current controversies in international law pertaining to the use of force between states
    • provide you with an understanding of legal limitations on methods and means of armed conflict
    • explore modern and emerging challenges to the law of armed conflict
• The United Nations, International Security and Global Justice (20 credits)
  • The module aims to:
    • introduce you to the work of the United Nations in the maintenance and restoration of international peace and security
    • develop your understanding of the legal framework which governs the work of the UN in this area
• Terrorism and Organised Crime (20 credits)
  • The module aims to:
    • introduce you to the basic concepts, institutions and processes of international law
    • build knowledge in the themes of crime, justice and security within a global legal context
    • provide you with an appreciation of selected contemporary issues of global concern in the context of conceptual themes of crime, justice and security
• International Human Rights Law (20 credits)
  • Introduces students to the basic conceptual, institutional and substantive elements of international human rights law, current debates regarding the interpretation and application of international human rights law.
• Philosophy of History, International Relations and European Integration (20 credits)
  • The module aims to teach the students the various theories on philosophy of history (linear and directional vs. cyclical history; ‘end of history’ theories; Marxist notion of history; recognition of patterns in history, such as, cycles; theory of history as history of ‘civilizations’; Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence theory; decline of the West; Carl Schmitt’s Land vs. Sea dichotomy) and to familiarize the students with the works of the thinkers who developed these theories (Kant, Hegel, Marx, Fukuyama, Popper, Tolstoy, Nietzsche, Huntington, Spengler, Schmitt, Toynbee, Gibbon etc.). The module aims in particular to show the relevance of these theories to international relations (IR) and European integration theory.
• Capital Punishment in America (20 credits)
  • This module will give you an overview of the law governing the application of the death penalty in the context of the moral, social, and political questions raised by capital punishment. In discussing the legal principles and policies it offers students a “real world” view of capital litigation.
• Animals, Rights and Law (20 credits)
  • To provide students to examine the law relating to animals in terms of its ethical, political and practical implications.
• International Trade and Finance Law (20 credits)
  • This module allows you to critically analyse contemporary legal issues regarding international trade.
• International Corporate Governance (20 credits)
  • This module seeks to introduce you to the intellectual and practical background of corporate governance in the UK and beyond. It aims to:
    • provide an awareness and understanding of corporate governance through the critical examination of appropriate theoretical perspectives, models and practices
    • examine critically the intellectual, practical and theoretical background to the concept of corporate governance in the UK and other international jurisdictions
    • gain an understanding of the legal nature of corporations, their operations and global corporate governance failures and the reasons for such failures
    • demonstrate legal and extra-legal solutions to perceived problems with past and present corporate governance regimes
    • critically examine proposed future developments in and monitoring of corporate governance
• International Financial Crime (20 credits)
  • The module allows you to undertake an analysis of the law as it relates to a range of contemporary issues in financial crime. It aims to provide knowledge and understanding:
    • of the impact of a range of financial crimes
    • plus analysis of attempts to curb financial crime and its impact
• International Dispute Resolution (20 credits)
  • This module provides a detailed understanding and analysis of the various laws, regulations and systems applicable to the dispute resolution process. It aims to:
    • provide a detailed understanding and analysis of the various laws, regulations and systems applicable to the dispute resolution process
    • identify potential risk areas of conflict and develop effective processes, procedures and strategies to limit exposure to disputes arising notably within business, corporate or commercial situations
    • increase the ability to create and implement action, highlight practices and manage disputes in both a national and international environment
• International Environmental Law (20 credits)
  • This module provides an:
    • understanding of essential elements of environmental law
    • awareness of the impact of environmental issues both nationally and internationally
    • understanding of broad theoretical global issues of the relationship between global trade and national regulation
    • understanding of the issues relating to companies and businesses from a national and international regulatory perspective
• International Labour Law (20 credits)
  • This module aims to:
    • review the global nature of international labour regimes and the regulatory mechanism
    • investigate the link between international labour law; corporate governance and international trade
    • describe each of the rights encompassed by the term international labour and to consider the main legal elements pertinent to each right
    • review the operation of international labour regimes through specific industries
    • place your study within the broader setting of economic policy and commercial application
    • consider the importance of the law, policies and strategies regarding equality
• International Maritime Law (20 credits)
  • This module aims to:
    • introduce the basics of International Maritime Law
    • develops a critical understanding of commercial maritime issues and adequacy of the published material in maritime law
    • help students consider the adequacy of the current legal structure of the modern maritime contract
    • facilitate critical assessment of contemporary issues surrounding the commercial vessel in law
• International Corporate Finance Law (20 credits)
  • As a business vehicle, the limited company is widely used. One of the reasons for its popularity is its ability to successfully raise business finance and diversify financial risk. All companies need to raise money to function successfully. And it is these issues of money which are the gravamen of international corporate finance law. An understanding of the ways in which companies can raise money, and the manner in which their money-raising activities are regulated, is central to an understanding of how companies function. Students taking this module have the opportunity to participate in wide-ranging but analytically precise discussions of international corporate finance law.
• International Investment Law (20 credits)
  • This module aims to introduce students to the core substantive, institutional and conceptual foundations of Foreign Investment Law, as well as the broader economic, political and social implications of international investment Law. It also aims to provide a critical appreciation of the competing interests within the sphere of Investment Law and an introduction to the contemporary issues and debates within Investment Law.
• International Mergers and Acquisitions Law (20 credits)
  • The impact of mergers and acquisition activities affects every corporate constituent, namely shareholders of target and acquiring companies, employees, creditors, directors and managers. In addition, it has an impact on the community, suppliers and national economy.
• Advanced Critical Criminology (20 credits)
  • This module is designed to examine the social construction of crime. It aims to:
    • provide a balance between theoretical perspectives and empirical, practical knowledge about the power imbalances in society
    • critically examine the relationship between these imbalances and crime (reported and unreported), as well as the criminal justice system's responses to them
    • equip you with the skills required to demonstrate a critical understanding of crimes involving the abuse of social and/or individual power
• Delivering Rehabilitation (20 credits)
  • This module critically evaluates, at an advanced level, the role and function of the prison and probation services in relation to the delivery of state punishment and rehabilitation. It aims to:
    • critically reflect on the values and principles that underpin the delivery of contemporary penal policy through the creation of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS)
    • scrutinise the extent to which contemporary penal policy and practice actually delivers a more systematic approach to the management of offenders
• Contemporary Issues in International Criminal Justice (20 credits)
  • This module will enable you to gain advanced knowledge of key issues relating to international and comparative criminal justice. It aims to develop advanced:
    • knowledge and critical understanding of the theoretical concepts that underpin policy and practice with regard to issues in the delivery and maintenance of International Criminal Justice
    • critical awareness of social and political issues which have an impact on the institutions which form part of international-level criminal justice responses and implementation strategies

Your Learning Experience

Teaching

• Study hours: Due to the wide range of option modules available, the timetable is flexible and so study hours will vary depending on the modules you decide to study. As with any Masters level programme, there is an expectation that you manage your own study time effectively to meet the demands of the curriculum.
• Teaching methods: The programme's blended learning techniques include interactive, self-directed and independent learning, lecturer-produced course documents, collaboration and cohort learning through online forums or group working.

Assessment

• To cater for the wide-ranging content of our courses and the varied learning preferences of our students, we offer a range of assessment methods on each programme.
• Technology plays a crucial role in assessment on the LLM course. Modules use online feedback alongside face-to-face assessments.

Career paths

Further your career prospects

LJMU has an excellent employability record with 94% (HESA 2022) of our postgraduates in work or further study fifteen months after graduation. Our applied learning techniques and strong industry connections ensure our students are fully prepared for the workplace on graduation and understand how to apply their knowledge in a real world context.

The LLM is designed for people with a more general interest in law and criminal justice who wish to develop their careers outside of the traditional boundaries of specialist law.

Tuition fees and funding

Home

• Full-time per year: £8,765

International

• Full-time per year: £17,750

Entry requirements

Home

• Qualification requirements:
  • a minimum 2:2 in a subject such as Law, Criminal Justice, Politics, Finance, Banking or Accounting
  • or an equivalent professional qualification

International

• Qualification requirements:
  • a minimum 2:2 in a subject such as Law, Criminal Justice, Politics, Finance, Banking or Accounting
  • or an equivalent professional qualification
• IELTS: 6.0 (minimum 5.5 in each component)

How to apply

To apply for this programme, you are required to complete an LJMU online application form. You will need to provide details of previous qualifications and a personal statement outlining why you wish to study this programme.

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