LLM in Commercial Law
Course Overview
The LLM in Commercial Law at LSLPE is a UK Level 7 postgraduate degree running one year full-time or two years part-time across on-campus, online and distance-learning routes. The programme is aligned with the standards of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the International Bar Association, and it sits deliberately in the commercial tradition of the City of London, drawing on transactions, disputes and drafting conventions used daily in the Square Mile and Canary Wharf.
By graduation you will have argued sale-of-goods and agency problems at seminar, drafted and negotiated a suite of commercial agreements, produced a comparative regulatory memorandum and completed a substantial dissertation supervised by a practising commercial lawyer. The LLM is a strong foundation for solicitors specialising in commercial practice, in-house counsel taking on wider transactional remits and international lawyers seeking a UK-facing postgraduate credential.
Key Features
- Curriculum aligned with Solicitors Regulation Authority guidance on commercial competencies and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators pathway.
- Case-room seminars using materials drawn from English commercial court judgments and the Uniform Commercial Code for comparison.
- Drafting workshops covering supply contracts, distribution agreements, agency mandates and international sale of goods.
- Guest sessions with commercial practitioners from City firms and independent chambers.
- Choice of dissertation, capstone consulting project or sponsor-supervised drafting portfolio.
- Named programme-tutor support across all three study modes, with the same weekly seminar structure.
What You Will Learn
- The doctrine and modern application of English contract law in commercial settings.
- Sale of goods, passing of property and risk under the Sale of Goods Act and the CISG.
- Agency, distribution and franchising structures used by UK exporters.
- Commercial dispute resolution before the English courts and the LCIA and CIArb tribunals.
- Drafting boilerplate, indemnity, limitation of liability and choice-of-law clauses.
- Regulatory constraints from competition law, consumer protection and financial promotion rules.
- Cross-border transaction management including sanctions, export controls and Incoterms.
- Legal-research methodology for a Master's dissertation in commercial law.
Who This Course Is For
- Practising solicitors and legal executives seeking a specialist commercial credential.
- In-house counsel and contract managers moving into senior transactional work.
- International lawyers pursuing a UK-facing LLM in Commercial Law.
- Recent LLB and JD graduates targeting a City or in-house commercial role.
- Compliance and procurement leads who negotiate substantive commercial agreements.
Career Pathways
- Commercial Solicitor
- In-house Counsel
- Contract Lawyer
- Corporate Counsel
- Legal Adviser to trading and manufacturing businesses
- Compliance Officer with a commercial remit
- Legal Analyst on international transactions
- Arbitrator or mediator in commercial disputes
The LSLPE careers service holds at least one careers day each academic year connecting LLM in Commercial Law students with commercial practices in the City, independent chambers and in-house teams in retail, manufacturing and technology.
Entry Requirements
- A UK Bachelor's degree (2:2 or above) in law or a closely related discipline, or an equivalent international qualification.
- IELTS 6.5 overall (no band below 6.0) for non-native English speakers.
- Applicants without a Bachelor's degree but with five or more years of senior commercial legal, compliance or in-house experience are considered on portfolio.
- One academic and one professional reference.
- A 500-word research proposal or professional practice statement identifying a proposed dissertation topic in commercial law.
Why Study at LSLPE
LSLPE is the specialist law, politics and economics division of Harold International College of London, teaching in small tutor-visible cohorts within a short tube ride of the Royal Courts of Justice, the City and the Inns of Court. The LLM in Commercial Law reads its subject in the tradition that produced modern English commercial doctrine, using case-room seminars that mirror how City firms brief and argue transactional problems.
Three parallel study modes let progressors, working practitioners and portfolio-route applicants complete the LLM without leaving their City firm, in-house role or chambers, and the LSLPE careers service refreshes its curriculum against Solicitors Regulation Authority and International Bar Association guidance each year.
Apply for LLM in Commercial Law
Applications for the LLM in Commercial Law open with rolling intakes each academic year and admissions responds within one working day. Enrol on an LSLPE Master's programme with a dissertation, capstone or sponsor project supervised by practising commercial lawyers, and take a credentialed UK step into senior commercial practice. Enrol Now
