External summary

The LLM in Law at the Edinburgh Law School draws on the traditions of Scottish education that favours breadth and flexibility. It offers a structure which enables students to choose courses that best reflect their personal interests and objectives.  It enables them to develop skills and knowledge which provide the foundation upon which further study or a relevant career can be built

Edinburgh is uniquely placed for postgraduate study in law. It is the national capital and heart of a distinct legal system which has aspects of both the common law and civilian traditions. There is a large postgraduate community, which enables the Law School to offer students significant choice from a varied range of options.  The School provides teachers who are leading experts in their fields as well as access to an excellent library and computing facilities.

Educational aims of programme

Unlike the nominate LLMs which provide a narrower focus of study, the LLM in Law enables the student to engage with a wider range of subject areas within the discipline. However, the broader educational aims across the range of LLMs offered in the School of Law are very similar: to provide advanced knowledge, to provide the tools which enable that knowledge to be located within a broad interdisciplinary, comparative or historical context, to foster critical and evaluative skills and to generate independence of thought.

Programme outcomes: Knowledge and understanding

The detailed knowledge acquired will vary depending on the choice of courses; however each course will aim to foster the acquisition of advanced level knowledge of the key concepts, theories and debates in its particular area, placing that knowledge in an interdisciplinary, comparative, social, philosophical and/or historical perspective.

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in research and enquiry

By the end of the programme the students will develop:

• the capacity to engage with and participate in the existing debates in their chosen areas of study;
• the ability to select and deploy appropriate research techniques with a view to developing their own arguments and reaching conclusions that constitute a contribution to the current debates;
• the ability to engage with and participate in the existing debates critiquing other authors’ contribution to the scholarly debate and suggesting alternative approaches;
• the ability to select and deploy appropriate research techniques with a view to developing independent arguments and reach conclusions that constitute a contribution to the current debates.

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in personal and intellectual autonomy

By the end of the programme students will have acquired:

• the ability to independently assess the relevance and importance of primary and secondary sources and to construct alternative interpretations and views based on the student’s own understanding and argument;
• the capacity of discerning, without continuous supervision, the appropriate research techniques and methods that are most suitable to the legal standards and policy approaches that are relevant in specific contexts and cases and of suggesting solutions to a given problem;
• the ability to question current legal rules and to critique the outcomes of specific cases with a view to assessing their effectiveness to a given objective;
• the ability to plan and draft an extended piece of independent research;
• an ability to adapt and apply a broad range of analytical tools to new situations.

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in communication

By the end of the programme the students will:

• be able to summarise and communicate information and ideas effectively in written and oral form;
• have developed their ability to present to others research and scholarly work relating to their own and foreign legal cultures;
• be able to utilise a variety of IT and e-communications resources;
• be able to construct a sustained piece of written work, presenting sophisticated ideas and analysis within an appropriate intellectual structure.

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in personal effectiveness

By the end of the programme, students will have the ability to:

• work independently, seeking relevant advice and support when necessary;
• work constructively as a member of a group or team, assert leadership or follow instructions;
• participate effectively in seminars, workshops and discussions;
• work effectively under fixed deadlines.

Programme outcomes: Technical/practical skills

By the end of the programme the students will:

• have developed strong legal research and legal reasoning skills;
• be able to locate relevant information and material through Library and IT resources and to use relevant databases;
• be able to read and digest legal materials swiftly and efficiently;
• develop their ability to evaluate and critique legal and scholarly material;
• be able to articulate, evidence and sustain a line of argument and to engage in a convincing critique of another’s arguments

Programme structure and features

The LLM in Law may be taken either full-time or part-time.  The full-time route takes twelve months.

The degree comprises 180 credits. Students must complete 120 credits of taught courses (the dissertation accounts for 60 programme credits). There are no compulsory courses for the LLM in Law.

Students on the LLM in Law are able to take up to 60 credits from each of the other LLM programmes offered in the School (with the exception of the MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from which students are allowed to take only 40 credits).

Part-time Study

The LLM curriculum is normally arranged so that two-thirds (80 credits) of the required course credits are studied in the first year. The remaining one-third (40 credits) of course credits and dissertation are undertaken in the second year.

Approach to teaching and learning

The learning process will be didactic, seminar-based and research-focused. The courses will usually be taught by a seminar in a discussion group ranging from five to 25 students, although some courses may be larger. Seminars will normally last for two hours and there may be a short break in the middle. Students will be expected to prepare in advance by reading the required materials and by reflecting on the issues to be discussed. In some courses, there may be a more formal lecture for the first part of the seminar. Courses will be usually assessed by essays and other coursework such as problem-based exercises, consultation responses, poster presentation etc.

Candidates will also be required to design and write a dissertation of up to 10,000 words on an approved topic in law. The dissertation requires a more independent and less structured form of study than the taught courses. For the dissertation the student will have a supervisor from whom they can expect guidance and support, but the purpose of the dissertation is to allow them to independently design and conduct a piece of research and analysis.

Degree Programme Table:

http://www.star.euclid.ed.ac.uk/ipp/ptllmlawaa1f.htm

This shows which courses are available to choose from and also provides links to the courses themselves and their descriptions and learning outcomes.

Exit awards / progression

Progression to the dissertation and award of the LLM degree will be decided, in line with University Taught Postgraduate Assessment Regulations and other guidance, by a Board of Examiners administered in the School of Law and composed of staff teaching on the degree.

Specifically, the normal conditions for progression and exit awards are as follows:

In order to progress to the masters dissertation candidates must:

• attain at least 80 credits with a pass at masters level or more in each of the separate elements and
• be awarded an aggregate pass at masters level for the 120 credits of study examined at the point of decision for progression and
• have no course mark below 40% in any 40-credit course, and no more than one course mark below 40% in any 20-credit course.

Students who do not meet the criteria for progression but who receive a pass at diploma level or more in 80 credits and an aggregate pass at diploma level for the 120 credits of study are eligible to receive the Diploma.

In order to be awarded a masters degree candidates must:

• have satisfied the requirements for progression, as laid out above, and
• attain 60 credits, by achieving a pass at masters level for the dissertation.

Any student who meets criteria for progression but who then does not pass the dissertation is eligible to receive the Diploma.

Promoting social responsibility, sustainability and equality and diversity

Social responsibility

This LLM programme seeks to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in a complex, multilayered and in parts, fast-changing area of the law which is continuously interacting with issues of policy and public interest. By enabling and encouraging students to become critically aware and to develop autonomous views and arguments on these issues, through innovative techniques and a strong emphasis on reflection and critical analysis, this programme is capable of embedding the University’ core objective of increasing awareness of social responsibility questions in its specific area.

Sustainability and equality and diversity

Teaching and learning methods and strategies

• The range of teaching and learning methods used on the programme, including opportunities for feedback

All courses on the programme are taught in seminar discussion groups.  Class sizes range from 5-25 students and seminars generally last for two hours.  Students are expected to prepare for these seminars in advance by reading the materials prescribed in class hand-outs and by reflecting upon the issues which will be critically discussed in the seminar.  Seminars may include large group discussions, small group work exercises and group and/or individual presentations.  Interaction with course staff, course organisers and fellow students throughout seminars, in which active participation is a prerequisite, ensures that students get ongoing feedback on their contributions to the class and opportunities to reflect on their learning.  The programme also includes a supervised dissertation to which students progress after satisfactorily completing the taught courses.  All students are allocated an individual supervisor with relevant academic experience in their chosen area of study.  Supervision is designed to assist students in identifying and refining an appropriate academic research project, to support their programme of research activity, and to empower them to take lead responsibility for their research.  Students receive ongoing feedback and must reflect on their progress through their one to one supervision meetings.

• Facilities (e.g. library; IT or any other distinctive facilities provided within the School)

The University of Edinburgh library has one of the largest and most important collections in Britain. It has some two million items including the latest publications, key texts, and rare books. The Law School has its own library within Old College, well stocked in most important fields of law. The library of the Europa Institute, housed alongside the Law Library, is an outstanding European Documentation Centre. Within walking distance from the Law School is the National Library of Scotland which also possesses an important legal collection accessible to postgraduate students.

Postgraduate students have access to the extensive computing facilities provided by the Law School. The School maintains a number of computer labs, all of which are available for the exclusive use of postgraduate students. Wireless network access is available in many parts of the Law School including within the Law Library and Lecture Theatres. Postgraduate students have extensive access to online legal research facilities including electronic journals, LexisNexis and Westlaw. Additional computing facilities (including a laptop loan service for flexibility of learning) are available in the University's Main Library and via the University's Computing Services.

The School is proud to boast a brand new Moot Court Room, which is installed with all the latest IT and audio facilities, giving all students who participate in mooting competitions and exercises a flavour of practice in a real court situation.

Assessment methods and strategies

There will be some variation amongst the courses as to the modes of assessment as differing courses in the LLM programme will test different competencies and aptitudes.  In full year courses (40 credits), assessment will normally be by two written essays with the first having a lesser weight. One semester courses (20 credits) are assessed either by one essay that counts for 100% of the grade or by a combination of essay and another form of assessment (such as a take-home exercise, a presentation (both solo and group), an annotated bibliography, a poster, a response to a policy consultation, a moot, or an assessment completed in class).

The School provides targeted, timely and useful feedback to students on their performance in a number of ways:

• through direct comment by staff members in seminars;
• through supervision meetings on the dissertation;
• through written comments provided to students during the course of the academic session on formative assessment, such assessment designed to assist students in improving their essay and examination technique;
• through individual written feedback provided to students on summative coursework such as essays and the dissertation;
• through informal meetings that students can arrange with course organisers, or other members of the teaching team, where additional support or advice on how to improve their learning strategies and practice is required.

The School is always looking to improve the quality and helpfulness of its feedback to students, and takes seriously the comments on feedback provided anonymously in class questionnaires and via the annual Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey.

Student feedback and evaluation is a valued input to curriculum and programme review and development within the school and students are asked to complete evaluation forms on each course they take.  Student representatives are elected at the start of every year and represent the study body throughout the period of the programme of study.  As postgraduate students have access to the resources and facilities of the Institute of Academic Development at the University.  The Institute offers a range of workshops and training sessions including essential communication skills, information technology skills, time management, project management, decision-making and much more.

Career opportunities

The School is dedicated to ensuring all students are academically and socially prepared and are responsible and ethical citizens.  We offer training events and support for all our postgraduate students in both academic and key life skills.  The current employment market is a difficult and competitive one but we aim to ensure our students are independent thinkers with practical skills, giving them an advantage over their peers.

The Careers Service offers expert advice on careers options, searching for careers, CV writing and preparing for interviews.  This support can be tailored for students from the School of Law.

This LLM programme has been conceived as a gateway into a range of employment opportunities and specialised academic work, which may include:

• Legal practice
• Government legal service (at both national and EU levels)
• International civil servants
• Government advisors
• Legal advisors to non-governmental organisations and private companies
• Specialised researchers in academic and think-tank institutions
• Independent consultants

Other items

The School and its research centres actively organise frequent events including seminar and lecture series, conferences, research training, workshops and fairs.  We strongly encourage all our postgraduate students to attend these events as well as getting involved with their organisation.

The Edinburgh Student Law Review is the first of its kind in Scotland.  Managed and written entirely by the School’s student body, it aims to provide a forum for law students to engage in a more analytical approach to the study of law.  Students from all levels and legal disciplines are encouraged to submit articles, case notes and updates which are published in the Review each year.