School of Law
LLM
International Economic Law
(Intensive)
Two Pathways:
LLM International Finance & Economic Law
LLM International Economic Law Justice & Development
Programme Handbook
2015/16
Postgraduate Taught Intensive Programmes
Important Dates – 2015/16
2016
Tuesday 8th March Induction Day
Wednesday 9th March Week 1 Teaching begins
Wednesday 16th March Week 2 Teaching begins
Monday 13th June 11.30 am Deadline for submission of March term coursework
Submitted online via moodle
Monday 13th June Submission of dissertation application forms
(Full time students only)
Tuesday 21st June Dissertation Workshop
Wednesday 22nd June Week 1 Teaching begins
Wednesday 29th June Week 2 Teaching begins
Tuesday 6th September 11.30 am Deadline for submission of June/July term coursework Submitted online via moodle
Monday 19th September 11.30 am Deadline for submission of Dissertation Submitted online via moodle (Full-time students only)
Welcome
On behalf of all my colleagues I would like to welcome you to what I hope will be an exciting and rewarding period of postgraduate studies.
This handbook is designed to provide you with essential practical information that you will require throughout your studies. Please read it carefully. If you are unsure about anything please talk to the Director of Intensive LLM Programmes, Dr Stewart Motha (); web-site:
(http://www.bbk.ac.uk/law/our-staff/ft-academic/stewart-motha).
Birkbeck College is a research-led institution and has one of the highest proportions of research active staff amongst Colleges and Universities in the Greater London area. This expertise is the basis for Birkbeck’s enthusiasm and commitment to postgraduate teaching.
Our intensive LLM programmes are specifically designed to give busy professionals and those wishing to combine work and family life access to postgraduate studies in law. The combination of readings and materials provided in advance, face-to-face teaching at Birkbeck, and independent research undertaken for your dissertation provides you with a unique opportunity to enhance your qualifications in a vibrant intellectual environment.
Since the Law School was established in 1992 it has grown from an undergraduate programme of 76 students and a handful of PhD candidates to one of the largest and most successful Schools in the College. Our qualifying law degree programmes now recruit 300 students a year and we have 9 taught postgraduate degrees. With around 80 PhD candidates, the School hosts a postgraduate community of 350+ students. We continue to grow, but what has remained constant in the School’s history is its commitment to theoretically informed interdisciplinary research, scholarship and teaching that seeks to produce graduates who adopt an unerringly critical approach to law in their studies and hopefully in their work life too.
The School of Law has a thriving community of postgraduate scholars and we hope that you will enjoy being part of it.
Professor Patricia Tuitt
Executive Dean
The Intensive Mode of Study
Undertaking a master’s degree through an intensive mode of teaching and learning has many advantages. It enables you to combine a busy work life or other commitments with postgraduate study. You can tailor study to fit with your wider plans for retraining, skilling-up, and augmenting your qualifications during a schedule of classes that suits your needs. Birkbeck Law School is very pleased to be able to create this opportunity for you to undertake intellectually rewarding legal studies with the flexibility that your life and work demands.
Intensive learning and teaching also poses particular demands that you should be aware of from the outset. While the face-to-face teaching in the degree is undertaken during a concentrated period of time, the arc of learning unfolds over a much longer period – from the time you enrol. We provide you with study guides and readings soon after you enrol and well in advance of face-to-face teaching. We expect you to work through the study guide and complete all your reading before arriving at classes in March and June respectively (the detailed timetable is at the end of this handbook). Your readings for March modules will be sent out to you at the end of January, and your June readings will be sent to you in April. You should also be thinking reflectively about the topics and questions provided for you so that you can make the most of the seminars at Birkbeck.
Where possible, we have also made your readings available to you electronically through our virtual learning environment – Moodle. You must become familiar with Moodle as readings, assessment tasks, and other communications will be made through Moodle. There is an individual Moodle site for each module including your dissertation.
The specialised teaching we provide will be a foundation for you to successfully complete your compulsory dissertation. You will receive support in selecting a suitable dissertation topic, and academic supervision
through the process of writing it. We will advise you about selecting a dissertation topic when we see you in March. We suggest that you not rush to select a topic. The best time would be once you have experienced the intellectual stimulation of the teaching in March.
As a student at Birkbeck you will have access to an excellent research oriented library. A vast amount of the library’s resources are available electronically. Those studying, researching, and completing assessments remotely must take full advantage of these electronic resources. We will arrange for you to have a professional induction to the library coordinated by our specialist law librarian. Lynwood.
Your main focus from the time you receive your study guides and reading material is to plan your time so that you can complete the reading for all the modules in the forthcoming teaching period. If you are experiencing any difficulties you should contact Dr Stewart Motha () who will be happy to address your queries.
Overview
This innovative LLM enables you to tailor your studies to your professional and research interests. You choose 1 out of 2 LLM pathways, electing to combine the study of international economic law with either finance and global markets or with justice and development.
Both pathways draw on cutting-edge critical research to examine contemporary issues and problems.
If you are interested in finance, global markets and international economic institutions, you may select the LLM International Finance and Economic Law (Intensive).
If you wish to study global development issues and economic institutions you select LLM International Economic Law, Justice and Development (Intensive).
The aim of the LLM in International Economic Law is to engage students in a critical examination of the law, institutions and practice constituting global and local economies.
It is by preparing for, and actively participating in, seminars that you will come to appreciate the complexities and nuances of the subjects you have come to study, to generate new ideas and to improve your reasoning and communication skills.
On completion of the programme, you will be able to:
q Undertake a critical examination of the law, institutions and practice that constitute global and local economies.
q Understand the history and trajectory of global finance
q Undertake a critical examination of the law, institutions and practice that constitute global and local economies, through specific, in-depth case studies.
q Demonstrate an appreciation for the objectives, operation and importance of specific international economic institutions.
q Demonstrate an appreciation of practical outcomes from theory.
q Engage in Interdisciplinary analysis.
q Demonstrate improved written and oral communication skills.
q Engage in introspection and reflection.
Attendance
You need to complete all the reading before attending for face-to-face teaching in each module.
Attendance in each module is compulsory. You must attend at least 80% of each module. A roll will be taken on each day of teaching in each module.
The major aim of the taught modules is to introduce you to the different elements of multi-disciplinary scholarship in the subject.
Whether you are undertaking this course as a full time or a part time student you should make active participation in the seminars a primary goal. Seminars are the cornerstone on which we seek to build an academic community: a community of researchers with whom you may exchange views, generate ideas and develop skills.
If you are not attending a seminar, please inform the module convenor (your seminar tutor) and the Programme Administrator in writing stating the reasons for non-attendance.
If you wish to take a break in studies, you must inform your Programme Director and the Programme Administrator in writing, non attendance will not be recognised as an interruption of studies or withdrawal.
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/services/administration/break-in-studies
Structure of the Programme
Students must complete:
q 3 x core modules + 3 x option modules; OR
Table 1: IEL LLM (1 year full time, 2 years part time)
Full Time (1 Year)Core 1 / Introduction to International Economic Law, Justice and Development / 30 Credits
Core 2 / Depending on Pathway:
Introduction to the Law of International Finance
OR
Advanced International Economic Law, Justice and Development / 30 Credits
Core 3 / Dissertation / 30 Credits
Option 1 / 30 Credits
Option 2 / 30 Credits
Option 3 / 30 Credits
Total: 180 credits
Part Time (2 Years)
Year 1
Core 1 / Introduction to International Economic Law, Justice and Development / 30 Credits
Core 2 / Introduction to the Law of International Finance
OR
Advanced International Economic Law, Justice and Development / 30 Credits
Option 1 / 30 Credits
Year 2
Option 2 / 30 Credits
Option 3 / 30 Credits
Core 3 / Dissertation / 30 Credits
Total: 180 credits
Please note that:
q core modules must be taken and passed to allow the student to complete the degree;
q option modules may be chosen from a range of modules.
Regulations regarding the structure of programmes, maximum period of registration and other areas are available in the College Regulations for Taught Programmes of Study:
q http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/services/rules/rules#2008
Content
Core modules
Introduction to International Economic Law, Justice and Development
Professor Fiona Macmillan
The module aims to introduce students to the critical examination of the law, institutions and practice that constitute global and local economies. The key supporting objectives are to offer a balance of:
q theory and practice
q geographical coverage
q general and specific subject matter
q movements/ideas and counter-movements/ideas
One of the following depending on the LLM IEL pathway:
Advanced International Economic Law, Justice and Development
Prof Michelle Everson
The aim of this course is to introduce students to the concept of international economic law in general and the more recently established concept of the ‘global economic constitution’ in particular. In addition the course will briefly cover growing crisis within the global economic constitution. The core problems examined include:
q the ‘normative character’ of international economic law
q the balancing of social, cultural and economic values within competing national supranational and international political-legal jurisdictions (sovereignties)
q the constitutional function of economic law
q new ways of thinking about global justice
Introduction to the Law of International Finance
Dr Stephen Connelly
In practical terms, the Module is designed to bridge the gap between the formal understanding of the core principles of the English law of obligations, companies, and the practise of these principles in ‘financial capitals’ across the World. For this purpose, the Module builds on students’ existing legal training to engage in a critical analysis of credit facility agreements and related primary and secondary finance documents, always emphasising the manner in which the economic demands of international finance ‘form’ these agreements and in some instances strain legal doctrine to breaking point.
Indicative syllabus contents
· Debt-based theories of society and control;
· the auto-liberation of capital and financial instability;
· understanding the London-‘form’ of credit agreement and related documentation;
· financialisation with reference to syndication and securitisation;
· credit-related restructuring, insolvency, and enforcement; and
· finance and its regulation in the European Union context.
Option modules
For the full range of options available to you in the current academic year please see the module choices booklet.
Dissertation
Students must complete a dissertation of 8,000 to 10,000 words. You must:
1. Draw on the instructions provided for you in your Moodle page for dissertations
2. Attend the scheduled inductions to the library and talks about writing a dissertation.
3. Identify and plan your research topic;
4. Find a supervisor from among the academic staff in the law school – Dr Motha will assist in this process
5. Carry out independent research
6. Submit the dissertation by 11.30am on 21st September 2015 (for fulltime students); date to be confirmed in 2016 (for part-time students).
Assessment
Submission
You must submit your coursework electronically via Moodle for all modules. Detailed instructions on how to submit will be accessible in the ‘Assessment’ section of each Moodle module area and will also be sent to you via email by the programme administrator.
Please note that assessment feedback is returned in hard copy not via Moodle.
All coursework must be submitted by the deadlines set out in Table 3.
Every effort will be made to return a hard copy of your coursework or dissertation:
q with a mark, comments and feedback form;
q via first class post
q within 6 weeks of submission (except dissertations, resubmissions and coursework submitted following mitigating circumstances procedures);
q with notification to your email account.
q Note: provisional marks are subject to approval or change by the External Examination Board.
Format
Assessments (coursework and dissertations) must:
q Be double spaced and typed
q Include everything listed in Table 1.
Table 1 Information to include when submitting coursework and dissertations
What / WhereEnrolment number[1] / Header or footer, every page
Module name / Front page
Coursework/ Dissertation title / Front page
Subject tutor/ dissertation supervisor / Front page
Footnotes and Referencing (Word Limits):
The set assessment word limit excludes both footnotes and the bibliography. Whilst both footnotes and bibliography are important for the form of the essay, the focus of your efforts should be the argument itself.
Footnotes are used to clarify the argument, and a bibliography records the sources that you have used. Extended footnotes and a large bibliography are no replacement for a carefully constructed argument that engages with the major sources and literature relevant for the subject being considered. All students should seek guidance from their module convenor/supervisor about the appropriatelength of both footnotes and bibliography given the word limit of the essay. It is important to make use of enough resources to develop your argument, but, not to lose any sense of your central thesis through mere repetition of detail.