You must take these courses:

• WTO Law 1 (20 credits)

  The aim of the course is to provide students with an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the multilateral trading system. The course will cover the institutional and the substantive law of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which since its establishment in 1995 has played a central role in, among other things, promoting the two underlying principles of non-discrimination and trade liberalisation. After analysing theoretical and practical arguments for and against free trade and the role of institutions in international trade, the course will then focus on the institutional structure and decision-making process of the WTO, including its unique system of the settlement of trade disputes. Students will then explore the key legal disciplines relating to international trade in goods (GATT) and services (GATS), particularly the principle of non-discrimination and market-access rules. In addition, the course will address the central issue of technical barriers to trade.

• International Investment Law (20 credits)

  This course will give an introduction to the major themes and issues of international investment law. The focus of study is the rules contained in the network of more than 3000 bilateral and multilateral treaties on investment protection, as well as the growing number of decisions by arbitral tribunals in this field. Students will analyse the substantive principles of investment law, such as most-favoured nation treatment, fair and equitable treatment, and the rules relating to expropriation. They will also study mechanisms for dispute settlement in the context of investment disputes, particularly investor-state arbitration. Throughout the course, students will consider the extent to which international investment law draws an appropriate balance between investment protection on the one hand and the ability of states to regulate on key public policy issues on the other hand. Students will also look at the challenges of developing a coherent regime of investment rules.

You must select between 20 and 40 credits from the following courses:

• Advanced Issues in International Economic Law (20 credits)

  This course is tailored for students who seek to acquire a thorough knowledge and critical understanding of contemporary issues in international trade and investment law. Each year, the lecturers will pick a range of topics from contemporary issues that have received heightened attention in the scholarship, the practice and the agenda of policy-makers.
  Because this course builds on previous knowledge, it will not cover the basic elements of WTO and international investment law. It will instead centre upon pending cases, reform proposals, sensitive policy matters and unresolved legal issues.
  You will be required to read both primary and secondary sources in preparation for the seminars. It will be impossible to prepare for the seminars by doing a superficial reading of these materials, you will need to critically think on these materials on the basis of the questions set in seminar handouts. 
  This course is designed to encourage and develop the use of transferable skills relating to the application of law to complex scenarios, critical judgement on the law and the formulation of legal/policy responses to complex questions. Students who succeed in this course will be well-positioned to handle international economic law in a professional manner.

• WTO Law 2 (20 credits)

  The aim of this course is to allow students with a particular interest in global economic governance to explore a greater diversity of topics than is possible in one term only. It will focus on more specialised – but highly significant – issues of WTO law such as subsidies, trade remedies and anti-dumping. It will also cover the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the principle of special and differential treatment of developing countries. In addition, however, there is a much greater emphasis in this course (as compared to WTO Law 1) on addressing cross-cutting and contemporary issues of contemporary trade governance. These will vary from year to year, but may include: international economic law żafter the crisisż; the ‘new regionalism’; the relationship between trade, investment and finance; the emergence of new developmentalism and its prospects; and the aesthetics of expertise in international economic governance.

You must select between 20 and 60 credits from the following courses:

• Fundamentals Issues in International Law (full-year course, 40 credits)

  This is a course aimed at introducing students to fundamental debates about the nature of international law and the international legal order today, and its relationship to states, markets, conflict, justice and human rights. The course is historical, conceptual, theoretical and legal. It introduces students to key ideas and arguments about where the international legal order is coming from and where it is going, what its building blocks are, and how those components are changing. A theme uniting the course is the extent to which the international legal order is shifting from a classical jus inter gentes to something else: a law of global governance, a global administrative law, a law of rights and regulation, or some combination.

• The Law of International Trade (full-year course, 40 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 ship/road/air with emphasis on sea transport. 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. Due to the international nature of each of these transactions the relevant aspects of international private law and dispute resolution are examined.

• EU External Economic Relations Law (20 credits)

  The objective of the course is to provide students with a thorough knowledge of the legal and institutional framework governing the external economic relations of the European Union (EU), an area of EU law that has increasingly captured scholarly attention over the past two decades. Students will also gain a critical understanding of the growing and complex role of the EU as an actor in global economic affairs, including through the analysis of specific policy measures.
  The course is broadly divided into two parts. The first group of seminars will address the constitutional foundations of the EU as an actor in international economic relations, examining both the EU treaties and the relevant case law of the European Court of Justice. The topics that will be covered include: the EU as an international actor with attributed powers; the EU and its Member States on the international scene; and the legal status and effect of international agreements in the EU’s legal order. The second group of seminars will instead look at the legal framework and instruments of the EU external economic policies, starting with the common commercial policy as the oldest and most developed EU external policy, followed by the EU development and economic cooperation policies as well as the external dimension of other EU economic policies (e.g. the economic and monetary union). Students will also explore how the EU’s external economic policies interact with, and are used to promote the objectives of, other EU policies (such as the common foreign and security policy or environmental policy).

• International Commercial Arbitration (20 credits)

  The world is a global market place as never before. Legal individuals contract with others across the globe. Parties can choose where and how to resolve their transnational disputes and in doing so protect their investment by international arbitration. Parties can benefit from a judgement – termed an Award – that is generally more effective and enforceable than a judgement of a National Court.

You may also have the opportunity to study the following courses from outside of the Law School as part of the this group of courses. These include:

• Economics for Postgraduates
• International Political Economy

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

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.

Students whose first language is not English must therefore show evidence of one of the following qualifications below:

• IELTS: total 7.0 (at least 6.5 in each module).
• TOEFL-iBT: total 100 (at least 23 in each module).
• PTE(A): total 67 (at least 61 in each of the Communicative Skills sections).
• CAE and CPE: total 185 (at least 176 in each module).
• Trinity ISE: ISE III (with a pass in all four components).

Your English language certificate must be no more than two years old at the beginning of your degree programme.

We also accept an undergraduate or masters degree, that was taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country as defined by USA Visas and Immigration . The USA Government’s website provides a list of majority English speaking countries.

View the USAVI 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 three and a half 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.

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.
• 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.
• 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.

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

• 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.

  Northampton University admissions terms and conditions