International and European Business Law
LLM

Modules

• Approaches to Legal Research Core

Approaches to Legal Research

(Core)

This module will explore how legal research can be approached with a variety of perspectives and orientations:

• doctrinal methods seek to engage law on a level of close reading and logic;
• contextual ‘socio-legal’ methods seek to understand the wider influences of law and legal doctrine;
• comparative methods seek to examine the relationships between different legal orders;
• theoretical methods seek to elaborate and question the conceptual structures of law’s doctrines and institutions; and
• critical methods seek to question the political and ideological underpinnings of these doctrines and institutions.

In traversing this wide variety of legal research methods, this module will persistently engage with the underlying examination of what it means to ‘do law’ in both academic and professional contexts, exposing students to the practices of professional legal research and the processes of legal knowledge-making.

• Dissertation (or equivalent project) Core

Dissertation (or equivalent project)

(Core)

This is an independent study module, supported by regular supervision from a member of the programme team, in which you will research and write up a substantial piece of independent research on a topic chosen by you in consultation with members of the programme team.

The Approaches to Legal Research module will have provided you with knowledge and skills needed to enable you to research, structure and progress your work effectively on this module.

• EU Competition Law Core

EU Competition Law

(Core)

This module shall analyse the development, regulation and enforcement of EU competition law, in particular through the analysis of the role of the European Commission.

All major aspects of EU competition law shall be covered. This will include: anticompetitive agreements such as cartels (and including consideration of fines, leniency and settlement policies), abuse of a dominant position, state aid and merger control. 

The module will also engage in the dialogue between Economic Schools (Harvard, Chicago, Post-Chicago and Ordoliberalism) and competition law enforcement with regard to EU Commission practice to better understand the rationale behind the interpretation and enforcement of competition law amid chaning commercial practices.

The module will also focus on the important role of the Court of Justice, and will analyse in particular recent caselaw to understand the evolving legal and commercial realities of competition law. The module aims to provide students with an ability to analyse and evaluate current and future Commission practice and the case law of the CJEU.

• European Freedoms of the European Union Core

European Freedoms of the European Union

(Core)

This module will analyse the principles of free movement enshrined in the Treaty for the Functioning of the European Union, and their broader legal expressions, encompassing an analysis of the legal treatment of goods, services, establishment, employees and citizenship in the EU legal order.

The module will look at the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the development and enforcement of this area of law. There will be a detailed consideration of the scope of each freedom, their limits, and the legality of restrictions and exceptions.

The second part of the module shall engage with secondary legislation of the EU which seeks to regulate the internal market and promote other goals of the Union. This will include consumer protection, regulated professions (law and medicine), transfer of companies, financial services (banking and insurance), telecommunications/information technologies and direct taxation, and their relationship with the basic economic freedoms covered in the first half of the module.

• International Economic and Business Law  Core

International Economic and Business Law

(Core)

Against the backdrop of globalisation this module examines the rules governing international economic relations and transboundary economic conduct by States, international organisations and private actors.

• International Trade Law Core

International Trade Law

(Core)

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has acquired a prominent focus in the United Kingdom as result of the decision to leave the European Union. This module introduces you to the WTO and the role it plays in international cooperation between its members on trade in goods and services, which is likely to have even greater significance to the UK’s post-Brexit trading relationships.

In recent years the number of cases brought under the judicial function of the WTO has increased significantly. You will examine the dispute settlement procedures and body of WTO case law.

As part of the module, you will have the opportunity to visit the WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, to attend its annual 3-day Public Forum in September on a guided and interactive field trip.    

It is anticipated the cost of the fieldwork will be £300 in addition to the course fees.

• Introduction to French Civil Law Core

Introduction to French Civil Law

(Core)

This module covers the fundamental elements of the French legal system and its operation as well as a particular focus on private law and French legal regulation of business through an examination of commercial and company law.

The module introduces students to the basic constitutional framework of the French legal system and its structuring principles. It goes on to examine the key sources of law within the legal order, with a particular focus on the characteristic methods of the French legal system. In particular, the module provides a critical introduction to the process of codification and its operation, as well as the role of judges and case law within the legal system, with a focus on statutory interpretation and judicial reasoning. There will be a particular focus on the process of law reform, with recent examples used as case studies in this regard. Students will gain the core critical and analytical skills to engage with French legal sources and apply and interpret them.

The second part of the module will focus on substantive law under the relevant codes within the French legal system, seeking to understand the development and core components of French private law within the civil law tradition, as well as focusing in particular on the evolving treatment of business and commercial and company law more generally. The module will examine recent changes to this area of law and their commercial and legal significance, while seeking to understand to basic framework through which companies and business transactions are regulated.

• Law and Justice in a Globalised World Core

Law and Justice in a Globalised World

(Core)

This module provides a thorough and critical introduction to contemporary legal phenomena in the context of a complex, globalised world. In particular, the module considers the nature of law in a globalised economy, the relationship between legal orders, and the realities of legal and constitutional ‘pluralism’ and develops a range of perspectives to better understand and evaluate these new legal orders.

The module looks at highly sophisticated forms of supra- and international legal integration, such as the EU and the WTO, as well as more unique structures such as international sports law and commercial arbitration, to ask deeper questions and law and legal method in the world today and in the future. The module also considers the changing nature of law in the face of radical technological change, such as digitisation, artificial intelligence and virtual courts.

• Political Theories of European Integration  Core

Political Theories of European Integration

(Core)

This module will attempt to relate the Catholic Social Teaching (“CST”) of the Church in its European dimension to the challenges of European construction in political science.

After introducing and evaluating the main schools of thought in European integration, the module will take up the question of how the largest single religious tradition within the European Union, the Roman Catholic Church, has contributed to the construction of Europe.  The illustration and analysis of CST including the concepts of personalism, subsidiarity, solidarity, participation and the common good will be studied to provide the background to answer the following broader questions of integration and social policy:

• Do moral values really have a place in the development of the European Union?
• Can religions have a place? Do they have a responsibility in the construction of Europe?
• Specific attention will be given to the so-called fathers of Europe and the future developments that can be glimpsed through the numerous and recent pronouncements of Pope Francis.
• EU Institutions (Fieldwork) Optional

EU Institutions (Fieldwork)

(Optional)

This module intends to provide an immersive experience for all students by providing an integrated form of learning whereby students are given instruction on the operation of the key institutions of the European Union during guided visits to the institutions themselves.

 

As well as the opportunity to witness the operation of the institutions first hand, through the watching of legal arguments being presented before the CJEU or debates within the European Parliament or one of its many subcommittees, students will be given interactive teaching sessions by academics and professionals who work in and around the institutions, who will give an applied account of how they operate.

 

The immersive learning experience will be accompanied by guided study in the law and administration of the EU institution and their place within EU Public Law.

• International and EU Tax Law Optional

International and EU Tax Law

(Optional)

This module will cover the foundations of international and European tax law, encompassing doctrine, theory and practice.  It will explore the sources and structures of tax law and EU and international level and their development, as well as examining the practical impact of international tax on business strategy as well as exploring its links with ethics and the greater public good. The module will thereby examine the deeper philosophical frameworks which inform tax law at transnational level.

In particular, the part of the module which focuses on EU tax law will analyse EU legislation on taxation, in particular the TFEU provisions on the customs union and secondary legislation of direct taxation (physical persons and companies), as well as the provisions on administrative cooperation and its implementation. 

The module will also examine free movement and state aid shall be studied with particular use made of the leading and recent jurisprudence of the CJEU in cross-border tax situations in both infra-EU situations and cases involving third countries.

• Multi-disciplinary Approach to the Law of AI Optional

Multi-disciplinary Approach to the Law of AI

(Optional)

This module seeks to engage with the crucial challenges faced by the law and society due to the emergence of evolving information technology, and in particular of artificial intelligence (AI). The module will seek to understand the specificities of the legal framework and its responses to technological change.

In particular, however, the module will not limit itself to a doctrinal study of AI. The course is multi-disciplinary and will deal with artificial intelligence as a global, vital issue to humanity in all fundamental aspects beyond the law itself, encompassing therefore geopolitical, sociological, scientific, economic, religious, moral, historical and philosophical elements, all of which exist symbiotically with the (current and future) legal framework for these technologies.