ELLM: Upcoming modules

How is the European Union governed? This course will discuss this question in both a descriptive and a normative fashion. In descriptive terms, the course looks at the way in which the EU institutions are structured, how they function internally, and the powers that they have. It looks at the power of the European Court of Justice, at the role of fundamental rights, and the way in which the Treaty can be amended. This descriptive discussion forms the backdrop for the (more central) normative discussion: how should Europe be governed? Is the EU democratic? Should it be? Should Member States have more or less power to challenge EU measures? What will the future of the EU look like? And what should it look like?

Students will be challenged to think about the EU as an institutional structure in which both law and politics play a crucial role. Really understanding the EU requires knowledge of both areas as well as knowledge of their interaction. At no other time in the development of the EU has the interaction between law and politics so fundamentally affected the direction of the integration process. The coming years will see fundamental changes to the EU's structure; which are informed as much by political dynamics as by legal mechanisms. This course prepares you to fully understand those changes - and allow you to analyse critically both their normative content and institutional structure.

Substantive topics include Brexit, the rule-of-law crisis, and the Eurozone crisis and can be tailored to the interests of the students.

Lecturer: Professor Floris de Witte

Module Code: LL453E

This course (Part I and Part II) examines the regulatory structures governing financial markets and investment services. It covers the main principles of international, EU and UK financial regulation, with the aim of developing a critical understanding of the dynamics and conceptual framework of financial regulation. The course does not aim to provide a detailed comparative account of financial regulation across countries, but international comparisons may be made where these are useful. In this context, students are encouraged to draw on their knowledge of their own national systems of regulation in making comparisons, and to apply the analytical perspectives suggested to those systems. The focus will be on the regulation of national and international aspects of financial services and markets, rather than on private law and transactional aspects. No previous knowledge of financial market regulation or background in economics is required for those wishing to follow this course. Indeed, the course provides a good background for further study of both financial and economic law and economic analysis of law. The course might be regarded as complimentary to a number of other courses, including Law of Corporate Finance or International Financial Law and Practice I & II.

Part II looks at a number of key issues in financial market regulation, with a particular focus on digitisation.  It will analyse the extended boundaries of regulation and supervision in relation to financial services, in light of modern changes to the provision of those services. Topics include:

• Digital Financial Services and the Principles of Regulating Financial Markets
• Regulating Technology?
• Platforms and BigTech: Structural Change of the Financial Market as Test of Institutions and Activities-based Regulation
• Ethical Questions of AI-based Financial Services
• Regulating Crypto-Assets, Stable Coins and CBDC
• Financial Regulation and Data Regulation
• The use of RegTech and SupTech and Regulatory Incentives for Standardisation
• Set up of Supervision and Regulation as Innovation Facilitator

Lecturer: Dr Philipp Paech

Module Code: LL407E 

Regulation of the content and the form of the employment relation. The contract of employment, including express and implied terms and the scope of employment law. Regulation of minimum wage and working time. Protection against discrimination in the workplace. Discipline and protection from dismissal and termination of employment. The approach involves theoretical perspectives, economic analysis, comparative law of employment, and examination of relevant European law.

Lecturer: Dr Astrid Sanders

Module Code: LL441E

The World Trade Organisation is in crisis, but globalisation and transnational trade flows are here to stay. The entire international economic law regime is undergoing a profound transformation. The aim of this course is to introduce you to this fast-evolving field of law: its principles, rules, institutions, developments, and academic and policy debates. You will be given a grounding in the jurisprudence of the WTO, but will also be introduced to crossdisciplinary analyses of the broader political, economic and normative contexts in which international economic law is embedded and operates. Key themes will include the current crisis around the international trading system, US-China relations, and the trade and climate change mitigation nexus. Students will be expected to engage with the principles and practice of international economic law both at the technical level, and at the level of critical reflection.

Lecturer: Dr Giulia Leonelli

Module Codes: LL412E

This course will equip students with a detailed understanding of the legal structures and issues arising in international private equity and venture capital.  It is founded on deep academic analysis of pertinent theoretical and legal issues.It will have a pan-EUfocus, but with comparative global perspectives. 

Session 1: Introduction to private equity and venture capital
This introductory session will include a critical discussion of the academic research suggesting that private equity outperforms other asset classes.

Session 2: Fund structures: the limited partnership and other international structures
This session  looks at the structures adopted, and the reasons why, with particular emphasis on the legal, tax and regulatory characteristics of limited partnerships.

Session 3:  Management vehicles and the UK LLP
This session will look at the objectives in structuring the management entity for the fund, with a particular emphasis on the legal and tax characteristics of LLPs, including the UK LLP Act and recent case law.

Session 4: Private equity fund (and manager) regulation
This session looks at UK and EU regulatory initiatives, and critically evaluates the provisions of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive which affect private equity funds.

Session 5: Venture capital investments
Starting from a theoretical perspective, we will analyse the terms of a typical venture capital investment into a portfolio company by reference to example documents.  We will also examine various aspects of contract and company law which have particular relevance to VC structures.

Session 6: The VC deal
In this session the students will discuss the key points arising from a venture capital investment case study.We will focus on key points which have a legal as well as a commercial aspect, and connect these to the theoretical discussions in Session5.

Session 7: The leveraged buyout: corporate governance issues
This session will examine the structure of a buyout and how it differs from a VC investment.  We will focus on pertinent company law rules and academic corporate governance theory.

Session 8: Financing
This session will look at the leveraged finance model, advantages of leverage, the LMA Leveraged Loan Agreement, High Yield Bonds, the Inter-creditor Agreement and 'covenant-lite' and incurrance covenants.

Session 9: Distress
Discussions on the implications of distress for the PE firm, valuation, the new money decision, the role of the inter-creditor agreement and the PE firm as the loan-to-own investor.

Session10
In this session we will analyse a suite of leveraged loan deal documentation for a typical private equity buyout.  Students will be provided with a fact pattern and asked to apply the theory that they have studied in sessions 8 and 9 to the deal documentation.

Lecturers: Dr Simon Witney; Ms Sarah Paterson

Module Code: LL4CQE

The module introduces students to the practice and theory of international legal dispute resolution, focusing on dispute settlement before courts and tribunals. The former Prosecutor of the Yugoslav Tribunal, Richard Goldstone, resolved that: ‘it seems to me that if you don’t have international tribunals, you might as well not have international law’. Given the proliferation of courts and tribunals applying and enforcing international law, certain scholars have argued we are witnessing the emergence of an ‘international judicial system’ (Martinez).

The module involves three main elements:

1. First, the module examines the structure and work of the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, focusing on jurisdiction/admissibility, contentious cases and advisory opinions.

2. Secondly, the module introduces a variety of other international courts and tribunals, such as the International Criminal Court, domestic and regional courts dealing with international law and human rights, including the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body and investment treaty arbitral tribunals. Using contemporary and controversial case studies, the module will critically analyze and contrast the institutional design and jurisdiction of these courts and tribunals.

3. Thirdly, throughout the module we explore key theoretical controversies surrounding the adjudication of international law, focusing in particular on (a) how these courts and tribunals relate to one another (hierarchy, specialization and fragmentation); (b) what criteria should be used in assessing the legitimacy and effectiveness of these courts and tribunals; and (c) whether and how these courts and tribunals create international law.

Lecturer: Dr Devika Hovell

Module Code: LL447E

This module will focus on topical issues in corporate governance, including: corporate governance codes as a regulatory technique; corporate governance reform, firm performance and financial development; the role of the board of directors in large public companies and groups of companies; the division of powers between the managers and shareholders; directors’ duties and enforcement of duties; executive remuneration; stakeholder representation, in particular employee representation, in corporate decision-making; shareholder activism and corporate short-termism; the market for corporate control as a corporate governance device.

Lecturer: Professor Carsten Gerner-Beuerle, Professor David Kershaw, Edmund Schuster

Module Code: LL418E

Sport is increasingly in the public limelight – not just due to the exciting competitions and performances it produces, but the political, economic, social and legal questions it raises. The course introduces students to how sports organisations are governed, the regulatory frameworks under which they operate, and the functioning of the sports justice system. It zooms in on the most pressing contemporary issues in the field, including the role of human rights in sport, the effectiveness of the anti-doping regime, gender and racial equality, climate change, as well as issues surrounding political neutrality and financial sustainability.
The module takes a global approach, assessing the impact of national, regional and international law on the sports landscape. Students will be introduced to the concept of lex sportiva and the jurisprudence of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Examples will be drawn from a wide range of sports, including football, basketball, cricket, athletics, tennis, golf, Formula 1, and the Olympic movement more broadly. Seminars will examine recent legal developments in the field while critically exploring their political, economic and socio-cultural significance.
Topics include:

• Sports Law and Governance
• Sports Autonomy and Regulation
• Sports Justice
• Athletes’ Rights
• Political Neutrality
• Human Rights
• Gender and Racial Equality
• Integrity of Sport (incl. doping and betting)
• Financial Sustainability
• Climate Change

Lecturer: Dr Jan Zglinski

Module Code: tbc