Programme Director: Professor Gerard McMeel
For further information please contact Stephanie Dimberline, Postgraduate Senior Admissions Administrator.
The LLM by Advanced Study is a taught Masters degree which offers opportunities for specialist legal study, and the development of research skills through the production of a dissertation. It is one of the most flexible taught postgraduate law programmes in the UK. The School of Law’s strengths are reflected in the wide range of options taught and/or supervised by specialist tutors.
The LLM by Advanced Study has two parts. In Part One, which runs from October to June, students take four taught units, chosen from an extensive list of legal subjects. In Part Two, students undertake an extended period of supervised research leading to the submission of a final dissertation in September:
There are eight different LLM by Advanced Study Programmes:
Part One of each of the eight LLM Programmes requires students to complete four taught LLM units.
Each of the specialist LLM programmes has different requirements regarding the LLM units that may or must be taken. Full details of those requirements can be found from the programme structure pages for each programme.
Units are chosen from an extensive list of legal subjects. Units offered within each programme may vary from year to year, depending on staff availability and student numbers. LLM units are of two types:
The LLM Specialist Units are the core of each of the LLM programmes. Students who have had training in English common law method take four LLM Specialist Units, as required for their particular LLM programme. Students who have not had training in English common law method and who intend to undertake a programme of study which includes a significant amount of substantive English law are recommended to take three appropriate LLM Specialist Units plus one LLM Foundational Law unit. The LLM Foundational Law units are: Criminal Law and Criminal Justice; Law of Contract; Law of Tort; Law of Personal Property and Trusts; Land Law; Public Law; and Constitutional and Substantive Law of the EU.
The School of Law does not guarantee that all LLM Units will run in any particular year. It is also important to note that certain LLM Specialist Units have additional requirements regarding your eligibility to take them. Some are introductory units, designed for those who have never studied a particular area before. However, others require you to have studied certain topics already. If you have any queries about your eligibility for particular units, please check with the Postgraduate Office.
The vast majority of LLM units are taught by fortnightly small group seminars. In many units this mode of tuition is supplemented by lectures. Students are given detailed programmes of reading to prepare in advance for seminars. There is a strong emphasis upon student participation.
Students are able to take the programme full time or part time. For further advice on our part time options, please contact Stephanie Dimberline in the Postgraduate Office.
Assessment patterns vary. Most units are assessed by a combination of assessed written coursework and an unseen written examination taken in May/June. However, some units are assessed wholly by coursework, and some wholly by unseen written examination.
An essential feature of postgraduate work is the development of independent research skills. For that reason LLM candidates are required to submit a 12,000 word dissertation after completing their taught courses. Students select their own topic in discussion with tutors - either building upon something already studied or exploring something new. Supervisors support students in developing their research skills through this process.
Compulsory research training is provided to students in the summer, shortly after the end of the summer examination period.
From 2011, any student wishing to undertake empirical research or use other research methods which would require approval from the School of Law ethics committee will be required to take and successfully complete the 10 point unit LAWDM1007 'Socio-Legal Research Methods'. This unit is assessed by coursework, which involves specific design of a research project of this nature.
In the School of Law, postgraduate marks in individual units and in the dissertation are to be classified as follows:
The LLM may be awarded with Distinction, with Merit, or as a pass.
For a Distinction to be awarded, a candidate must have achieved an average mark of at least 65% in Part I (the taught LLM units), with at least 60 credit points at 70% or above, and a mark of at least 70% in Part II (the dissertation).
For a Merit to be awarded, a candidate must have achieved an average mark of at least 60% in Part I (the taught LLM units), with at least 60 credit points at 60% or above and a mark of at least 60% in Part II (the dissertation).
Other students who pass all their units and the dissertation will be regarded as having satisfied the requirements to be awarded the LLM.