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Why choose the Graduate School of Business


Research-informed, practice-oriented and truly global course delivered by experts in the field, and designed to equip you with the perspective and skills necessary for a wide range of legal careers.

Guest talks by prestigious speakers, including arbitrators, judges, renowned academics, Members of Parliament, and leading legal practitioners from City law firms.

In the National Student Survey 2024, 96% of our law students were satisfied with how well their course developed knowledge and skills for the future.

About the course

This LLM allows you to explore in detail the mechanisms and processes through which disputes are resolved in key areas of international legal practice. It enhances your ability to understand the ways in which dispute resolution plays out in legal environments such as commercial, human rights and environmental. You gain a broad knowledge of international legal rules and policies and their operation in practice, the international legislative environment within specific jurisdictions and adjudicative institutions as well as their mutual interactions and their impact on dispute resolution.

For further course information, contact Dr Ana Harvey at ana.harvey@beds.ac.uk

Facilities and specialist equipment

  • Contemporary Moot Court
  • Industry-standard hardware and software to prepare you for the modern workplace
  • Access to international learning resources and legal databases, such as LexisNexis and Westlaw

Your student experience

Learn from our highly experienced team of active researchers and established practitioners.

Our teaching is directed by close industry involvement, keeping you up to date with the latest developments in the field.

Immerse yourself in current-day business and legal challenges through case studies, mooting simulations and independent research projects.

Work with those in need at our community Family Law Clinic [and award-winning Refugee Legal Assistance Project

Benefit from actively participating in research events organised by our Centre for Research in Law (CRiL).

Gain specialist knowledge and industry insight in our series of guest talks, featuring arbitrators, judges, renowned academics, Members of Parliament, and leading legal practitioners from City law firms.

Widen your experience through field trips to the Inns of Court in London; Houses of Parliament; UK Supreme Court; Luton Crown Court; and by taking part in mooting competitions.

Develop essential transferable skills such as critical and creative thinking; effective communication; information analysis and evaluation; and systematic reasoning.

What will you study?


Studying our International Dispute Resolution LLM course will equip you with specialist knowledge and skills in the areas of legal theory and international legal practice. You will be provided with a solid grounding in traditional, common law as well as EU law rules that regulate International Commercial Litigation to understand the current development and trends in the field. At the same time, you will be introduced to the fundamental principles and legal institutes of international commercial litigation. You will also develop a critical understanding of the principles and legal theories in International Commercial Arbitration by exploring its practice, the relevant laws and international treaties that govern it. In particular, you will apply this knowledge and relevant legal rules to case scenarios to gain an awareness of the contemporary challenges and developments in the field.

As a crucial skill, Settlement of International Disputes will allow you to explore the law, practice and institutional design of international courts that will enable you to effectively conduct a comparative analysis. To add to this, you will learn how different dispute settlement bodies interact, and understand its multiple functions and influences. With a critical approach, you will also consider the tensions, challenges and possible solutions in the practice of international dispute settlement. Furthermore, you will study the core principles of Investment Treaty Arbitration and learn to apply this alongside relevant legal rules to case problem scenarios. Here, you will discuss a range of issues and criticisms in the investment treaty arbitration regime, different procedures for settlement of investment disputes and the growing number of arbitral decisions in this field.

In Transnational Human Rights and Climate Change Litigation, you will gain a critical understanding of strategic human rights litigation, its role in fostering change and its potential pitfalls and ethical considerations on a national, regional and global scale. You will learn the mechanisms for the protection of human rights while critically evaluating practices in strategic human rights litigation, such as in the area of human rights-based climate change litigation. Finally, you will bring this acquired theory and practice together to complete an LLM Dissertation where you will conduct a major research project into a topic of your interest that is relevant to your field of study. Here, you will engage with various sources such as statues, treaties, regulations, policy documents and other academic literature alongside the relevant research methods to help you analyse and critically evaluate your research.

How will you be assessed?


The course as a whole, and each individual unit, are designed in such a way as to enable you to build upon the knowledge and skills that you gained during your undergraduate studies and to develop greater autonomy of learning, independent analysis and critical evaluation. Learning activities and assessment tasks are designed to foster the incremental development of your subject knowledge and transferrable skills, whilst at the same time supporting your personal and professional development.

In-class learning activities are structured around lectures, seminars and workshops. Although the nature and format of the activities will vary from unit to unit, interactive learning and practice-based activities are key to all units. In-class activities and exercises will involve a mix of group discussion, debating, individual and group presentations and moots and will provide you with the opportunity to test and consolidate your knowledge and to apply it in a variety of contexts requiring analysis, evaluation and synthesis and/or problem-solving. Alongside in-class activities, you will also be expected to engage in a range of online learning activities, including virtual workshops and seminars delivered by guest speakers, training sessions for legal databases such as Lexis Nexis, Westlaw, discussion forums and group and individual e-journals.

The opportunity to be an active participant in the learning process will improve your learning experience and increase your confidence as a future legal professional. Your contribution to your own learning, and particularly your engagement with assigned reading in advance of each session, will maximise the benefit of in-class activities and your learning experience.

Throughout the course, you will be assessed in various ways. The different types of assessments will enable you to demonstrate both breadth and depth of subject knowledge and contextual understanding, whilst at the same time developing your academic and professional skills. Assessment methods which you will encounter in the course of your LLM studies include:

  • Written Report or Research Essay: these assessments will enable you to develop your knowledge, legal research and critical analysis skills. You will be required to perform literature-informed research, review and evaluate the relevant sources and use an appropriate methodology in order to analyse and evaluate the relevant concepts.
  • Case Study Reports: this will require you to apply your legal knowledge in the context of a specific factual scenario, in order to provide a sound legal analysis of the options available.
  • Oral Presentation: by presenting your research and arguments in a formal setting, you will develop a number of transferable skills, including in particular the ability to communicate your ideas and findings in a professional, clear and concise manner.
  • Mooting: this will develop your legal research, written and oral advocacy skills, by requiring you to devise a solid and convincing legal argument and articulate and defend it during simulated proceedings.
  • Dissertation: in your final project, you will be required to produce an individual, independent piece of written work, supported by high-quality legal research. You will be asked to identify the research question or problem under investigation, critically review the relevant case law and academic literature, develop a sound methodology in order to explore the problem, proceed with the analysis, discuss your findings, and, where appropriate, make recommendations. This is the final step of your LLM studies and it builds on the knowledge and skills acquired in all taught units.

The notions of accountability and academic integrity play an integral role in the course. Starting from the initial induction, and in the context of each unit, you will be given extensive training on the principles of academic integrity, how to avoid plagiarism, reference legal sources, and correctly acknowledge other peoples’ work and ideas. Specific training on the use of AI tools in an academic and professional context, with a particular focus on legal practice, will also be provided. All coursework assignments will require a thorough evaluation of the sources used and all sources will need to be fully acknowledged and referenced in accordance with the OSCOLA referencing system. In the context of individual projects and coursework, students will be expected to be able to show evidence of the different stages of preparation of the final submission and to be able to present and discuss their work in its entirety upon completion.

Careers


The course will equip you with the perspective and skills necessary for a wide range of legal careers including within international law firms - many of which have departments specialised in international dispute resolution - or as in-house counsel
within international corporations.

Other potential careers include working as legal advisor to governmental and non-governmental organisations, as well as international and intergovernmental organisations, such as: the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), International Centre for Investment Dispute Settlement (ICSID) in Washington D.C. and the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Hague.

The course also provides an excellent pathway for further studies including postgraduate research at MPhil or PhD level.

Entry Requirements

2.2 honours degree or equivalent in a related subject area

Entry Requirements

2.2 honours degree or equivalent in a related subject area

Fees for this course

UK

The full-time standard fee for a taught Master's degree for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £10,000 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees and living costs. Visit www.gov.uk/postgraduate-loan

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk

International 2024/25

The full-time standard fee for a taught Master's degree for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £16,900

If you have any questions around fees and funding, please email international@beds.ac.uk

Fees for this course

UK

The full-time standard fee for a taught Master's degree for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £10,000 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees and living costs. Visit www.gov.uk/postgraduate-loan

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk

International 2024/25

The full-time standard fee for a taught Master's degree for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £16,900

If you have any questions around fees and funding, please email international@beds.ac.uk

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