University of London Master of Laws (LL.M) — International Dispute Resolution Specialism

Four Subjects. Sixteen Learning Sections. One Complete Picture.

Subject 1 — Regulation and Infrastructure of International Commercial Arbitration

• The architecture of international arbitration — treaties, institutions, tribunals, and investment regimes.
• This subject examines the global legal framework that makes international arbitration function — from its foundational treaties to the institutions that administer it, the arbitrators who decide cases, and the specialist regimes governing disputes involving states and investors.

Section A — Foundations and Institutional Architecture

• Why arbitration works, and how the global system is built, covering the New York Convention 1958, the UNCITRAL Model Law 1985, and the world's leading arbitral institutions (ICC, LCIA, SIAC, HKIAC, ICSID and more).

Section B — Arbitration Agreements and Party Autonomy

• What makes an arbitration clause enforceable — and what can go wrong, covering how to draft and interpret arbitration agreements, the doctrine of separability, choice of seat, and how courts respond when a party litigates instead.

Section C — The Arbitral Tribunal

• How tribunals are built, how arbitrators must behave, and how to challenge them, covering appointment mechanisms, the IBA Guidelines on conflicts of interest, arbitrator duties and immunities, and challenge and removal procedures.

Section D — Investment Arbitration and Specialist Regimes

• Arbitration involving states, sovereign immunity, and global investment disputes, covering the ICSID Convention, investor-state arbitration under NAFTA Chapter 11, bilateral investment treaties, and the Energy Charter Treaty.

Subject 2 — Applicable Laws and Procedures in International Commercial Arbitration

• The governing law, procedural framework, and lifecycle of arbitral awards.
• This subject covers the full procedural and substantive law of arbitral proceedings — from determining which law governs the dispute and how hearings are conducted, to jurisdictional challenges, interim relief, and the recognition and enforcement of awards around the world.

Section A — The Applicable Law

• Which law governs the merits — and how a tribunal decides if the parties haven't chosen one, covering party autonomy, the lex mercatoria, the UNIDROIT Principles, and mandatory rules including EC competition law following the Eco Swiss case.

Section B — Conducting the Proceedings

• From the first submission to the closing hearing, working through the ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL and AAA rules in practice, drawing on the IBA Evidence Rules and the Prague Rules.

Section C — Jurisdiction, Arbitrability, and Interim Relief

• What can be arbitrated, who decides, and how to freeze assets while you wait, covering Kompetenz-Kompetenz, arbitrability across competition, insolvency, IP and bribery disputes, emergency arbitrators, and multiparty proceedings.

Section D — Awards

• From deliberation to enforcement — and what happens when the losing party fights back, covering award types, the Model Law's formal requirements, costs and confidentiality, grounds for setting aside under Article 34, and the full New York Convention enforcement framework.

Subject 3 — International Trade Law (Export Sales on English Law Terms)

• From FOB and CIF contracts to letters of credit, demand guarantees, and the CISG.
• This subject covers the full legal framework of international trade transactions under English law — starting with export sales and bills of lading, moving to the documentary credit system and trade finance instruments, and ending with the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.

Section A — FOB and CIF Export Contracts

• The two contracts that move most of the world's traded goods, covering the duties of seller and buyer, when risk and property pass, and the Sale of Goods Act 1979.

Section B — Bills of Lading and Carriage of Goods by Sea

• The document at the heart of every international shipment, covering its three legal functions, carrier liability under the Hague-Visby Rules, and how contractual rights pass down the chain under COGSA 1992.

Section C — Letters of Credit and Trade Finance

• How sellers get paid — and what happens when something goes wrong, covering documentary credits under UCP600, the autonomy principle, the fraud exception, and demand guarantees under URDG 758.

Section D — The UN Sale of Goods Convention (CISG)

• The international sales treaty used by businesses in over 90 countries, covering when it applies, seller and buyer obligations, and the remedies framework including damages under Articles 74–78.

Subject 4 — Private International Law in International Commercial Litigation

• Jurisdiction, choice of law, and the recognition of foreign judgments.
• This subject equips you to navigate the three central questions of every cross-border dispute: which court has jurisdiction, which country's law governs, and whether a foreign judgment can be enforced — drawing on EU regulations, English common law, and US comparative law.

Section A — Theory and History

• Why different countries reach different answers to the same cross-border legal question, tracing private international law from the Italian statutists through to modern American interest analysis and economic theories.

Section B — Jurisdiction

• Which court gets to hear the case, covering the Brussels Regulation's jurisdiction framework, forum non conveniens, lis pendens, anti-suit injunctions, and the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements 2005.

Section C — Choice of Law

• Which country's law governs once jurisdiction is settled, covering Rome I and Rome II in detail, English statutory and common law rules, and US choice-of-law methodology for comparison.

Section D — Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments

• Getting a judgment paid in another country, covering near-automatic recognition within the EU, the three routes to enforcement in England, and the US framework of full faith and credit and comity.