Master of Laws LLM

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Overview

Our LLM is a respected and desirable academic qualification recognised throughout the world and across key legal disciplines. It focuses on our particular areas of expertise, and aims to offer a unique student experience by taking advantage of our outstanding academic reputation, with emphasis on innovative and problem-solving teaching methods as well as our comparative and international outlook.

Key benefits

The Dickson Poon School of Law at King's College London is recognised globally as one of the best law schools in the world - ranking first in the UK for quality of research (Times Higher Education REF ranking 2014) and seventh in the UK (Guardian University Guide 2015: Law).
Exceptional teaching reputation; unique, sought-after expertise, with strong links to research mixed with contemporary experience and connections with the wider London legal community. Read more about our esteemed academic staff
Unrivalled location in the heart of legal London; based in the magnificent Somerset House East Wing on the Strand and minutes from the Royal Courts of Justice, the Inns of Court and offices of major global law firms.
We offer the following specialist LLM options:

Key information

Application status Open

Duration One year FT, two to four years PT, September to September.

Study mode Full-time, Part-time

Credit value UK 180/ECTS 90

Programme accreditations Law Society CPD points

Course intake 360 (FT and PT)

Course leaders Professor Tanya Aplin; Professor Takis Tridimas; Professor Alison Jones; Dr Holger Hestermeyer; Professor Ravi Tennekoon; Professor Jonathan Schwarz; Professor Peer Zumbansen

Course contact for further information

Postgraduate Admissions Team, King’s College London Admissions Office

Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 2569

fax: +44 (0)20 7848 7200

Course contact email prospective@kcl.ac.uk

Awarding institution King's College London

Faculty The Dickson Poon School of Law

Department

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Entry requirements & how to apply

Visit our admissions webpages to view our English language entry requirements.

Minimum requirements to be considered for the LLM:
Undergraduate degree with high 2:1 honours (i.e. overall average of at least 65%) in Law or a degree with at least 70% law content, or an equivalent international qualification and grading.

Exceptionally, you may be considered where a comparable academic level has been achieved through other graduate studies (such as a Graduate Diploma in Law) and where work or experience (at least three years legal work experience) has made you a suitable candidate for the LLM.

A guide to international equivalencies at King's by country can be found here.

Please note: Meeting the minimum requirements for your application to be considered does not guarantee an offer as applications for this programme are very competitive.

Application procedure

Applications must be made online using King's online application portal and an application fee of £40 applies (non-refundable).

All applications must be made to the generic Master of Laws (LLM) programme. If accepted, and once you have enrolled onto the LLM programme, you will have the opportunity to choose one of our specialist LLMs. At the start of the semester you will have the opportunity to attend taster lectures and to speak to programme/module leaders before you make a decision on whether to do a specialist or tailored LLM.

Personal statement and supporting information

For information on how to apply to King's, the application process, personal statements or any other FAQ's. Please visit the FAQ page.

Application closing date

The deadline for applications is 01 April 2016 for 2016 entry. Prior to this date all applications will be given equal consideration and considered on their individual merits. After this date applications will be considered subject to the availability of places, thus we encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible. Please note that funding deadlines may be earlier.

Prior to this date all applications will be given equal consideration and considered on their individual merits. After this date applications will be considered subject to the availablity of places, so we encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible. International applications must be recived by 01 July 2016 to allow sufficient time for visa processing.

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Course detail

Description

A King’s Master of Laws is unlike any other. Under the guidance of our expert tutors we will equip you with the legal knowledge and expertise to match your career ambitions. With a King’s LLM you will be gaining an internationally recognised qualification that is highly desirable in today’s competitive legal profession.

Our tailored LLM programme, as well as our seven legal specialisms, are underpinned by an exceptional reputation for teaching and research. Designed for recent law graduates as well as established professionals, the programme is rigorous, demanding and require serious commitment just as you would expect from one of the world’s leading law schools.

By enrolling on our LLM programme, you will benefit from our vibrant intellectual community, student societies and social events, as well as our links with prestigious international law schools. Join us at King’s and you will find yourself studying in the state-of-the-art-facilities of one of the world’s most distinguished destinations for law.

Challenging, inspiring, international: our teaching staff

Our staff is drawn from across the legal profession – from international business, financial, tax, competition, European and intellectual property law. At King’s you will have unrivalled access to, and the opportunity to study with, some of the world’s foremost academics and visiting lecturers.

You will soon discover why all our academics are leaders in their fields. Many continue to work at the top of their professions for international law firms and barristers’ chambers and they regularly contribute to leading legal publications. Their work is complemented by an impressive team of visiting lecturers, professors and practitioners who all bring additional expertise to the LLM.

Committed to your future

King’s College London recently conducted a piece of research in partnership with The Times, revealing the sought-after competencies law firms look for in law graduates. These include ‘global mindset’, ‘commercial awareness’ and ‘intellectual rigour’ as highly prized competencies in graduates. Read more and watch a video about the research findings here.

At King’s, there are plenty of chances to meet and talk about your future with fellow practitioners from leading law firms. Our Annual Law Fair attracts over 60 companies, including global law firms from London and the US. During Legal Week we bring together graduate recruiters, alumni and legal specialists for careers advice. Leading law firms regularly visit us and offer seminars to students as well as invitations to events hosted at their offices. We also offer specialist career events, covering media, NGO and finance.

Our dedicated Careers & Employability team will present you with a wealth of careers resources, including individual guidance sessions to help you research law firms, apply for employment and discover what it takes to qualify as a lawyer or barrister. We also give every student access to our compendium of up-to-date online legal recruitment news.

Course purpose

This programme allows you to deepen and to broaden your knowledge of law as an academic subject and assists your professional development by enhancing your problem-solving skills in a transnational context. Designed to maximise students' intellectual potential, it also keeps you grounded by drawing on the real world experiences of staff and other practitioners. The LLM offers a sharpened focus on our key areas of excellence and a commitment to offer a premier programme and a world class student experience. Aimed at recent law graduates (or graduates of joint degrees with a significant law content) as well as established legal professionals who may have graduated a number of years ago, the programme is rigorous and demanding and requires serious commitment.

Further literature

LLM brochure

Course format and assessment

Required Modules

You may choose to study one of our seven specialist LLMs or create a unique programme tailored to your areas of interest. At the start of the semester you will have the opportunity to attend taster lectures and to speak to module leaders before you make a decision on whether to undertake a specialist or tailored LLM.

For all options, you will need to study modules that add up to a total of 180 credits, including a compulsory writing project. The writing project (40 credits) can be either a supervised dissertation, a research module or a practice module. The remaining 140 credits have to be made up of full (40 credit) or half (20 credit) taught modules.

In order to obtain a specialist LLM you need to select modules of your choice in the respective specialism that add up to 120 credits in total.

For the full list of available LLM modules, please click here

* Many of the modules listed in the document are available as Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses.

Y1Year 1

Required Modules

You may choose to study one of our seven specialist LLMs or create a unique programme tailored to your areas of interest. At the start of the semester you will have the opportunity to attend taster lectures and to speak to module leaders before you make a decision on whether to undertake a specialist or tailored LLM.

For all options, you will need to study modules that add up to a total of 180 credits, including a compulsory writing project. The writing project (40 credits) can be either a supervised dissertation, a research module or a practice module. The remaining 140 credits have to be made up of full (40 credit) or half (20 credit) taught modules.

In order to obtain a specialist LLM you need to select modules of your choice in the respective specialism that add up to 120 credits in total.
* Many of our modules are available as Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses. Please click here for more information.
Read more

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Locations

Strand campus Explore campuses

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Career prospects

In a competitive world we can give you the competitive edge to take your career to the next level. That’s why you’ll find our LLM programme is supplemented by opportunities to develop your skills and professional networks. The result is that students are presented with a wide range of employment destinations when they leave. Positions range from: