LLM in International Commercial Law and Trade

Oxford Brookes University

You’ll hone the research and writing skills needed to carry out legal research at an advanced level. These include research design, searching for relevant sources and materials, legal referencing and citation skills. You’ll think about the process of writing, as well as the end product, including presenting findings to different audiences. You’ll consider the distinctive features of legal research and approaches and research methodologies you might use. The work you do in this module gives you excellent preparation for your dissertation.

Your LLM dissertation is an extended, supervised piece of work on a particular aspect of international law, which you’ll choose in consultation with your tutors. It’s your opportunity to gain knowledge and insight through sustained research, and to demonstrate your ability to explore and present legal arguments. You’ll develop transferable skills in research and information and project management. We’ll encourage you to choose a topic of personal interest or professional interest. For September entry students your main work on the dissertation normally takes place from June to mid-August. For January entry students your main work on the dissertation takes place February-May.

This module introduces you to law regulating business transactions in a global economy. You’ll learn about the basic transactions for the purchase and sale of goods, analyse various types of contracts, and look at the remedies available when contracts are breached. You’ll also encounter issues such as: special problems arising between buyer and seller where goods are carried in a container; various types of contracts for the carriage of goods by sea; banker's commercial credits; contractual effects between buyer and seller, buyer and banker, and the seller and banker. You’ll go on to examine more complicated distribution and licensing agreements, joint venture and foreign direct investment agreements. Giving you the understanding and legal knowledge of transactions.

Corporate governance means the way in which companies are governed – who has power and accountability, and who makes decisions. But what does good governance look like? And what legal mechanisms support it? Through this module you’ll gain a stronger understanding of how international corporate governance works and the financial, economic and environmental forces that may shape corporate behaviour and operations. You’ll look at the role of corporations operating in the globalised world. You’ll also examine the importance of corporate governance in facilitating business transactions and banking.

Why do investors invest abroad, and why do host countries actively encourage foreign investment? You’ll explore these questions while examining the laws, policies and legal issues affecting foreign investment and foreign enterprises. You’ll think in particular about the developing world and emerging markets. You’ll investigate the role of law in the investment process. This will include: the rules, principles and institutions of public international law that affect direct foreign investment; host country laws that reward and regulate foreign investment; the law of investment contracts; the dispute settlement regime.

International trade is regulated by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and also through many free trade agreements that have been negotiated outside the WTO framework. These agreements between governments set out their powers to restrict the flow of goods and services between countries. In this module, you’ll examine key aspects of the public international law of trade and finance. You’ll focus on the fundamental principles of international trade contained in GATT 1994 under the WTO Agreement.