Postgraduate Certificate in Law

Select between 0 and 40 credits of the following courses

• Fundamentals in Bioethics (20 credits)
• Public Health Ethics (20 credits)
• Clinical Negligence and the Law (10 credits)
• Shaping and Regulating Modern Healthcare (10 credits)
• Mental Health Law (20 credits)
• Confidentiality and Data Protection in Biomedicine (20 credits)
• Ethics of Health Technologies (20 credits)

Please note that courses 'Clinical Negligence and the Law' and 'Shaping and Regulating Modern Healthcare' are co-requisites and must both be taken in the semester in which they run.

See full programme details including course descriptions on the University Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study website.

View the full Postgraduate Certificate in Law by online learning degree structure

Please note that there are no unrestricted Intellectual Property Law courses running during 2023/24. 'Introduction to Intellectual Property Law' is offered in Group E.

View the full Postgraduate Certificate in Law by online learning structure

Select between 0 and 40 credits of the following courses

• Electronic Commerce Law (20 credits)
• EU Data Protection Law (20 credits)
• Information Technology Law (20 credits)
• International and European Law of the Media (20 credits)
• Regulation of Autonomous Systems: the Law of Robotics (20 credits)

See full programme details including course descriptions on the University Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study website.

View the Postgraduate Certificate in Law by online learning programme structure

Select between 0 and 40 credits of the following courses

• European Competition and Innovation (20 credits)
• Banking and Financial Law: Case Studies (20 credits)

See full programme details including course descriptions on the University Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study website.

View the Postgraduate Certificate in Law by online learning programme structure

Select between 0 and 20 credits of the following courses

• Comparative and International Corporate Governance (20 credits)
• Contract Law in Europe (20 credits)
• Corporate Compliance: Case Studies in Law & Ethics (20 credits) 
• Dispute Resolution Methods (20 credits)
• International Law, Human Rights and Corporate Accountability (20 credits)
• Information: Control and Power (20 credits)
• International Commercial Arbitration (20 credits)
• The Fundamentals of Law and Medical Ethics (20 credits)
• Law and Ethics at the Start and End of Life (20 credits)
• Introduction to Intellectual Property Law (20 credits)

Please note that a course from this collection can only be taken with the approval of your Programme Director.

See full programme details including course descriptions on the University Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study website.

View the full Postgraduate Certificate in Law by online learning degree structure

Courses are offered once in an academic year. Each semester you will choose the course(s) you wish to study in that particular semester. Courses are then allocated. Details of the courses available will be provided in advance.  Courses are then allocated.

The allocation process is intended to support student choices as much as possible, while taking account of optimum class sizes for specific courses.

Class sizes

Class sizes have typically ranged from 15 to 25 students in the past. If more students request a course than can be allocated, students who need to take the course in order to fulfil core programme requirements will have priority and others may be asked to defer that course choice to a later year of study.

Terms and conditions

Please note the University reserves the right to make variations to the contents of programmes, including the range of courses offered, and the available choice of courses in any given year may change.

Find out more about the University's terms and conditions

Academic staff leading commercial law courses may include:

• Dr Arianna Andreangeli
• Dr Remus Valsan
• Dr Simone Lamont-Black
• Ms Lorna Richardson
• Dr Parker Hood
• Ms Johanna Hoekstra

Academic staff leading information technology law courses may include:

• Ms Judith Rauhofer 
• Dr Lachlan Urquhart
• Professor Burkhard Schafer
• Dr Paolo Cavaliere
• Mr Nicolas Jondet

Academic staff leading medical law and ethics courses may include:

• Mr Gerard Porter
• Dr Edward Dove
• Dr Emily Postan 
• Dr Annie Sorbie
• Dr Murray Earle
• Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra

If you have a non-UK degree, please check whether your degree qualification is equivalent to the minimum standard before applying.

Check your degree

We also take into account postgraduate qualifications, such as an MA, MSc, MBA or PhD.

Professional experience in appropriate areas is also considered as part of an application, although candidates, including qualified lawyers, will in almost every instance be expected to have reached the required academic levels.

Postgraduate study in the field of law requires a thorough, complex and demanding knowledge of English, so we ask that the communication skills of all students are at the same minimum standard.

You must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies, regardless of your nationality or country of residence.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic and IELTS Academic Online: total 7.0 (at least 7.0 in the writing component and 6.5 in each other module)
• TOEFL-iBT (including Special Home Edition): total 100 (at least 25 in writing and 23 in each other module)
• CAE and CPE: total 185 (at least 185 in writing and 176 in each other module)
• Trinity ISE: ISE III with a pass in all four components
• PTE Academic: 70 overall with at least 70 in the writing component and 62 in each other component
• Oxford ELLT (Global and Digital): 9 overall with at least 9 in the writing component and 8 in each other component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS, TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE, in which case it must be no more than two years old on the first of the month in which the degree begins.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree, that was taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country as defined by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). The UK Government's website provides a list of majority English speaking countries.

View the UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree, or equivalent, that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries.

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old at the beginning of your programme of study.

Find out more about the University's English language requirements

Your application may not be successful if you do not currently satisfy any of these requirements; alternatively, you may be offered a place conditional on your reaching the satisfactory standard by the time you start the degree.

English language support

The University runs a series of programmes for English Language Education, including a pre-sessional English Language Programme intended to strengthen your English Language skills before you start your programme of study.

Find out more about English language support offered by the University

The University offers an online pre-sessional academic language course designed to help international postgraduate online learning students prepare for their programme of study.

Find out more about English language support offered by the University

If you are currently studying for another qualification, you may still be able to apply on the assumption that all written work for that qualification will be submitted for examination by the start of teaching in the year of entry to the degree programme.

Candidates admitted on this basis, who do not provide evidence of such completion by the start of their first semester, will be formally withdrawn from their studies at the University of Edinburgh.

Conflicting studies

Please note that during the period of your registration with the University, except in exceptional cases and with the permission of the College, you must not take courses or pursue studies in this or in any other institution with a view to obtaining any degree, diploma or professional qualification other than the one for which you are registered at this University.

We aim to review applications and make selection decisions throughout the cycle and we monitor application numbers carefully to ensure we are able to accommodate all those who receive offers. It may therefore be necessary to close a programme earlier than the published deadline and if this is the case we will place a four-week warning notice on the relevant programme page.

2024-25 application deadlines

September 2024 entry

Applications for September 2024 entry will close on the 30 June. Applications for September 2025 will open in October 2024. 

Please note that if you receive a conditional offer of a place on one of our programmes for September 2024, the deadline for meeting the conditions of your offer is 31 July 2024.

January 2025 entry

The deadline for applications for entry in January 2025 is 03 November 2024.

Please note that if you receive a conditional offer of a place on one of our programmes for January 2025, the deadline for meeting the conditions of your offer is 27 November 2024.

Applications are made online via the University Application Service, EUCLID.

Please follow the instructions carefully and make sure that you have included the following documentation with your application:

• Degree certificates showing award of degree.
• Previous academic transcripts for all past degree programmes (please upload the full transcript showing results from all years of study). Where academic paperwork is not in English, certified translations must be provided (these must have been produced by a certified translator);
  Find out more about certified translations
• Details of professional qualifications and any appropriate professional registrations.
• A reference in support or your application. The reference should be academic and dated no earlier than one year from the start of study on the LLM programme. We may accept a non-academic reference from applicants who have been out of higher education for five years or more.
• Evidence of English language proficiency, if required.
• Personal statement - you will be asked to complete a personal statement (maximum 3500 characters - approximately 500 words) as part of your application. 
• Relevant knowledge / skills - this may include details of any skills or voluntary work that you have undertaken that you feel are pertinent to the programme (maximum 3500 characters - approximately 500 words).

Your personal statement should show that you have thought carefully about why you are interested in this programme of study; what you can bring to the programme and what impact you feel it will have on your future career. Therefore, please ensure that you address the following questions in your statement:

• What are your motivations for wanting to study this programme?
• What skills, qualities and experiences have prepared you to undertake this programme?
• What value do you think you can add to the learning community as part of an internationally diverse group?
• What impact do you hope to make in your future career, and how will this programme contribute to your aspirations?

If you are currently studying for your degree or you are not in a possession of an English test result you may still apply to the programme. Please note that it is your responsibility to submit the necessary documents.

Students at this University must not undertake any other concurrent credit bearing studies in this (or in any other) institution, unless the College has granted permission. The College must be satisfied that any additional credit-bearing studies will not restrict the student’s ability to complete their existing programme of study. Students will not be permitted to undertake concurrent degree programmes in any circumstances.

If you are studying at this or another institution just prior to the start of your postgraduate studies you must have finished these studies before the start of the programme to which you have an offer.

After your application has been submitted you will be able to track its progress through the University's applicant hub.

Application processing times will vary however the admissions team will endeavour to process your application within four to six weeks of submission. Please note that missing documentation will delay the application process.

You will be informed as soon as possible of the decision taken. Three outcomes are possible:

• You may be offered a place unconditionally
• You may be offered a conditional place, which means that you must fulfil certain conditions that will be specified in the offer letter. Where a conditional offer is made, it is your responsibility to inform the College Postgraduate Office when you have fulfilled the requirements set out.
• Your application may be unsuccessful. If your application has not been successful, you can request feedback from us or refer to our guidance for unsuccessful applicants, which explains some of the common reasons we why we reach this decision.
  View the University's guidance for unsuccessful applicants

You can find full and detailed application guidance on the University's website.

Find out more about applying to the University of Edinburgh

Applicants receiving an unconditional offer of admission will be asked to pay a deposit of £500 to secure their place on the programme

The deposit fee will be deducted from the first tuition fee instalment you have to pay and so enables you to spread the financial cost of the programme.

September 2024 applicants

The deposit must be paid within 28 days of the date that the unconditional offer was made or by 09 August 2024, whichever is sooner.  

January 2025 applicants

The deposit must be paid within 28 days of the date that the unconditional offer was made or by 04 December 2024, whichever is sooner.  

Find out more about our deposit policy

The University’s terms and conditions form part of your contract with the University, and you should read them, and our data protection policy, carefully before applying.

University of Edinburgh admissions terms and conditions