International Commercial Litigation

When business is transacted across national boundaries, special kinds of legal problems are likely to arise. If a dispute arises between the parties, it cannot be assumed that English courts will decided a case which has a foreign element in the same way it would decide a case which is connected only with England. In cases with foreign connections, three questions arise: first, does the English court have jurisdiction to hear the case; second, which law should an English court apply to the dispute between the parties; and third if a dispute is resolved abroad can one of the parties have the decision of the foreign tribunal recognised and enforced in England?

The aim of this unit is to give you a thorough grounding in both traditional common law rules and rules derived from International Conventions to which the UK is a party that relate to International Commercial Ligation. On completing this unit, you will be able to identify and fully understand the factors which may justify the exercise of jurisdiction by the English court; the elements which may help determine whether the English court should apply its own law or the law of a foreign country; and the considerations which may justify an English court in giving effect to a foreign judgment in England. Through a combination of teaching, case studies and critical appraisal, you will be kept abreast of current developments in this dynamic area of law.

An increasingly relevant area for International Commercial Litigation is the energy law, with the rise of contentious matters in the in the past years as a result of the increased liberalisation of markets. Large projects in the energy field usually generate disputes related to costs, warranties or performance or termination of contracts, as well as environmental related claims (see the oil pollution liability in offshore petroleum industry after the Macondo spill).

Investment Treaty Arbitration

The legal environment for foreign investment has changed dramatically over the last twenty-five years, especially after the international investment agreement (IIAs), and especially the bilateral investment treaties (BITs), flourished in the ‘90s. Investment protection, be it substantive or procedural, is now on the negotiation table of all countries. In particular, investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) is at the core of such protection and, not surprisingly, greatly challenged in the last five years.

This unit covers the key components of investment law with focus on the protection of investments through arbitration (be it under the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (the ICSID Convention) or under ad hoc or other institutional arbitration). However, this procedural remedy cannot be fully understood without a look into the substantive standards of protection of investments and investors. Reference is made to relevant international and municipal law, as well as to customary international law.

International Corporate Governance And Company Law

The central aim of this unit is to provide you with a thorough understanding of global Corporate Governance and the relationship with Company Law. In order to achieve this, you will be encouraged to identify issues involved in the creation and management/governance of modern corporations.

The unit is highly relevant to today’s business, with many global companies pronouncing on their own interpretation of governance. Given the recent scandals at companies such as VW group, the importance and impact of good governance practice and bad practice will be assessed. In addition to the development of UK company law, consideration will be given to the impact of EU law both internally and externally. The social implications of classic stakeholder-ship versus shareholder-ship are central to the unit, along with an understanding of corporate protection and corporate crime.

Intellectual Property Law

The aim of the unit is to examine the various aspects of contemporary intellectual property law (IP law) and to provide students with a sound knowledge and understanding of the substantive principles and their application to a wide variety of situations involving the protection and commercial exploitation of intellectual property. The unit also aims to enable students to critically assess the main legal implications for intellectual property law on an international level, having particular regard to Information Society issues. The unit will provide an examination of the key principles governing major IP law category with attention to their modern application on the Internet. Thus, the unit will introduce students to contemporary legal issues concerning the direction of IP rights and whether the current protection can be described as “fit for purpose”.

Law Dissertation

Aims:

·        To bring theory and practice together to formulate a hypothesis and conduct a major piece of research on a topic of your choice relevant to your field of study;

·        To stimulate you to reflect on issues critically and to identify aspects that need further research;

·        To provide you with the opportunity to explore a topic in considerable depth, including carrying out a major literature review;

·        To train you to critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of other people’s research and also your own;

·        To enhance skills in time-management, research management, project organisation and decision-making.

Relevance 

An important aim of a Master’s degree is to train you to use your knowledge and skills independently so that you can successfully carry out a major piece of research. This dissertation provides you with the opportunity for sustained independent study that builds on your research proposal and represents the culmination of your LLM studies.

Law Live Project

The live project aims to bring you into contact with one or more aspects of the reality of professional legal practice. The central aim of this unit is to provide you with a thorough understanding of the way in which law professionals operate in practice. By engaging within a live project, you will have opportunity to apply your existing knowledge to real-life cases involving critical evaluation and reflection to propose appropriate courses of action to a client.

In so doing, you will gain the opportunity to develop the qualities and transferrable skills required for continued employment and/or continued research. Through the theoretical and practical challenges inherent within a unit of this nature you will directly enhance your awareness or the professional, social and behavioural practices of the legal environment.