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ELLM: Upcoming modules

The Executive LLM programme offers a powerful combination of information and inspiration. The teaching has been superb and the calibre of the student body is excellent.

Session: 15-19 April 2024

Take-Home Exam Date: Friday 21 June 2024 – Sunday 23 June 2024

International Financial Law II: Contemporary forms of assets and money

This advanced program provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolving market practices and legal framework governing different forms of assets and money. Covering a broad spectrum from ‘traditional’ money and securities to the realms of virtual currencies and stablecoins, the course offers a deep dive into the law of the complex world of modern financial instruments.

Uniquely, the approach taken in this course transcends jurisdictional boundaries, adopting a functional and comparative methodology. Its global perspective ensures that the principles and legal axioms explored are universally applicable, allowing for seamless transposition into different legal systems and contexts.

The course examines the numerous design choices inherent in these contemporary financial products. By scrutinizing these options through the lens of international law, participants will gain critical insights into the legal considerations shaping the future of finance.

Ideal for professionals and academics seeking to deepen their understanding of the legal dimensions of today's financial markets, this course equips participants with the knowledge to navigate and influence the evolving landscape of financial law.

The teaching method is a combination of case study work and lectures. The course programme comprises the following 10 sessions.

  1. Commercial law as building block of finance and financial services
  2. The economic functions and legal framework for different forms of ‘money’
  3. Holding and disposition of financial instruments: substantive law
  4. Holding and disposition of financial instruments: conflict of laws
  5. Tokenised securities – traditional and modern legal approaches
  6. Legal design choices for ‘stablecoins’, tokenised ‘real-world’ assets and NFTs
  7. Smart contracts: settlement functions and legal framing
  8. Crypto-assets in insolvency
  9. International harmonisation
  10. Conflict-of-laws rules for crypto assets

Regulation: Strategies and Enforcement

The module examines key issues in regulation: when is regulatory intervention justified; what are the strengths and weaknesses of different regulatory approaches and those of alternatives to regulation; how do we make choices about the appropriate organisation, stringency and enforcement of regulation;  and how do regulatory regimes interact? The module uses examples from various regulatory domains, but its lessons apply across the board. The course offers a strong foundation for further study in specific regulation-intensive fields such as digital, environmental and financial regulation.

Topics include: What is regulation and when should we regulate? Command and control strategies and alternative approaches, including emissions trading, self-regulation and nudging. Understanding risk regulation. Enforcing Regulation. Ensuring Regulatory quality: regulatory impact analysis and alternatives. Regulatory competition. Transnational Regulation.

Lecturer: Professor Veerle Heyvaert

Module Code: LL434E

Art Law

This module engages in a discussion of specific cases and issues regarding acquisition, ownership, and restitution of works of art, and the problems that arise in regulating markets in art, antiquities and cultural artefacts. ‘Art Law’ is a specialized area of practice and an emerging area of theory and scholarship. We will look at some of the cases and theory of art and law, including the practices of dealers and auction houses in valuing (and mis-valuing) art for sale; the recent developments in addressing the restitution of art taken during the Nazi era; museum loans and the cross-border movement of art; the restoration and conservation debate(s) and then turn to a scholarly and interpretive approach to the issues that arise in considering the art market. We will look at domestic (UK and US) and international legislation regulating the art and antiquities trades. Against this legislative background, the module examines important cases in disputes regarding looting and provenance of art, and questions of commodification and sale of cultural artefacts, focusing on the issues that arise in the operation of the art market (dealers, museums, collectors and auction houses). Within this context, we will touch on the similar or overlapping issues that arise in the market(s) in cultural objects and antiquities and the legal and ethical burdens on the participants in this trade. We will discuss the practices and constraints that arise in the context of both private purchasers/dealers and museums acquiring these kinds of objects. Finally, practitioners in these areas, museum and auction house professionals, archaeologists, and art experts will be contributing to the seminars on the emerging legal issues in this area.

Lecturer: Dr Tatiana Flessas

Module Code: LL446E

Session: 22-26 April 2024

Take-Home Exam Date: Friday 5 July 2024 – Sunday 7 July 2024

UK Corporate Law

UK corporate law is an advanced corporate law module focusing only on UK law. The module covers in-depth the core areas of UK corporate law including:

  • The conception of the UK company
  • separate legal personality and piercing the corporate veil
  • corporate actions in contract, tort and criminal law
  • the balance of power in the company between the board and the shareholder meeting
  • UK board composition regulation
  • Directors' duties and their enforcement
  • minority shareholder protection
  • and the role of company law in protecting creditors

The module will rely on in-class case studies and problem questions to explore the applicable law and its development.

Lecturer: Professor David Kershaw

Module Code: LL439E

Comparative Constitutional Law

This module examines the central issues in comparative constitutional law across a range of jurisdictions and from a variety of perspectives. The module opens with an introduction on the purpose of comparative constitutional law. The first substantive part discusses various approaches to the study of CCL as well as the migration of constitutional ideas (and related notions of constitutional borrowing, transplants etc). The second part deals with key constitutional concepts (constitution; rule of law; presidentialism, parliamentarism) which are discussed from a historical and comparative perspective. The point of these sessions is not to compare for the sake of comparing, but to equip you (the researcher) with the conceptual tools to do insightful, critical, and original comparative work of your own. The third part challenges the assumptions of liberal constitutionalism by examining constitutions in divided societies and authoritarian constitutionalism. The overall aim of the module is to develop students' understanding and use of many general theoretical explanations surrounding debates in CCL, and to develop students' critical/analytical approach to many of the questions facing judges and scholars in the next decade.

Lecturer: Professor Jo Murkens

Module Code: LL408E


Planned dates of future sessions are as follows:

  • 2-6 September 2024
  • 16-20 December 2024
  • 7-11 April 2025
  • 28 April – 2 May 2025