Mona Paulsen

This course is available on the LLM (extended part-time), LLM (full-time), MSc in Law and Finance and University of Pennsylvania Law School LLM Visiting Students. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

How to apply: Priority will be given initially to LLM, MSc Regulation and MSc Law and Finance students on a first-come-first-served allocation.

Spaces permitting, requests from all other students will be processed on the same first-come-first-served allocation from 10am on Thursday 1 October 2026

By submitting an application, students are confirming that they meet any pre-requisites specified. Providing an additional written statement will not aid a student's chances of being accepted onto a course, and statements are not read.

Deadline for application: Not applicable

For queries contact: Law.llm@lse.ac.uk

Students with no previous background in public international law may find it helpful to consider consulting a standard textbook such as M. Evans (ed.), International Law (OUP, 5th ed., 2018) or J. Crawford, Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law (OUP, 9th ed., 2019).

This course has a limited number of places and demand is typically high. This may mean that you’re not able to get a place on this course.

Students will examine the legal architecture that promotes, protects, and screens foreign investment flows. Accordingly, they will study international investment law (including the interface between treaties, domestic legislation, and contracts) to assess its capacity to promote and protect select foreign investments, shape public policy, support economic development, and influence international law generally.

The course focuses on the role of investment treaties in finance flows. It begins by highlighting the historical, political, and economic forces that led governments to adopt investment treaties that combined standards of sovereign conduct with a standing offer for private individuals to access arbitration. Throughout the course, students will receive a comprehensive introduction to international investment arbitration, including the procedural, jurisdictional, and merits stages, as well as the interplay of laws, the burden of proof, costs, and remedies.

By the end of the course, students will be able to evaluate the core features of international investment law, the relevant provisions of trade and investment agreements, and the various actors that influence finance flows with competence and confidence. The course balances doctrinal study with an exploration of how the investment treaty system operates in practice, including scrutiny of investment disputes.

Within the course, we will examine market access and investment facilitation issues, including new legal instruments to address barriers to foreign entry and the success of FDI in foreign markets. We will discuss the extent to which international investment law constrains the regulatory autonomy of states, particularly owing to commitments to accord ‘fair and equitable treatment’ to investors or to obligations to provide compensation for the indirect expropriation of an investment. We will further complicate this issue by studying how governments seek to defend policy judgments and challenge investor claimants. Finally, we will discuss the legal principles that govern compensation and the recognition and enforcement of investment treaty awards. The course will enable all students to draw connections between global commerce and cross-border investment and other contemporary legal topics, including the environment, trade, human rights, and global value chains.

20 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.
2 hours of seminars in the Spring Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

One 2,000 word formative essay during the course.

Reading lists will be provided for each seminar on Moodle. Essential readings combine primary and secondary sources to help students navigate the topics. Additionally, the course offers political economy and history readings to supplement select topics.  Where possible, readings will include relevant videos and podcasts to enhance student learning.
Indicative textbooks include C.L. Lim, et al., International Investment Law and Arbitration (2021); J. Bonnitcha et al., The Political Economy of the Investment Treaty Regime (2017); M. Sornarajah, The International Law on Foreign Investment (2021); C. McLachlan, et al., International Investment Arbitration: Substantive Principles (2017).

Exam (100%), duration: 150 Minutes in the Spring exam period.