Programme Director Dr Robert Lane

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 2010-2011.

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 must not take more than one full year or two one-semester course from each of the specialised programmes (i.e. no more than 40 credits from each programme).

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
• Fundamental Issues in International Law
• International Criminal Law
• International Environmental Law
• Medical Jurisprudence

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

Semester One

• Banking and Finance Law
• Commercial Agency Law: International Perspectives
• Data Protection and Information Privacy new course!
• EU Immigration and Asylum Law
• European Media Law and Policy
• Intellectual Property Law 1: Copyright and Related Rights
• Internal Market Law: Concepts and Principles
• International Investment Law
• IP & Technology: International Institutions
• Law and New Technologies: Artificial Intelligence, Risk and the Law 1
• Law of Climate Change
• Law of E-Commerce
• Public Law and New Technologies
• Principles of International Tax Law
• Traditions of Legal Inquiry

Semester Two

• Debt and Insolvency Law
• EU Environmental Law new course!
• EU Labour Law
• Ethical Life of Legal Institutions: Law, Democracy and the Market
• European Tax Law
• European Union and Domestic Parliamentary Governance
• History of Private Law
• Intellectual Property Law 2: Industrial Property
• International Intellectual Property System
• International Law of the Sea
• IP & Technology: Developing Countries
• Law and the Enlightenment
• Law and New Technologies: Artificial Intelligence, Risk and the Law 1
• Law, Culture and Rights in a Transnational World
• Legal Challenges of Information Technologies
• Philosophy of Private Law
• Principles of Insurance Law
• Sport and the Law new course!
• WTO Law

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

• Criminal Justice and Penal Process
• Criminological Research Methods
• Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice
• Media and Crime
• Mental Health and Crime
• Police and Policing
• Theoretical Criminology
• Youth Crime and Justice

Click here for course descriptions

Read more about available funding opportunities.

Applications for admission to the 2010-2011 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 Maria Byars in the School of Law Postgraduate Office.

Contact Maria Byars.

Apply for admission to the LLM in Law degree