LLM Specialisms 2012/13
International Business Law
[please note: links below are to the 2011/12 course guides; they will be updated when new guides are made available during the summer vacation]
International business law and the environment in which it operates are central to the work of the LSE. The teaching team offers a range of expertise and backgrounds, and has made major contributions to academic scholarship, private practice, the public sector and various industry bodies. The LSE has a strong tradition of hosting public debates on the broader global issues affecting international business law, involving a range of world class speakers. There are many opportunities for interdisciplinary work relevant to international business law, with strong departments in Economics, Industrial Relations and International Relations. Key related research centres are housed at the LSE including the Centre for Risk and Regulation, the European Institute and the Suntory and Toyota International Centre for Economics and Related Disciplines. LLM students benefit from this stimulating intellectual environment, with regular contributions to the taught courses from leading specialists in the field.
Advanced Issues of International Commercial Arbitration (H) (LL4C6): this course builds upon LL4C5, in-depth discussion of selected topical problems of international commercial arbitration. Despite its academic outset, the course is highly relevant for those wanting to specialise in arbitration practise, as the theoretical problems have a most significant impact on practical solutions.
Alternative Dispute Resolution (LL402): methods of resolving disputes by negotiation and mediation, studied through theoretical analyses and practical exercises.
Competition Law (LL430): a comprehensive review of principles informing competition law analysis and enforcement studied in a global context, with particular attention to the rules in the EU and US.
Consumption Taxes (H) (LL4Z3): this half course of the nature of value added taxes, whether called VAT, GST or another name, comparing them with other methods of taxing consumption, including retail sales taxes and progressive expenditure taxes. The course also considers the main features and problems raised by VATs and GSTs, including the taxpayers, the amount subject to tax, international transactions, and VATs in federal jurisdictions. Examples will be drawn from the European Union and from other countries. With LL4Z4 it forms the full course LL494 (Value Added Tax).
Corporate and Financial Crime (LL4B9): an analysis of crimes committed within the commercial and business environment, with particular emphasis on the legal response to the challenges presented by financial crime and unacceptable corporate practices; current perspectives on the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of corporate and financial crime in both civil and criminal jurisdictions
E-Commerce Law (H) (LL4S2): this course is to introduce students from a legal background to the specialised legal structure which surrounds e-commerce. The course looks at the specific problems an e-commerce start-up must overcome in order to begin trading, including arranging hosting agreements, designing terms and conditions of service and delivery, and arranging distribution agreements. From here the course will develop to examine the problems of more mature e-commerce businesses including jurisdiction, payment systems and rules on marketing and privacy. Special classes on internet auctions and social networks will complete the analysis. The course is designed to act as an interface between ICT law and commercial law and practice in that it examines in detail the closed sub-set of online transactions which are clearly commercial in nature. [not offered 2012/13]
European Capital Markets Law (H) (LL4K9): this half course examines the EU’s regulation of the capital markets from regulatory and market integration perspectives. Topics covered include the regulation of investment services and stock exchanges and the EU’s attempts to build a culture of household investing. With LL4G9 it forms the full course LL425 (European Monetary and Financial Services Law).
European Monetary and Banking Law (H) (LL4G9): this half course examines the institutional structures and legal rules which underpin the EU’s monetary system and its integrated banking market. Topics covered include the legal underpinnings of European Monetary Union and the EU’s regulation and supervision of banking markets. With LL4K9 it forms the full course LL425 (European Monetary and Financial Services Law). [not offered 2012/13]
European Monetary and Financial Services Law (LL425): the institutional and legal underpinnings of the European financial economy, including banking, securities and insurance. [not offered 2012/13]
Financial Law (H) (LL4H4): the traditional financial market sectors of insurance, commercial banking, derivatives, capital markets and asset management are converging in practice, but their academic analysis is still largely sector-based. This course offers a cross-sectoral, functional analysis, permitting students to grasp the big picture. It highlights certain anomalies in differing legal treatment of the respective sectors, and considers key trends.
Fundamentals of International Commercial Arbitration (H) (LL4C5): this course provides an introduction to the law of arbitration in theory and in practice from an English and comparative law perspective. This course prepares for LL4C6 - Advances Issues of International Commercial Arbitration and provides for some of the procedural basics for LL4E7 - Investment Treaty Law.
International Business Transactions I: Litigation (LL442): international commercial litigation in English, Commonwealth and US law.
International Business Transactions II: Substantive Law (LL443): choice of law in international commercial transactions, focusing on English, Commonwealth and US law
International Commercial Contracts – General Principles (H) (LL4K5): this course puts national and international contract law in a comparative perspective so as to work with the sources of generally accepted principles or, where existing solutions diverge, focuses on potentially new efficient solutions that are internationally acceptable and might grow into general principles in the future.
International Commodity Sales (H) (LL4G6): this half-course provides a detailed account of FOB, CIF and related transactions subject to English law, which has a dominant role in commodities trading. It deals also with soft measures of harmonisation promoted by the International Chamber of Commerce, namely, Incoterms 2000 and UCP 600 (on documentary letters of credit).
International and Comparative Commercial Arbitration (LL433): the use of domestic and international arbitration as a means of settling commercial disputes. (this course is also available as two half units LL4C5 and LL4C6) [not offered 2012/13]
International Economic Law (LL447): an introduction to the public international law of economic relations, focusing on the principles governing the production and distribution of goods, currency and finance, and related services and the structure and operation of international organisations concerned with such activities. [not offered 2012/13]
International Economic Law (H) (LL4B1): an introduction to the public international law of economic relations, focusing on the principles governing the production and distribution of goods, currency and finance, and related services and the structure and operation of international organisations concerned with such activities.
International Sale of Goods (LL4E5): is concerned with private sales transactions of a cross-border kind. English law plays a leading role in international commercial agreements, so the course deals in detail with English law in its application to international commodity sales on FOB, CIF and similar terms. The course also deals at length with international uniform and harmonised law, found in international conventions laying down a substantive law for defined cross-border transactions, for example, the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods 1980. Uniform substantive law can also be found in soft law instruments, such as the Principles of International Commercial Contracts published by the Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), which are not designed to become binding law in Sovereign States. Uniform law resides too in implied terms suitable for incorporation in private contracts by the free act of the contracting parties. These include export trade terms (Incoterms 2000) and the Customs and Practice for Documentary Letters of Credit (UCP600 (2007)), both published by the International Chamber of Commerce. The underlying theme of the course is uniformity, based on either the widespread selection of a popular law as the applicable law of the contract, or on the adoption of uniform and harmonised law . (this course is also available as two half units LL4G6 and LL4K6) [not offered 2012/13]
International Tax Systems (LL455): taxation law and policy from an international and comparative viewpoint, looking at international implications of tax policy and international fiscal law, with an emphasis on double taxation agreements.
International Uniform Sales Law (H) (LL4K6): this half-course provides a detailed treatment of the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods 1980. It is a vehicle for the treatment of harmonisation and unification of substantive law as an alternative to uniform conflict of laws rules. [not offered 2012/13]
Investment Treaty Law (H) (LL4E7): this course introduces students to international investment law and dispute settlement, the latter emphasizing developments in investment treaty arbitration. The course focuses on the public international law rules and institutions that govern investments and investment treaty disputes. The course has four components: (1) the historical, theoretical and policy background behind investment treaties and dispute settlement by arbitration; (2) the rules governing jurisdiction and admissibility of investor-state arbitration cases; (3) the substantive principles and standards – such as national treatment, most-favoured-nation treatment, expropriation, and the minimum standard in international law – that may apply to the investor-state relationships; and (4) recognition and enforcement of investor-state arbitral awards and the interaction between international tribunals and national courts.
Law of International Economic and Financial Sanctions (H) (LL4K2): covers economic and financial sanctions against States and non-State actors. The course addresses multilateral programmes established by the UN and EU and unilateral measures instituted by individual States, implementation of sanctions within domestic legal systems, issues arising in international law and human rights, and effects on third parties.
Law of Mergers, Acquisitions and Restructurings in Europe and the United States (LL4D7): this course will look at the regulation of the market for corporate control and corporate restructurings in Europe and the United States.
The Law and Practice of International Finance (H) (LL4F2): legal analysis of the transactional practice of the international financial markets, broadly based on the activities of investment banks operating in London.
Legal Risk in the Financial Markets (H) (LL4D5): examines the relationship between legal risk and legal reform in the financial markets including political, reputational and other kinds of key risk and relationships.
Mergers, Acquisitions and Restructurings in Europe (H) (LL4F3): This course will look at the regulation of the market for corporate control and corporate restructurings in Europe.
Principles of Taxation (H) (LL4Z2): analysis of how tax systems work and the principles that lie behind them. Topics covered include the reasons for taxation and the main types of tax, how income is taxed, how the tax administration operates, the interpretation of tax legislation and tax avoidance. Uses examples from the tax systems of the UK and other countries. Can be combined with LL4Z1.
Project Finance and Public Private Partnerships (H) (LL4C9): An examination of legal issues involved in project finance and public private partnerships, including analysis of transaction structures and risk allocation, the principal legal issues arising in finance and project documentation (including government concessions)and particular issues affecting transitional jurisdictions.
Regulation of Financial Markets (LL484): the regulation of financial markets, focusing on the economic theories of how markets operate and the different forms of financial market regulation.
Secured Credit in English, Comparative and International Law (LL4K3): this course deals with the grant of proprietary security in lending transactions and with title-based devices that serve the same security purpose. It covers a wide range of transactions and focuses principally on English law with extensive treatment of international conventions and model principles, as well as numerous references to other legal systems, both common law and civil law. [not offered 2012/13]
Takeover Regulation in the UK and the US (H) (LL4F4): This course will look at the regulation of the market for corporate control and corporate restructurings in the United Kingdom and the United States.
