Program Overview

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International Commercial and Business Law

Overview

The LLM International Commercial and Business Law is designed as a research-led programme for graduates from law and related disciplines who aim to specialise in commercial law, international trade, and cross-border business transactions from a socio-legal perspective.

Course Structure

Students may enrol on a full-time (1 year) or part-time (2 years) basis. The Masters is awarded to students who successfully complete all taught modules (120 CATS points) and a research dissertation (60 CATS points).

Course Details

The programme is delivered through a series of taught modules and culminates in the submission of a dissertation on an original topic.

Semester One: Modules

• International Competition Law
• International Corporate Governance
• World Trade Law

Semester Two: Optional Modules

• International Commercial Law
• International Financial Law
• Advanced International Trade Law and Policy
• Critical Approaches International Economic Law
• Artificial Intelligence and the Law
• Business and Human Rights
• Corporate Environmental Law

Semester Two: Mini Modules

• Approaches to Legal Research (Core)
• Platform Regulation: IP Enforcement and Content Moderation (Optional)
• (Metaverse Law) Copyright, Trademarks, and Immersive Technologies (Optional)

Summer: Dissertation

• Dissertation (Maximum 15,000 words)

People Teaching You

• Dr Dieter Pesendorfer (Programme Co-ordinator)

Contact Teaching Hours

• Small Group Teaching/Personal Tutorial: 8 (hours maximum)

Learning and Teaching

• Learning opportunities associated with the course are outlined below:
  • Learning Opportunities:
    • During your study with us, you will be supported in various ways.
    • Each Programme has its own Programme Co-Ordinator—a dedicated member of academic staff who is there to guide and support you throughout your time with us, together with the School's experienced and helpful administrative staff.
    • Moreover, all our LLM students are able to avail of mentoring and pastoral support of academic staff.
    • We place considerable emphasis on facilitating good communication between staff and students.
    • To this end, a Student Voice Committee, comprised of elected student representatives, the Director of Graduate Studies, and other members of academic staff, meet at regular intervals throughout the academic year.

Assessment

• Assessments associated with the course are outlined below:
  • Assessed coursework for 120 CATS points: All course modules are assessed by coursework.
  • Compulsory Research Component: An LLM Dissertation or Dissertation in Practice topic must be chosen within the area of commercial and business law for the remainder 60 CATS.

What Our Academics Say

• Our unique LLM in International Commercial and Business Law facilitates your engagement with law's role in the global economy, into the regulatory dynamics of global firms, and into the place that corporations play in global societies.
• Our socio-legal approach allows students to think about international business in the round and to think about law as a core institution in the construction of our economy.
• We strive to help our diverse students to grow and to further develop their skills to face challenges of the future.

Industry Links

• Integration with business experts helps our students gain key leadership positions both nationally and internationally.
• Law was ranked top ten in the UK for graduate prospects (Complete University Guide 2024).
• Northern Ireland had in recent years the most dynamic inflow of foreign investment in the UK and has become a key UK hub for legal and financial firms, including fintech firms.

World Class Facilities

• Our facilities at Queen's include a state-of-the-art Law building with superb teaching facilities, a moot court, and study spaces.
• Queen's has one of the most modern campuses in the UK, including the award-winning McClay Library, one of the finest libraries in the world, home to 1.2 million volumes, an amazing digitally-available collection of books and journals from all over the world, and over 2,000 reader places.

Student Testimonials

• "Studying a LLM in International Business Law at Queen's has opened up fantastic new experiences, including an internship, the London Law Tour, and a CMI Project Management and Leadership qualification, which was offered by the Graduate School."
• "Coming from a non-law background, I have received fantastic support from all lecturers, tutors, and staff involved."
• "I am delighted to say that while I was stepping out of my comfort zone I have learned a lot about myself and my capabilities."
• "All this has confirmed my decision to pursue a career in law."

Career Prospects

• Our LLM programme will prepare you for a career in law with specialisation in international commerce and business.
• It also enables students to develop research skills that will prepare you for pursuing a PhD and an academic career in international business law.

Graduate Plus/Future Ready Award for Extra-Curricular Skills

• In addition to your degree programme, at Queen's, you can have the opportunity to gain wider life, academic, and employability skills.
• For example, placements, voluntary work, clubs, societies, sports, and lots more.
• So not only do you graduate with a degree recognised from a world-leading university, you'll have practical national and international experience plus a wider exposure to life overall.

Tuition Fees

• Northern Ireland (NI): £7,300
• Republic of Ireland (ROI): £7,300
• England, Scotland, or Wales (GB): £9,250
• EU Other: £21,500
• International: £21,500

Additional Course Costs

• There are no specific additional course costs associated with this programme.

Entrance Requirements

• Applicants with a primary Law degree: Normally a strong 2.2 Honours degree in Law or an equivalent qualification acceptable to the University.
• Applicants with a primary degree in a relevant/cognate subject: Normally applicants with a 2:1 Honours degree or above (or an equivalent qualification acceptable to the University) in Social Sciences, Humanities, or a cognate discipline.

English Language Requirements

• Evidence of an IELTS* score of 6.5, with not less than 5.5 in any component, or an equivalent qualification acceptable to the University is required.

How to Apply

• Apply using our online Queen's Portal and follow the step-by-step instructions on how to apply.

Terms and Conditions

• The terms and conditions that apply when you accept an offer of a place at the University on a taught programme of study.

Modules

World Trade Law

• Overview: This module examines the framework relating to international trade law.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Explain and critically assess the history, structure, and operation of the WTO and its substantive and procedural rules.
  • Explain how WTO rules and institutions fit within their political, economic, and historical context, with particular reference to the functions they play and the trade-offs they express.
  • Demonstrate a detailed understanding of the legal frameworks regulating international trade and their application in particular circumstances.
  • Explain the practical significance of WTO disciplines for a number of specific policy issues including environmental protection and economic development.

Dissertation (International Business Law)

• Overview: Researching an approved legal topic under supervision and presenting the results as a dissertation or report of 10,000 to 15,000 words.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • A detailed knowledge and understanding of a chosen subset of the programme themes.
  • Capacity to build a detailed and sustained argument around a research question.
  • Advanced knowledge of available research methodologies in the study of law and in the social sciences.
  • Understanding of the skills required in order to carry out research in law and the social sciences.
  • Detailed knowledge and understanding of core issues regarding the current challenges for governance.

Approaches to Legal Research

• Overview: What motivates legal research? In addition to the principles and methods that guide the design and implementation of a specific research project, we also ought to have some sense of the broader ‘research programme’ or ‘theoretical framework’ that animates our work.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Critically evaluate the merits and weaknesses of various theoretical frameworks and approaches to legal scholarship.
  • Critically evaluate empirical academic research in terms of its methodology.

International Corporate Governance

• Overview: This module is designed to provide students with an overview of important issues in the field of corporate governance.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Detailed knowledge and critical understanding of the fundamental doctrines, principles, and features of corporate governance design and regulatory politics.
  • The ability to demonstrate critical knowledge and understanding of a wide range of legal and political concepts, values, principles, and to explain the relationship between them in the field of financial governance.
  • Critical understanding of the wider socio-legal context in which corporations and the markets in which they operate are governed.

International Competition Law

• Overview: This module explores the internationalisation of competition law in the context of globalisation and international trade with a particular focus on EU competition law as a leading model, followed by great many states around the globe both in terms of institutional design and substance.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Outline and compare institutional design of the leading competition law regimes around the world.
  • Identify and explain the main challenges posed by transnational anticompetitive conduct from the perspective of authorities of the affected countries and harmed parties (consumers and competitors).
  • Distinguish and evaluate national and international responses to the existing challenges (including the role played by international organizations and inter-agency networks).
  • Account for recent trends in competition law and policy and explain their practical importance in the context of competition law enforcement.

Corporate Environmental Law

• Overview: This module provides a comprehensive review of corporate transactional issues in environmental law.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Evaluate the meta-principles of environmental law and their influence in legal development.
  • Identify and critically assess approaches to regulating corporate conduct with respect to the environment.
  • Critically assess environmental risk factors influencing corporate entities and corporate responses to environmental risks.
  • Define the major environmental regulatory trends in the corporate environmental landscape.
  • Evaluate how changes in the legal and governance landscape interact.

(Metaverse Law) Copyright, Trademarks, and Immersive Technologies

• Overview: Digital technologies have transformed the way that creative content is produced, distributed, and used, disrupting long-standing business models and traditional revenue streams, and enabling the emergence of new business models.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Understand trademark and copyright law as it applies to a number of issues relevant to the digital environment within a UK, European, and international context.
  • Differentiate between approaches taken to trademark and copyright policy and doctrine within the pre-digital era, and the adaptation and development of those existing norms within the digital environment.
  • Acquire general knowledge concerning the interface between copyright, trademarks, immersive technologies, virtual reality, augmented reality, and the metaverse.
  • Acquire knowledge of the related legal framework.
  • Understand the ethical and societal challenges related to immersive technologies and the metaverse.

Platform Regulation: IP Enforcement and Content Moderation

• Overview: The focus of this module will be the exploration and analysis of the impact of online platform in modern society, the construction of online markets, and its implications for law and regulation.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Critically discuss the national and international regulatory and legal frameworks within which platforms develop.
  • Describe platforms’ obligations and liabilities for IP enforcement and content moderation at large.
  • Discuss online enforcement strategies for IP and other infringing content, including content infringing privacy, personality rights, or public laws.
  • Discuss the challenges that platform regulation portends, also in terms of innovation and technology policy.
  • Critically assess claims about the social importance and value of the platform economy.

Critical Approaches International Economic Law

• Overview: This module will comprise a critical analysis of the history, institutions, and legal/political/theoretical underpinnings of international economic law.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Students will develop an advanced knowledge and understanding of the legal, political, and theoretical underpinnings of international economic law.
  • Students will develop a deep knowledge and understanding of the legal institutional infrastructures that operate in international economic law and its historical development.
  • Students will have detailed knowledge of the primary and secondary sources within international economic law.
  • Students will develop the skills necessary to critically analyse how international economic law operates in the global legal order and the critiques that have been applied to it.

International Financial Law

• Overview: This module is designed for students who wish to study and understand the complex discipline of international financial law and regulation.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Detailed knowledge and critical understanding of the risks affecting the stability of financial systems.
  • Detailed knowledge and critical understanding of the most important bank regulations in the UK and the EU.
  • Detailed knowledge and critical understanding of comparative approaches to financial regulation (with a specific focus on the US).
  • Detailed knowledge and critical understanding of currently unaddressed issues in international finance and the various reform proposals on the table.
  • An ability to identify and analyse risks in finance and propose practical legal solutions.

Business and Human Rights

• Overview: This module will familiarise students with key debates regarding the corporation's role in society.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Knowledge and understanding of ideas of corporate responsibility.
  • Familiarity with legal frameworks regarding the integration of human rights considerations and corporate social responsibility.
  • Understanding of the application of the theoretical constructs to “real world” cases and situations.

Dissertation in Practice

• Overview: This module is designed to allow students to engage in independent research and to develop independent study, analysis, and methodological skills, in the context of a placement or internship with non-governmental, legal, commercial, or governmental organisations that operate in arenas that are relevant to their LLM research.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Ability to reflect critically on personal practice/engagement in the fields relevant to the LLM while working in collaboration with relevant host organisations.
  • Ability to undertake an extended research Dissertation based on tasks/learning undertaken while on placement.
  • Enhanced communication, presentation, and networking skills.

International Commercial Law

• Overview: This module introduces students to the foundations of International and Transnational Commercial Law.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Provide students with a systematic knowledge and understanding of the general framework within which the international commercial law operates, and specific areas of commercial law.
  • Provide students with a systematic knowledge and understanding of the moral, social, economic, and political context informing international commercial law.
  • Students will be introduced to a range of research methodologies, and will learn to apply these appropriately to this specialist area of study.

Advanced International Trade Law and Policy

• Overview: The focus of this module will be the exploration and analysis of the normative framework governing the UK’s external trade relations and the main legal and political challenges the UK faces in developing and implementing this important area of foreign policy.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • An in-depth knowledge and understanding of the constitutional and regulatory framework governing the UK’s external trade relations and the main legal and political challenges the UK faces in developing and implementing this area of foreign policy.
  • A critical awareness of the international legal framework within which UK trade policy is exercised.
  • An ability to critically assess the UK’s role and actions as an international trade actor in light of contemporary debates relating to globalisation issues.
  • An ability to conduct independent research and to articulate coherent legal arguments.