LLM International Economic Law

The PGT programmes have both a taught element and a research element. To be awarded a PGT degree, students must satisfactorily complete both elements, to a total of 180 credits. The research element makes up 60 credits of the total 180 credits needed. For the research element to be completed students must complete either two research papers each worth 30 credits, or alternatively can choose to complete a dissertation worth 60 credits. By choosing to write a dissertation, students will be committing themselves to one piece of work amounting to 60 credits, so it is advisable for students to consider carefully before opting for a dissertation in lieu of two research papers.

The dissertation will be a maximum of 12,000 words on an approved topic. Students must submit a provisional title and a brief summary of their proposed topic by a specific date that will be set at the beginning of the first semester by the Progamme Director. If you wish to complete a dissertation you need to approach an academic member of staff, preferably the course director under which your chosen topic might fall, to approve the provisional title. Once completed, the dissertation must be submitted electronically on specific published date (in early September of the year in which the examinations were passed). Further information about title approvals, the supervision process and submission process will be made available during the first semester.

• To develop forensic legal skills such as analysis, critical evaluation and argument;
• To develop the capacity for individual research;
• To develop skills and knowledge, that can usefully be applied in further study, the legal profession, public service or industry.

On completion of the dissertation, successful students will be able to:

•  Research, collate and evaluate primary and secondary materials on the law subjects;
• To develop students’ capacity for critical analysis and logical thinking and to encourage independent learning and reflection;
• To develop a general range of transferable and generic skills in problem-solving and reasoning as well as written communication.

• All PGT students are required to undertake the Postgraduate Law Learning and Research Skills course, the classes for which take place throughout the academic session. There will be one class per week throughout semesters one and two.
• These classes are absolutely essential, as they will equip you with the necessary legal research skills required to successfully complete the research papers. The dissertations are independent pieces of work. The guidance that you will require to submit dissertation of postgraduate standard will come predominantly from these Learning and Research Skills classes.
• All the PGT students have a right to up to 4 face-to-face meetings with their supervisor, each of which should be a minimum of 30 minute. The first of these meetings should be to discuss a plan of work, to identify useful literature, and so on. The topic of subsequent meetings will be decided by the student.

Formative feedback, ether written and/or oral, is made available during the supervision process by the supervisor.

Feedback/ comprehensive comments will also be provided on the marked dissertations and will be released with the result.

The topic covered by the dissertations should relate to an area of law studied in either semester one or two as long as it is a core unit if you are following specialised LLM stream. The International Business and Commercial Law stream students must choose a topic from one of their designated core course units. The general LLM stream students can choose from any topic since they have no core courses in their stream.