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LLM in Competition Law and Innovation
Introduction to the Programme The rules on competition and on the control of mergers and acquisitions of businesses have become increasingly important in today’s economic world. Over the past few years the EU Commission and a number of domestic authorities in Europe and the US have had to deal, sometimes in parallel, with several high profile cases involving companies that are “house names” for businesses and consumers, such as Microsoft, Intel and Carlsberg; others are still in the pipeline, including the controversial NewsCorp/BSkyB merger in the United Kingdom. However, these cases have not always lead to consistent decisions, thus raising important issues as to whether, in this globalised world, where encouraging investments and innovation constitutes a key goal, the “right balance” has been struck between upholding genuine rivalry and creating incentives to technical development.
This LLM programme aims to provide students with cutting edge knowledge of the rules on competition and on the control of mergers and especially to enable them to appreciate their complex interaction with other, equally relevant, rules governing the protection of intellectual property and, in appropriate cases, of public interests such as the plurality of the media and the circulation of information. At the end of their course of study, students will be able to critically analyse the relevant legal rules and to apply them to complex questions as well as to compare and contrast them with the principles applicable in other jurisdiction to like scenarios. The LLM programme will therefore enable them to engage with the current debate concerning these and other issues and to participate to it by way of relatively original contributions, grounded in solid legal principle as well as in the understanding of basic economic concepts and of current doctrinal trends.
Programme Objectives
The LLM in Competition Law and Innovation seeks to achieve the following goals:
- Impart in-depth, cutting edge knowledge of the laws governing competition in the EU and UK, with appropriate comparative references to other jurisdictions, and of the laws protecting and encouraging investment and innovation (e.g. Intellectual Property law)
- Focus especially on competition law, as a means to ensuring rivalry on the merits and on the interaction existing between the rules on competition and those legal rules designed to protect, regulate and encourage further innovation, by creating an economic incentive to invest and develop new technologies
- Examine the reciprocal interaction of competition law and intellectual property laws and their joint impact on the development of knowledge and technical development, especially in innovation-led and research- and investment-intensive industries
Career Opportunities
The LLM in Competition Law and Innovation will enable graduates to access a range of career opportunities ranging from the more “traditional” ones—e.g. access to the legal profession as barrister, solicitor or advocate—to employment in governmental agencies, such as the Office of Fair Trading, OFCOM, OFWAT and other sector regulators. Graduates will be best placed for being selected to work in the EU institutions, such as the EU Commission’s DG Competition and the EU Courts, and in other international bodies—e.g. the OECD. Employment opportunities are likely to include, non-exhaustively, the handling of individual cases, conducting research and drafting of legal advice for clients or governmental agencies.
Programme Structure
Students must complete a total of 120 credits taken over the full year (60 credits of study in BOTH semesters 1 and 2), as well as completing a dissertation in their chosen area of speciality (60 credits)
Semester 1
Students must take:
- Principles of Competition Law for Innovation (20 credits) (for students with prior knowledge of competition law)
OR
- EU Competition law (40 credits - counted as 20 credits per semester) (for students with no prior knowledge of competition law)
AND
A selection of courses worth 20 credits each, from the following options:
- Intellectual Property Law I: Copyright and related rights
- Legal Challenges of Information Technologies
- Any other 20 credit Law School course running in Semester 1 upon approval of the Programme Director (See the full list of optional courses)
Semester 2
Students must take:
- Regulation of Innovation: Advanced Issues in Competition and Intellectual Property Law (20 credits)
AND
A selection of courses worth 20 credits each, from the following options:
- Intellectual Property: Law and Society
- Intellectual Property 2: Industrial Property
- Law of e-Commerce
- Any other 20 credit Law School course running in semester 1 upon approval of the Programme Director (See the full list of optional courses)
Dissertation
Students choose the topic of their dissertation, subject to availability of a suitable supervisor and to the approval of the Programme Director. The dissertation must relate to an area which engages issues at the nexus of competition law and innovation. The maximum word length of the dissertation is 10,000 words.
Funding
Edinburgh Law School will offer five Tercentenary Awards for Excellence across all the LLM and MSc Programmes in the School starting in 2012, including the LLM in Competition Law and Innovation. This award will provide funding of £1,000 towards tuition fees. To find out more about this scholarship, and the other sources of funding available, please consult the link below.
Read more about available funding opportunities.
How to Apply and Further Information
Applications for admission to the 2012-2013 LLM in Competition Law and Innovation are now welcome. Should you wish to discuss any aspect of the LLM degree or your application, please do not hesitate to contact the School Postgraduate Office.
Contact the Postgraduate Office
Apply for admission to the LLM in Competition Law and Innovation
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