Programme Director Ms Sandra Eden

The LLM in Law at Edinburgh Law School, UK, is a postgraduate Masters degree programme offering an exciting and flexible range of courses. Studying with leading experts in their fields, and alongside students drawn from all around the world, this well-established LLM degree at one of the UK's, and indeed Europe’s, leading universities offers you the opportunity to select courses exactly reflecting your interests.

The LLM in Law (or ‘General LLM’) is suitable for students seeking a range of choice among a number of advanced courses, without necessarily specialising in one area of law. Students who wish to specialise should apply for one of the nominate degrees listed in the menu on the right. It is possible to transfer to the general LLM in Law after arrival; but transferring from the general Law LLM to a specialised LLM may not be possible due to limitations on programme numbers. Please note that students taking the general LLM Law may not select more than one full-year or two one-semester courses from each of the specialised degree programmes. It is therefore essential that you give careful thought in advance to which LLM programme best suits your interests.

Edinburgh Law School offers a flexible LLM programme structure. In addition to full-year courses, a broad range of specialised, research-led one semester law courses will be offered on the LLM degree. Students can select either three full-year courses, six one semester courses, or a combination of both full-year and one-semester options, thus enabling each individual student to tailor their own curriculum as best suits their interests and future career plans.

The list of courses below illustrates the breadth and range of the subject matter covered by our Law School teaching and research programme. Please note that this list is *provisional* and not all courses may run in 2012-2013.

You may take the LLM in Law either full-time (over one year) or part-time (over the course of two years). 

The LLM degree comprises 180 credits. Students must complete 120 credits of taught courses (the dissertation accounts for 60 programme credits). There are no compulsory courses for the LLM in Law and students may select courses in Table A (Law courses) and/or Table B (MSc in Criminology Courses).

Students on the General LLM are able to take up to 60 credits from each of the other LLM programmes offered in the School (with the exception of the MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from which students are allowed to take only 40 credits).

Option 1
Three full-year courses over two semesters of the academic year, each course carrying 40 credits (i.e. 120 credits).

Option 2
Two 40 credit courses and two 20 credit courses (i.e. 80 credits plus 40 (20+20) credits, = 120 credits)

Option 3
One 40 credit course and four 20 credit courses (i.e. 40 credits plus 80 (4 x 20) credits, =120 credits)

Option 4
Six 20 credit courses (i.e. 6 x 20 credits = 120 credits)

Read more about the degree structure

Table A: LLM 40 credit courses (i.e. full-year law courses that run for both semesters)

• Company Law
• Contract Law in Europe
• EU Competition Law
• European and International Human Rights Law
• Financial Models and Derivatives in a Legal Context
• Fundamental Issues in International Law
• International Criminal Law
• International Environmental Law
• Medical Jurisprudence [This course is not running in the 2011/2012 academic session]
• The Law of International Trade

Table B: LLM 20 credit courses (i.e. one-semester courses)

Semester One

• Banking and Finance Law
• Comparative and International Trust Law
• Comparative Environmental Law
• Comparative Property Law
• Delict and Tort
• Economics and Policy of European Integration [This course is not running in the 2011/2012 academic session]
• EU Constitutional Law
• European Media Law and Policy [This course is not running in the 2011/2012 academic session]
• European Procurement Law
• General Principles and Institutions of International Economic Law
• Information: Control and Power
• Intellectual Property Law 1: Copyright and Related Rights
• International Climate Change Law
• International Commercial Arbitration
• International Investment Law
• International Law of the Sea
• International Relations Theory (offered by the School of Social and Political Sciences - SPS)
• IP & Technology: International Institutions
• Law and New Technologies: Artificial Intelligence, Risk and the Law 1
• Principles of Competition Law for Innovation
• Principles of Internal Market Law
• Principles of International Tax Law
• Regulatory Governance in the European Union
• Sport and the Law
• The Legal Challenges of Information Technologies
• Theories and Philosophies of Legal Research
• Traditions of Legal Inquiry

Semester Two

• Commercial Banking and Financial Markets
• Comparative Unjustified Enrichment Law
• Corporate Social Responsibility and the Law
• Data Protection and Information Privacy
• Debt and Insolvency Law
• EU and National Climate Change Law
• EU Criminal Law
• EU External Economics Relations Law
• EU Immigration and Asylum Law
• European Environmental Law
• European Labour Law [This course is not running in the 2011/2012 academic session]
• Ethical Life of Legal Institutions: Law, Democracy and the Market [This course is not running in the 2011/2012 academic session]
• European Tax Law [This course is not running in the 2011/2012 academic session]
• History and Theory of International Law
• History of Private Law [This course is not running in the 2011/2012 academic session]
• Intellectual Property: Law and Society
• Intellectual Property Law 2: Industrial Property
• International Private Law: Jurisdiction and Enforcement
• Inter-State Conflict and Humanitarian Law
• IP & Technology: Developing Countries [This course is not running in the 2011/2012 academic session]
• Law and the Enlightenment [This course is not running in the 2011/2012 academic session]
• Law and New Technologies: Artificial Intelligence, Risk and the Law 2
• Law, Culture and Rights in a Transnational World [This course is not running in the 2011/2012 academic session]
• Law of E-Commerce
• Legal Challenges of Information Technologies
• Legal Research Methods
• Principles of European Tax Law
• Principles of Insurance Law
• Regulation of Innovation: Advanced Issues in Competition and Intellectual Property Law
• State Aid
• The Anatomy of Private Law
• The Anatomy of Public Law
• Theories and Regulation of the Finance Industry (subject to approval)
• WTO Law

Table C: MSc 20 credit courses (i.e. one-semester courses)

• Criminal Justice and Penal Process
• Criminological Research Methods
• Cybercrime
• Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice
• Media and Crime
• Mental Health and Crime
• Penal Politics
• Police and Policing
• Theoretical Criminology
• Surveillance and Security
• Youth, Crime and Justice
• Global Crime, Justice and Security: Context (SPS)
• Global Crime, Justice and Security: Theories and Framework (SPS)

Click here for course descriptions 

The School of Law will offer five Tercentenary Awards for Excellence across all the LLM and MSc Programmes in the School starting in 2012, including the LLM in Law. 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.

Applications for admission to the 2012-2013 LLM Law programme 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 of Law Postgraduate Office.

Contact the Postgraduate Office.

Apply for admission to the LLM in Law degree