Law - General LLM

About the Course

The general LLM course allows students to choose from a range of international and English law specialist subjects, including aspects of commercial and international trade law, intellectual property and international human rights.

This enables graduates to fill the increasing demand for expertise in these areas and to produce their own 'bespoke' degree to suit their career needs. Further, because many of the modules have an international dimension, the LLM should also be of great interest to overseas candidates.

Aims

Students receive a good grounding in the legal concepts and principles operating in the areas of law chosen. They are given the opportunity to gain an understanding of areas of social and criminal justice policy where relevant and are introduced to areas of controversy in their selected areas of law and socio-legal studies.

Enquiries

Jenny King, Senior PG Programme Administrator
Brunel Law School
Brunel University
Email j.king@brunel.ac.uk
Tel +44 (0)1895 267316
Fax +44 (0)1895 810476
Web www.brunel.ac.uk/law

Course Director: Dr Mihail Danov

Special Features

Law at Brunel
Law at Brunel University is well established and highly rated for its published scholarship, and well known amongst law firms for its distinctive undergraduate sandwich courses. It has recently been through the University's periodic review, which is designed to ensure that high standards of teaching are maintained. It has considerable expertise in various aspects of international trade law and European and international commercial law.

The Graduate School
Brunel Graduate School offers postgraduates additional features for study and the opportunity to meet other postgraduate students from across the University.

Course Content

The LLM is normally awarded to students who successfully complete four taught modules of 30 credits each and a dissertation weighted at 60 credits (180 credits in total). The subject of the dissertation must be in a field related to one of the law modules taken by the student.

Students who wish to undertake a dissertation involving empirical research are obliged to take the module in Social and Legal Research Skills.

Typical Modules

Note: modules are subject to withdrawal at the School's discretion.

Core Modules

Dissertation
After the taught modules have been completed in May, you will work on your dissertation under the supervision of a member of Law staff on a topic agreed between you and the Programme Director. This will provide you with an opportunity to deepen your understanding of a particular area of interest. The dissertation is due at the end of September.

Elective Modules

Intellectual Property Practice and Management
The course will prepare students interested in pursuing a career in Intellectual Property Law or allied spheres for the challenges they will face when they enter practice. It will cover all major areas of practical knowledge needed in a competitive International Intellectual Property industry.

International Trade Law
This includes the study of the law governing international contracts for the supply of goods, including the issues of transport, insurance, finance, arbitration, conflicts of laws, and international harmonisation of laws.

International Economic Law
This includes the study of the law governing economic relations between states, and in particular the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and its rules on the supply of goods and services, tariffs, subsidies and dumping.

International Intellectual Property Law
This course focuses on the European and international developments in Intellectual Property Law. It covers the national and international protection of Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents and sui generis rights. The module includes the study of WIPO treaties and TRIPS as well as European legislation.

International Commercial Arbitration
The main focus of the course is on the use of arbitration to resolve disputes arising out of international commercial transactions.

International Labour Law
The international structures, standards and processes developed by the international Labour Organisation (ILO) concerning equality, health and safety, child labour, freedom of association and other aspects of social justice in the workplace.

Fundamentals of Intellectual Property Law
The module aims to provide students with essential knowledge about the theoretical rationales and policy arguments for the recognition of intellectual property rights. Further, it seeks to explain the basic principles of Intellectual Property Law, the nature and scope of the rights covered, the procedures, both national and supranational, for the granting and recognition of the rights, the mechanisms for enforcement as well as defences against enforcement.

Public International Law
This covers the law governing relations between states, including international personality, statehood and recognition, territorial sovereignty, immunity, the law of the sea, state responsibility, dispute resolution and the use of force and international human rights.

European and International Environmental Law
This includes the study of the framework of environmental protection in the European Union and the relationship with market integration; the enforcement of EU environmental law; and WTO law on environmental protection as well as its relationship with EU law.

International Finance Law
This module deals with the nature and function of banking, securities, and financial markets. It also covers European and international legal regulation of financial markets, as well as the role of international financial organisations.

International Human Rights Law and Islamic Law 
Students will examine the diversity within the Sharia principles and approaches towards human rights: think critically about the overall relationship of the Sharia with modern international law and human rights law; examine the role and relationship of Sharia with several of the controversial subjects within human rights law – these include the Sharia and women’s rights, the Sharia and Child rights, Islam and family law, Islam and minority rights, Islam and the prohibition of terrorism; critically examine the issue of reform and greater compatibility of the Sharia with human rights values.

Intellectual Property and New Technologies
The module will address issues born from the interaction of intellectual property and the new technologies: Information Technologies (IT), the digital environment and the Internet, Biotechnology. The module will cover copyright protection, digital copyright, trade mark issues and patent protection.

European and International Competition Law
Providing an understanding of competition law, together with the ability to subject it to critical legal and economic analysis, this module will show how competition law can curb anti-competitive business practices which restrict competition in economic markets. Although emphasis is placed predominantly on EC competition law, developments at a broader public international level will also be explored.

Principles of Corporate Law
This module deals with the nature of companies and the fundamental principles of company law and corporate governance, including some international comparisons.

Internet Law
The module will address issues related to the law and regulation of information technology and the internet. The module will cover the following areas; privacy and data protection; computer related crime; E-commerce regulation; Liability of ISPs for crimes and infringements by internet users; registration of domain names; Intellectual property protection for computer programs; internet regulation; copy right issues of the information society.

European Intellectual Property Law
This module aims at providing knowledge on the European integration process in the area of intellectual property rights. Special attention is devoted to the role of intellectual property right in the knowledge-based economy and society, as envisioned in the Lisbon agenda of the European Union.

Fundamentals of International Human Rights
The module provides a detailed overview of International human rights law in context (placing it within public international Law. Students will study and assess the development and impact on States of international human rights; examine the role of the UN and its agencies; evaluate the efficacy of the human rights project to date and recommend strategies for improvement.

Regional Protection of Human Rights
The module will provide a detailed overview of regional protection of human rights law in context (Placing it within the context of developments within the UN regime of human rights). Students will study and assess the development and impact on States of regional; its principles and rules; examine the implementation and enforcement of regional human rights, i.e. comparing and contrasting universal vis-à-vis regional systems of protection; evaluate the efficacy of the regional human rights projects to date and recommend strategies for improvement.

International Criminal Law
The module will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of international criminal law (ICL) by examining it within public international law context and delineating its relationship to international human rights law and criminal justice. Students will examine the role played by the United Nations and its subsidiary bodies in the development of ICL; examine the implementation and enforcement of ICL; discuss critically recent developments in ICL and challenges for ICL.

Counter–terrorism and Human Rights
The module will provide students with a sophisticated understanding of national approaches to counter-terrorism and their consequences for human rights, through the comparison of counter-terrorism legislation and policies adopted by the United States, the United Kingdom, France and India after September 11, and through an examination of Jihad and terrorism from the point of view of Islamic law.

International Criminal Justice
The module will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the establishment of the system of international criminal justice and its enforcement mechanisms through the work of international criminal courts and tribunals (i.e. Nuremberg Tribunal, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court) and other hybrid tribunals (i.e. the Special Court of Sierra Leone, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon).

Comparative Criminal Justice
The module will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the core elements of pre-trial and trial criminal procedures in common law systems (with reference mainly to English and United States law, but also taking examples from Canadian, Australian, Indian and Hong Kong law) and civil law systems (with reference mainly to French law, but also taking examples from German and Greek law, and the law of Eastern European countries).

The Migrant, the State and the Law
The module will provide a critical and theoretical overview of the central features of migration and refugee law and policy and the interaction between the two.

Minorities and Indigenous Rights
The module will provide a critical overview of the features and needs of minorities and indigenous peoples in the legal, political and social context; critically analyse the standards related to minorities and indigenous peoples in current international law- universal standards as well as regional standards; study the wider and specific processes behind the adoption of the existing standards related to minority and indigenous rights in international law; evaluate the aforementioned standards and identify the weaknesses and challenges that continue to exist for minorities and indigenous peoples around the world.

Teaching and Learning

Assessment

Taught modules are assessed by essay and examination.

Careers

Brunel has always placed great emphasis on developing graduates who can innovate and implement, and who can add value to society through their industry. Brunel students become the kind of graduates who employers want to recruit, and as a result they currently enjoy the 13th highest starting salaries in the UK. This success is down to a several factors.

• Combining academic study with work experience
• Creative and forward-looking subjects
• An award-winning careers service
• Working while they study
• The entrepreneurial spirit

For more information, go to our Employability page

Fees for 2012/13 entry

Home/EU students: £7,130 full-time

International students: £12,650 full-time

Read about funding opportunities available to postgraduate students

Fees quoted are per annum and are subject to an annual increase.

Entry Requirements for 2012 Entry

You will normally be expected to have a second class undergraduate honours law degree or equivalent to be considered for admission. Relevant professional qualifications or experience may be considered adequate.

English Language Requirements

• IELTS: 6.5 (min 6 in all areas)
• TOEFL Paper test: 580 (TWE 4.5)
• TOEFL Internet test: 92 (R20, L20, S20, W20)
• Pearson: 59 (51 in all subscores)
• BrunELT 65% (min 60% in all areas)

Brunel also offers our own BrunELT English Test and accept a range of other language courses. We also have a range of Pre-sessional English language courses, for students who do not meet these requirements, or who wish to improve their English.