International Trade Law and Treaty Negotiation with Professional Skills

The first of its kind, this exciting programme from our highly-rated School of Law equips the next generation of lawyers and civil servants with a unique combination of specialist legal expertise and the practical negotiation skills for a sparkling career in the fast-growing and highly competitive field of international trade.

Economic globalisation and recent world events, including Brexit and trade wars, have thrown a spotlight on the issues, challenges and complexities of international trade and trade negotiation. We offer a specialist LLM programme in this area with career opportunities for skilled and ambitious lawyers with broad and transferable skills to continue to grow.

This programme includes a professional skills course in international trade negotiation to further develop your professional skills. It provides an advanced introduction to twenty first century international trade policy and an understanding of the process and conduct of international trade negotiations. You will be equipped with the essential skills required to negotiate complex trade deals and required to navigate a variety of political and legal issues that are at the forefront of international trade law, such as the UK’s departure from the EU, the US trade war with China, sustainable development, and WTO reforms. At the end of the course, these skills will be put to the test during a ‘mock’ negotiation of an international trade agreement. This offers you an exciting setting to apply the technical legal knowledge you will have acquired during the programme.

Our emphasis on the skills element differentiates our programme from others. At present, the Professional Skills course is delivered by a professional trade negotiator who has experience in both government and private practice, participating in the negotiation of dozens of trade and investment agreements.

This degree is alternatively available with a dissertation option (instead of professional skills) to further develop your academic and research skills.