LLM (Master of Laws)
Duration: One calendar year (full-time) Two/ three/ four years (part-time, daytime only) We recommend that part-time students have between two-and-a-half and three days a week free to pursue their course of study.
Overview
Minimum Entry Requirements: Minimum upper second class honours degree (or equivalent) in Law
Start of programme: September intake only
The LLM programme is a single subject law programme that may be taken over a period of one year (full-time), or part-time over a period of two, three or four years. Every student will be required to take courses equivalent to four full units. The assessment of one of the chosen full units (which must be from your chosen specialism) will be by means of a 15,000 word dissertation. The dissertation must be linked to a course offered at SOAS itself, and attendance on the course will be treated as being part of the process of supervision.
With permission of the LLM tutor, students will be entitled to select one complementary subject or the equivalent from comparable Master’s course at SOAS including appropriate language courses. A complementary subject may be chosen in substitution for either a full or a half-subject.
Examinations for all taught courses will be held in May/June of each year and the dissertation will be due for submission by 15th September of the final year of registration. The assessment for each course may vary according to the extent to which the research component of each course is to be stressed.
It is expected that all students will graduate with an LLM in law. It is possible, however, for students wishing to graduate with a ‘specialist’ degree, to do so by way of opting to take three or more courses from the relevant subject groupings below. In each case, the student must undertake a dissertation in that subject grouping.
Structure
Overview
Students are required to take four taught courses, one of which will be assessed by a 15,000 word dissertation. Three courses must be chosen from the LLM course list (below) or may be an approved language. The fourth option may be chosen from the LLM course list below, an approved language, or an appropriate SOAS non-law option (with the approval of the LLM convenor). There is also an optional pre-sessional course.
Three courses must be chosen from the following SOAS LLM course list:
- Access to justice & dispute resolution: special applications - 15PLAC157 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Affirmative action law - 15PLAH024 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
- Alternative dispute resolution - 15PLAC104 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Arab comparative commercial law - 15PLAC144 (1 Unit) - Full Year - Not Running 2013/2014
- Banking law - 15PLAC105 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Chinese commercial law - 15PLAC106 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Climate change law and policy - 15PLAC154 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Colonialism, empire and international law - 15PLAH025 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1 - Not Running 2013/2014
- Commercial Law - 15PLAC166 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Comparative Commercial Law - 15PLAC175 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Comparative constitutional law - 15PLAC152 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Development, environment and the law in the South - 15PLAC158 (1 Unit) - Full Year - Not Running 2013/2014
- Economic approaches to law - 15PLAH030 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
- Feminist legal theory - 15PLAH027 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1 - Not Running 2013/2014
- Feminist legal theory - 15PLAC155 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Foundations of Chinese law - 15PLAC110 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Foundations of Comparative Law - 15PLAH031 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
- Foundations of international law - 15PLAH021 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
- Gender, Armed Conflict and International Law - 15PLAH035 (0.5 Unit) - Term 2 - Not Running 2013/2014
- Human rights and Islamic law - 15PLAC150 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Human rights of women - 15PLAC112 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Human rights in the developing world - 15PLAC111 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Intellectual property rights and development - 15PLAC113 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- International and comparative copyright law: copyright in the global village - 15PLAC115 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- International and comparative corporate law - 15PLAC116 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- International commercial arbitration - 15PLAC153 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- International criminal law in context - 15PLAH041 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
- International Economic Law - 15PLAH033 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
- International environmental law - 15PLAC118 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- International human rights clinic - 15PLAC145 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- International Labour Law and Equality Rights - 15PLAC169 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- International law and global orders - 15PLAH019 (0.5 Unit) - Term 2
- International law and international relations - 15PLAH037 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
- International laws on the use of force - 15PLAH020 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
- International protection of human rights - 15PLAC119 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- International trade law - 15PLAC120 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Islamic law (MA/LLM) - 15PLAC121 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Islamic law 2: succession - 15PLAC122 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Jurisprudence of international criminal tribunals - 15PLAH042 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
- Justice, Reconciliation and Reconstruction in Post-Conflict Societies - 15PLAH040 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
- Justice, reconciliation and reconstruction in post conflict societies - 15PLAC123 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Law and development in Africa - 15PLAC160 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Law & governance in the developing world - 15PLAC125 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Law and international inequality:critical legal analysis of political economy from colonialism to globalisation - 15PLAC131 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Law and natural resources - 15PLAC126 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Law and policy of international courts and tribunals - 15PLAH026 (0.5 Unit) - Term 2
- Law and society in the Middle East and North Africa - 15PLAC130 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Law and society in South Asia (MA/LLM) - 15PLAC129 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Law, human rights and peace building: the Israeli-Palestinian case - 15PLAC133 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Law, institutions and political economy of transition - 15PLAC134 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Law, Multiculturalism and Intercultural Human Rights (MA/LLM) - 15PLAC109 (1 Unit) - Full Year - Not Running 2013/2014
- Law of the Creative Cultural Industries in the Middle East and North Africa - 15PLAC161 (1 Unit)
- Law of international finance - 15PLAC135 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Law of Islamic finance - 15PLAC159 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Legal regulation of the music industry - 15PLAC138 (1 Unit) - Full Year - Not Running 2013/2014
- Migration, gender and the law in South East Asia and beyond - 15PLAH023 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
- Modern Chinese law and human rights - 15PLAC139 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Multinational enterprises and the law - 15PLAC140 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Procedural principles and ethical standards - 15PLAC141 (1 Unit) - Full Year
- Sociological Approaches to Law - 15PLAH032 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
- The law of armed conflict - 15PLAH022 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
- Water Law and Governance in Asia - 15PLAC171 (1 unit Unit)
- World Trade Organisation Law - 15PLAH038 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
Optional Pre-sessional Course
- Preliminary law, legal reasoning and legal methods - 15PLAC162 (0 Unit) - Term 1
Programme Specification
Teaching & Learning
How to apply
How to apply
- How to Apply
- Online Application
- Funding options
- English language requirements
- Tuition Fees
- Admissions Contacts
Scholarships
For further information visit the Scholarships section
D.G.E. Hall Scholarship
Application Deadline: 2013-03-22 00:00
Felix Scholarships
Application Deadline: 2013-01-31 00:00
SOAS Master's Scholarships - Faculty of Law and Social Sciences
Application Deadline: 2013-03-22 00:00
A Student's Perspective
Alexis Berko, Wesleyan UniversityOne of my fondest memories of SOAS is the International Students Welcome ceremony where I met a few of my friends. Freshers’ Week overall was pretty fun and my classes are incredibly involving and interesting.
