Corporate and Insolvency Law - LLM

You will study six modules followed by a dissertation.

Choose from:

Examine the key business models available to small and medium sized businesses in the UK. Compare their various legal features, and explore the legal expertise required for setting up, running and closure of a business.

Develop a critical insight into the structure and objectives of corporate insolvency law in England and Wales. You’ll gain an evaluative appreciation of the regulation of insolvent companies, and a high-level understanding of the role of traditional liquidation against the modern preference for corporate rescue.

Gain an insight into assisting struggling companies to recover from their difficulties, with the use of formal insolvency laws and by other means.

Consider global insolvency law-making initiatives, from institutions such as the EU and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). Engage with the issues of cross-border insolvency that arise when the insolvent debtor has assets and creditors in more than one jurisdiction.

This module aims to introduce students to a critical and detailed understanding of intellectual property rights within the EU and UK regulatory framework. It is mainly aimed at those who have little or no background in intellectual property and provides an introduction to the IPR through copyright, patents, registered designs and passing off.

Understand the core common law principles, and the main international customs and conventions, applicable to contracts for the international carriage of goods by land sea and air.

This module aims to support students in acquiring a critical understanding of the role, significance and basic structure of competition law in the context of increasing global trade and international economic integration. Competition law, (also called antitrust law), exists at national and regional levels. Laws in two leading competition law jurisdictions in the world, the United States of America (Federal) and the European Union, are focussed on with the aim of fostering critical analysis of the aims of competition law, the principal concepts underpinning competition law, how competition laws are structured and key practices (such as leniency or amnesty programmes) of agencies tasked with enforcing competition law.

This module supports students in gaining insightful awareness of what may be done to assist struggling companies to recover from their difficulties, both through the use of formal insolvency laws and by other means. An advanced appreciation of current UK laws in this area, and suggestions for reform of these laws, will be fostered.

Gain a critical appreciation of the essential functional elements of any business-to-business contractual relationship, concluded across international borders in the so-called global village.

Critically evaluate the law relating to contracts for the sale of goods across international borders from the contrasting standpoints of buyer and seller and focus on the core legal components of international sale agreements under three distinct legal codes.

This module is orientated around a UK public company with a premium listing and trading its securities on the London Stock Exchange. The first part of the module examines the core company law and securities law and regulation underpinning such a company (including the detailed rules in the FCA handbook), centring on its initial public offering of securities and subsequent continuing obligations as a listed company and including the UK regulation on market abuse. The final part of the module is concerned with the corporate governance framework pertaining to such a company with a particular emphasis on the core directors’ duty, 172 Companies Act 2006, and the UK Corporate Governance Code and UK Stewardship Code. The module seeks to develop an ability to apply and analyse the complex technical provisions as well as to place them within the context of a broader critical theoretical framework.

This module seeks to develop a critical appreciation of the role of law and regulation in the contemporary business environment. This first involves developing an understanding of the theoretical nature of regulation (in particular through a critical interrogation of the relationship between the role of the state and the role of self-regulation) and the theoretical explanations for the adoption of regulation. The module then evaluates different regulatory techniques, different styles and models of regulatory enforcement, and the increasing need for accountability in regulatory systems, in both a UK and an international context. Whilst the module draws upon case studies from the business environment and makes reference to contemporary UK policy in the particular domain of business regulation, the substantive principles that are subject to critical examination are eminently transferable across a wide range of traditional cognate legal and socio-legal fields.

This module examines formal and informal methods by which creditors are able to use property law to secure repayment of debts and acquire priority in insolvency. Students are introduced to common law concepts of property law and the process of legal development through case law. The transactional aspects of the area are given more emphasis than the doctrinal. Both institutional and procedural aspects of the law are considered: e.g. title retention, and the floating charge; constructive notice and undue influence. Students are encouraged to adopt a series of evaluative viewpoints and are supported in developing their own analysis of the law and its development.

This module is concerned with the formation of a contract of employment, including an examination of express and implied terms; specific issues such as discrimination and industrial action and the legal issues surrounding the ending of the contract. The module will explore changes that take place during the currency of the contract, such as the consequences of mergers, takeovers and transfers and the impact of the Acquired Rights Directive of 2001 and the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment Regulations 2006)