Online, part-time

International Financial & Commercial Law LLM

This module focuses on the main steps of arbitral proceedings, from the drawing of the arbitration agreement to the enforcement of the arbitral award. You’ll get an overview of international commercial arbitration in both theory and practice. It provides a brief history of international commercial arbitration and examines the diversity of the legal systems that may apply during proceedings, either procedurally or substantively. You’ll learn to assess legal issues and the problems that may arise from international commercial arbitration. You’ll also understand how to propose and present recommendations to deal with them.

International trade is inherently risky. Sellers (exporters) run the risk of buyers failing to pay for goods, so they prefer payment upfront; buyers (importers) run the risk of not receiving the goods for which they paid, so they prefer to pay after receipt. Since medieval times and the Lex Mercatoria, innovative approaches have been developed to protect the financing of international trade. In this module, you’ll study different approaches, including the use of collections, documentary credits, and demand guarantees. You’ll consider the financial intermediaries and third-party principals or sureties who facilitate trade transactions. You’ll also examine the legal and practical implications of these key instruments and relationships.

This module introduces you to the principles of finance theory, and their practical implications in the context of equity and debt finance and secured lending. The focus is on equity and debt securities (shares, bonds, notes, hybrid instruments) and modern funding techniques (term loans, lines of credit, syndicated loans). You’ll also examine the mechanisms for securing repayment (security interests, quasi-security).

This module explores the purpose and function of mergers and acquisitions and the role that the legal framework plays in facilitating or restricting takeover activity. The focus of the module is on the regulation of public takeovers in the UK, but you’ll also study comparative elements of the EU and US regulatory frameworks. The module contains several case studies of recent transactions that allow us to discuss controversial elements of law and policy in context.

This module introduces you to the theory and practice of modern debt restructuring techniques. Firmly grounded in bankruptcy theory, it analyses relevant legal issues through the lens of a combination of a ‘commons/anti-commons’ approach and ‘contractualisation of bankruptcy’ models. It includes purely contractual arrangements, such as intercreditor agreements, security enforcement and release provisions. You’ll also look at statutory mechanisms, including (pre-pack) administrations, schemes of arrangement and company voluntary arrangement.

This module considers the objectives of transnational financial regulation, the governance structures, and legal problems facing financial markets and financial institutions. It examines forms of economic and financial integration, and rules governing selected aspects of regulation, including banking, credit rating agencies, insider dealing, and market manipulation. You’ll study the principal features of the law of Economic and Monetary Union and Banking Union of the European Union.

This module aims to introduce the principles of international banking regulation and supervision. The focus is on the risks that banks are exposed to in their day-to-day operations and in their interaction with other intermediaries within financial markets and within payment and clearing systems. The module also explores the ways banks, regulators and supervisors manage and mitigate these risks.

This module aims to introduce the students to modern financial products in the retail and wholesale markets. The focus is on modern funding techniques (syndicated loans, term loans, lines of credit); debt securities (bonds, notes, commercial paper, hybrid instruments); techniques for securing repayment (security interests and title-based financing) and complex financing structures (securitisation, collateralised debt obligations and the hedging of exposures through derivatives, as well as repo financing).

Delve into the operation and functioning of modern capital and financial markets in bonds, equities, and derivatives. This covers both the technical and legal side of the way different financial instruments are now issued, held, and traded. You will consider the provision of custodial services, the clearing and settlement of these instruments and the modern legal frameworks and regulatory principles that apply, including the impact of CSR and ESG frameworks on capital markets transactions. Of particular significance are innovative financial products, trading techniques and their regulation.

A typical private equity transaction involves the acquisition of a business by borrowing money from a third party which is to be repaid with the business' own cash flows. Until repayment is complete, the business' assets secure the outstanding debt. With the number of private equity transactions on the rise, this module analyses the economic rationale and legal nature of these transactions. It addresses the policy concerns in terms of disclosure and transparency, as well as minority shareholder and employee protection.

The aim of this module is to highlight and reflect on the variety of ‘types’ of legal instruments regulating transnational business. Specifically, we’ll explore the legal documents which are not sanctioned as national or international law yet exercise a national or global sway. These range from codes of conduct about corporate responsibility to so-called 'informal international law’ on trade. They also encompass transnational human rights requirements for businesses, drafted by one person to private dispute resolution mechanisms for Internet disputes and other areas of transnational business. We’ll discuss and debate the practical, sometimes ethical impact these instruments can have on businesses.

While the business of project finance is far-reaching and involves financing an offshore wind farm in the North Sea one year and a mining project in Central Asia the next, the fundamentals always remain the same. Since these fundamentals permeate the legal considerations and the actual work of drafting documentation, a lawyer working in this field must have a good understanding of how the fundamental concepts of project finance translate in terms of legal documentation. Our objective is that at the end of this course, students will have a grasp of the principles of project finance and how these form the structural background of the legal documentation.