LLM in Commercial Law

You must take this course.

• Principles of Commercial Law (40 credits)

  This course will cover selected topics in Scots and English Commercial Law. It will provide you with an overview of the core commercial law areas. Material will be chosen from such areas as insolvency, rights in security, agency, employment and partnership. Company Law is excluded (except in so far as relevant to topics otherwise under consideration).

You can select between 20 and 60 credits of the following courses:

• Company Law (40 credits, full-year course)

  This course aims to give you a broad understanding of United Kingdom corporate law, including current changes; where appropriate, reference will be made to the position in Europe. The course seeks to develop awareness of the interaction between theory and practice, and the complex issues involved in balancing the needs of business and the community.

• The Law of International Trade (20 credits)

  This course examines the legal aspects of international trade in a broad context. The legal framework of the course is English law as well as the relevant international conventions and standard terms. The course examines international sale of goods which are transported by sea. It investigates the trade terms used in international sale contracts (in the context of English common law and Incoterms in particular) and analyses the resulting obligations of the parties regarding payment methods (with emphasis on letters of credit and bills of exchange), transportation of the goods (focusing on bills of lading and waybills), and marine cargo insurance in the manner in which these relate to one another.

• Contract Law in Europe (20 credits)

  This course is a comparative contract law course. Its main focus is fundamental concepts of the law of contract, which arise in all systems. The course compares national systems of contract law, principally Scots, English, French and German law. The course also considers some of the harmonisation initiatives that have taken place in Europe over the last decade, principally the Draft Common Frame of Reference (Principles, Definitions and Model Rules of European Private Law).

• Insolvency Law (20 credits)

  This course examines selected issues of insolvency law, including personal and corporate insolvency. The course will primarily focus on law within the United Kingdom and will take an advanced look at a variety of topics. Theoretical and comparative law material from a variety of systems (in Europe and the Anglo-American tradition) will be used to examine the subjects studied.

You can select between 20 and 40 credits of the following courses:

• Corporate Finance and the Law (20 credits)

  Corporate finance law is essential for understanding how a business finances its operations and makes investment decisions in compliance with the legal and regulatory systems of its jurisdiction. This course is tailored for students who wish to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the theory and practice of corporate finance and UK corporate finance law. 

• Advanced Capital Markets Law (20 credits)

  Capital markets law is important for understanding how the public authority defines and governs financial activities and services in national capital markets to facilitate business growth, protect investors, maintain market order and integrity, and control financial risks. This course is tailored for students who have acquired solid and comprehensive knowledge in UK company law or corporate finance law and wish to develop an in-depth and intensive understanding of the contemporary issues in UK capital markets law.

• Principles of Financial Transactions (20 credits)

  This course will look at the rules and practical aspects, as well as other relevant matters, relating to financial transactions, undertaken by banks/financial institutions. These transactions form a core part of a bank's/financial institution's activities, and are a major source of their profits.

• Principles of Banking Law (20 credits)

  This course deals with fundamental concepts of banking (and finance) law. Given the varied backgrounds of students on the LLM International Banking and Finance Programme - some have a legal background, whilst others have a finance/business/economics background - this course will seek to help students to undertake the International Banking and Finance Law Programme on an equal footing. This is because the topics studied in this course are fundamental ones regarding banking and finance law, and are relevant to other courses in the programme, i.e., the course looks at concepts that those dealing with banking (and finance) law need to know and understand.

• EU Competition Law (40 credits, full-year course)

  The purpose of the course is to impart to students an understanding of the rationale behind competition regulation in the European Union, the substantive and procedural rules which comprise EU competition law, and their place within the scheme of the Treaties - they being 'fundamental provision[s] - essential to the accomplishment of the tasks entrusted to the [Union] and, in particular, the functioning of the internal market' (Case C-126/97 Eco Swiss China Time v Benetton International [1999] ECR I-3055, para 36). 
  It is the private law side of Union integration and a mirror of the law of the internal market - put otherwise, the commercial law of the EU. Appropriate comparisons with the equivalent laws of the member states, in particular those of Germany (the GWB) and the United Kingdom (the Competition Act 1998; the Enterprise Act 2002), will be drawn throughout the course.

• Principles of Corporate Finance Law (20 credits)

  This course aims to develop a critical understanding of the principles of corporate finance law, with a special focus on some key subject matters of corporate finance: Formation of Capital, Share Capital Maintenance, Corporate Takeovers, Security Interests, Market Abuse and Short Sale.

  Students taking this course will discuss the mechanics, structuring, and legal aspects of the selected topics. Throughout this course, students will acquire comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the principal theories, principles and concepts that underlie the corporate finance law. Students active participation and presentation is required.

• Fundamentals of Comparative Private Law (20 credits)

  The growing permeability of frontiers, the openness of national economies and societies, has a deep impact on the evolution of the law, as legal concepts and principles flow across borders. Anyone envisaging a career with an international dimension will need to engage not just with foreign laws and foreign legal concepts, but will also be confronted with different legal cultures. It is therefore crucial to be familiar with the opportunities but also the difficulties that arise when stepping outside one's own legal system. The aim of this course is to provide students with a general introduction to the basics and the methodology of comparative law, and to equip them with the tools necessary to conduct comparative analysis. It further introduces student to the historical developments of the major legal traditions and their respective styles. The course therefore offers an ideal foundation for students who want to study core areas of private law across both civil and common law jurisdictions.

• International Commercial Arbitration (20 credits)

  The course aims to provide a firm grounding in the legal aspects of ad hoc and institutional international arbitration as well as offering practical skills on how to conduct such arbitrations.

  The course will include a range of topics including an introduction to arbitration, applicable laws, arbitration clauses, the arbitral tribunal, the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, the conduct of arbitral proceedings, the role of the national courts, the award, challenges to the award, and recognition and enforcement of the arbitral award. There will also be an introduction to Investment Arbitration. This course is aimed at those who are interested in acquiring a detailed understanding of how transnational disputes are resolved and knowledge of the legal environment which facilitates such a process. The primary focus will be on international commercial arbitration in practice, combining a thorough understanding of the legal rules with a practitioners' perspective.

• International Private Law: Jurisdiction and Enforcement of Judgments (20 credits)

  This course deals with civil jurisdiction and enforcement of judgments, issues which have been central to recent developments within International Private Law. It will consider the provisions contained in EU instruments, focusing on the Brussels I bis Regulation but also looking at the Insolvency Regulation and Brussels II bis Regulation. The course will also examine proposals for reform of these instruments. In addition there will be consideration of appropriate Hague Private International Law Conventions, especially the Choice of Court Convention and the current work of the Hague Conference in the field of recognition and enforcement of judgments.

• Sustainability in Food Supply Chains: Law and Policy (20 credits)

  This course considers legal, regulatory and policy questions relating to food supply chains. There will be a particular focus on food supply chain sustainability, including measures to counteract power asymmetries in the wider context of food security, supply chain regulation and food & agricultural policies.

You will have the option to take between 0 and 20 credits of courses from different subject areas offered by the Law School, depending on availability and with the express permission of the programme director.

Having successfully completed 120 credit points of courses within the LLM, you will be ready to move onto a single piece of independent and in-depth research. The 10,000 word dissertation allows you to focus on a preferred topic from within the field of commercial law, normally based on a subject you have studied in one of your courses during the programme.

You will be assigned an academic dissertation supervisor who will provide you with support and guidance while you prepare and write your dissertation.

The dissertation is a challenging but rewarding endeavour, asking you to demonstrate a comprehensive grasp of the relevant literature and an ability to engage critically with a range of sources, drawing on the skills and knowledge you have developed during the course of the programme. You are encouraged to show originality and evidence of independent thinking.

The dissertation is written in the summer months (April to August) after the taught courses are successfully completed.

David Cabrelli has been a lecturer in law since 2003 after having practised commercial law and corporate law for six years. His research interests lie in the fields of commercial law, labour law/employment law, company law, and private law.

Find out more

Scott has research interests in the area of rights in security (including floating charges), issues in property law, and legislation, the legislative process, and statutory interpretation.

He is currently working on work on the legislative history of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973, based on a period of research in the archives in the Scottish Law Commission; and is working on articles relating to the enforcement of standard securities.

Find out more

Dr Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm specialises in private international law and shipping law. She has a great deal of experience in these fields both in practice in Uruguay and as an academic in the UK.

Her main areas of research and teaching are private international law and shipping law. Other research interests include international commercial litigation, international commercial arbitration, air law, oil and gas law, comparative law, and the interaction between public and private international law.

Find out more

Dr. Longjie Lu joined Edinburgh Law School in September 2019. Prior to Edinburgh, Longjie taught law at the Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London, and completed her Ph.D. in law at the University of Leeds.

Longjie’s main research interests are in the areas of financial regulation, corporate governance, corporate finance and empirical legal studies.

Find out more

Simone Lamont-Black (née Schnitzer) qualified as a civil lawyer in Germany where she practised law as Rechtsanwältin for several years. She specialises and researches in the (private) law of international trade and carriage of goods and has a keen interest in international commercial dispute resolution. She also established the Edinburgh Willem Vis Moot Team and Moot Module and the annual Edinburgh Willem Vis Pre-Moot.

Find out more

Robert Lane's principal areas of interest lie within the various strands of EU law. They include in particular the constitutional and administrative law of the European Union and the European Community, the methods and reasoning of the European Court of Justice, and the law of the internal market and EC competition law.

Robert Lane will be on sabbatical in semester 2 of the 2022/23 academic year.

Find out more

Laura Macgregor currently holds the chair of Commercial Contract Law. She was recently appointed to the Law School's prestigious Chair of Scots Law, her appointment beginning on 1 July 2020. She will be the first woman since the Chair's inception 297 years ago to hold the Chair. Before becoming an academic Laura spent several years as a solicitor in practice with a major Scottish law firm in Edinburgh. She began her academic career as a lecturer at Glasgow Law School, joining Edinburgh Law School in 2002.

Find out more

Ruiqiao Zhang has a comprehensive education background, extensive academic training in law, and rich experience of research in various legal systems in Asia, Europe, and North America. She holds two bachelor’s degrees of Law and Science (Biotechnology), three master’s degrees of Civil and Commercial Law, International Commercial and Trade Law, and Comparative Law respectively in China, the Netherlands, and Canada, and one doctoral degree of law at McGill University. 

Find out more

Jonny was a solicitor in private practice for 10 years before starting at the Law School. Jonny’s research is conducted across a broad range of commercial law (particularly rights in security) and company law (particularly the law of private companies). Most of Jonny’s research has a law and economics methodology, which he has applied to a broad range of different subject matters.

Find out more

Amy Lawton is a Lecturer in Tax Law at Edinburgh Law School. Prior to joining the School in 2021, she was a Lecturer in Law at Lancaster University where she founded the first UK-based Tax Clinic.

Amy’s research interests broadly lie in tax and the environment. She is particularly interested in environmental taxation; clinical tax education and how tax is understood and perceived in the UK. Her recent work has explored how university students engage with a clinical education in tax, value creation in the UK, and how environmental taxation can be used to drive behavioral change in businesses in relation to energy consumption.

Find out more

Lorna will be on sabbatical in the 2024-25 academic year

Lorna Richardson joined the Law School after seven years practising as a commercial litigator with major Scottish law firms. Her particular interests include contract law, particularly in relation to formation, interpretation and breach. In her time in practice Lorna acted in a number of contract dispute cases which generated significant comment. Lorna is also interested in contract law in a comparative context.

Find out more

Alexandra will be on sabbatical in the 2024-25 academic year

Professor Braun completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Genoa and received a PhD in Comparative Private Law from the University of Trento. Prior to coming to Edinburgh, she was Professor of Comparative Private Law at the University of Oxford, as well as a Fellow and Tutor in Law at Lady Margaret Hall.

Professor Braun is an elected Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law as well as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of European and Comparative Law in Oxford and an Honorary Research Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

Find out more

We require a minimum 2:1 honours degree from a UK university, or its international equivalent, in law. We may also consider candidates with a degree in a related discipline which includes relevant prior study. Entry to this programme is competitive. Meeting minimum requirements for consideration does not guarantee an offer of study.

Supporting Your Application

• Relevant work experience is not required but may increase your chances of acceptance.
• Relevant professional qualifications will be considered.
• Preference will be given to those with grades above the minimum requirements due to strong competition for places on this programme.

International qualifications

You can check whether your degree qualification is equivalent to the minimum standard before applying.

Check your degree

Students from China

This degree is Band A.

Find out more about our postgraduate entry requirements for students from China

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.

If you have already met our English language entry requirements for your programme at the time you apply, your application may be considered more competitive in selection than applications where you still need to take an English language test. 

English language tests

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

Two year expiry

• IELTS Academic / IELTS Academic for UKVI 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 Home Edition): total 100 (at least 25 in writing and 23 in each other module)
• Trinity ISE: ISE III with a pass in all four components
• PTE Academic: total 73 with at least 73 in writing and 65 in all other components. We do not accept PTE Academic Online.
• Oxford ELLT (Global and Digital): 8 overall with at least 8 in the writing component and 7 in each other component

Three and a half year expiry

• C1 Advanced, formerly known as Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE)
• C2 Proficiency, formerly known as Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)

Your English language qualification must be no more than two years old from the start of the month in which the programme you are applying to study begins, unless you are using CAE/CPE, in which case it must be no more than three and a half 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 has been taught and assessed in English, either:

1. In a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI).

UKVI Majority English speaking countries

or

2. On our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries.

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 start of the month in which your programme of study begins.

Full details of the University's English language requirements are available on the University's website

Visit the University's English language requirements web page to find out more

Pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes

We also accept satisfactory completion of our English for Academic Purposes programme as meeting our English language requirements. You must complete the programme no more than two years and one month before the start date of the degree you are applying to study.

Find out more about the University's Pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes

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

Deadlines for applicants applying to study in the 2025-26 academic year will be published shortly.

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.

Please note that the deadline for meeting the conditions of an offer is 15 August 2025.

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:

• You will need to submit a personal statement of around 500 words, outlining your academic history and relevant experience. 
  Guidance on writing your personal statement.
• 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).
• A reference in support of your application. The reference should be academic and dated no earlier than one year from the start of study on the LLM programme.
  Reference requirements
• Evidence of English language proficiency, if required.

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.

Please be aware that applications must be submitted and complete, i.e. all required documents uploaded, by the relevant application deadline in order to be considered in that round. Your application will still be considered if you have not yet met the English language requirement for the programme.

View full detailed application guidance

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. 
  Please note that the deadline for meeting the conditions of an offer is 15 August 2025.
• 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

Deferring your offer

We do not normally offer deferrals, however, we may be able to make a very limited number of offers for deferred entry in exceptional circumstances.

View full guidance on deferral requests

If you receive an offer of admission, either unconditional or conditional, you will be asked to pay a tuition fee deposit of £1,500 (within 28 days of receiving your offer) to secure your place on the programme.

Find out more about tuition fee deposits

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