Develop your knowledge of the UK’s structural and constitutional arrangements.

Understanding how constitutions organise powers, duties, rights and responsibilities is vital for modern government and society. The United Kingdom has seen radical constitutional changes in the 21st century that have reconfigured constitutionalism and governance throughout the four nations.

Understanding the current and future implications of this is at the heart of our LLM Governance and Devolution programme.

This programme allows you to explore the structural changes to the constitutional arrangements of the United Kingdom, namely the creation of legislative and executive bodies in Scotland and Wales and the resumption of devolved government in Northern Ireland. The context of withdrawing from the European Union will also provide an opportunity for continuing reflection on powers and responsibilities between the governments and legislatures in the UK. This programme explores the opportunities and tensions created by these structural innovations and guides you to question the potential future for the constitution and nations of the UK.

Issues concerning accountability, democratic engagement and what constitutes ‘good governance’ are debated to give an understanding of government and governance at the state and international levels.

The LLM Governance and Devolution programme is very flexible and offers a wide range of modules that allows you to make the most of the research expertise within the School. It provides you with the ability to customise the programme to meet your own professional and/or employment needs. Example modules include Constitutionalism and Governance and the Law of Devolution in Wales.

Career prospects

A law degree doesn’t restrict graduates to careers within the legal profession and law graduates enter professions as diverse as finance, sales and marketing, digital communications and recruitment.

We are committed to extending extracurricular opportunities to our students, helping to enhance their CVs in a competitive graduate job market. We work in partnership with lawyers, charities and voluntary organisations to give students the opportunity to practise and extend their skills and we run several Pro Bono schemes and provide advice to members of the community on different legal issues.

Students successfully completing the LLM programme may have the opportunity to continue their legal study through the School’s PhD programme or through the Centre for Professional Legal Studies professional programmes (the Legal Practice Course or Bar Professional Training Course).