Lorna Hewitt
International Commercial Law with Professional Skills, LLM
Introduction
Study a diverse range of areas surrounding the discipline of International Commercial Law with our highly popular postgraduate degree by combining theory and practical skills. Gain an in-depth understanding of the subject and enhance your career prospects by delving into topics such as contract law, company law, corporate finance and governance, tax law, international sales and international commercial dispute resolution, and also develop professional skills in arbitration.
This programme is also available to study via our Dissertation study route.
Study Information
Study Options
- Learning Mode
- On Campus Learning
- Degree Qualification
- LLM
- Duration
- 12 months or 24 months
- Study Mode
- Full Time or Part Time
- Start Month
- September or January
Studying International Commercial Law at the University of Aberdeen will give you the opportunity to study a diverse number of exciting topics under the guidance of our world-class teaching staff. Our law school courses are taught by world-class experts who regularly provide consultancy and policy work at international level. This particular programme was designed with the assistance of external experts, including authors of international agreements as well as our internal staff at the University. With this collaborative input, you will gain valuable insights into international commercial law and will advance your understanding of the subject. The programme has been carefully coordinated to align with the competencies required for today’s international job market. The University of Aberdeen is known for attracting world-class teaching staff with international experience in their specialist subjects. In contrast to the LLM International Commercial Law with Dissertation, the LLM International Commercial Law with Professional Skills offers students the opportunity to develop key practical skills in arbitration. Students on this programme undertake an intensive summer school programme, followed by a simulated practical exercise and submission of an extended piece of writing. As well as first rate teaching from our academic staff, you will be taught by international arbitrators and practitioners of the highest repute.
The School has Recognised Course Provider (RCP) status from the prestigious Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) in connection with this programme. Students who successfully complete this programme are thus exempt from some or all of the academic requirements for Membership of the CIArb.
Available Programmes of Study
Duration: 12 months full-time. 24 months part time.
- LLM
-
International Commercial Law with Professional Skills
Qualification Duration Learning Mode Study Mode Start MonthLLM 12 months On Campus Learning Full Time January MoreLLM 12 months or 24 months On Campus Learning Full Time or Part Time September MoreProgramme Fees
Fee information Fee category Cost EU / International students £26,250 Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year UK £13,200 Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year Graduates of the University of Aberdeen are eligible for the Alumni Postgraduate Scholarship, which reduces the tuition fee to £7,000, in line with the current tuition fee loan amount offered by the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS). Please see the following for full terms and conditions: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/funding/653 Semester 1
Information for part-time students: This route will run over two years minimum. Candidates can take up to 120 credit points in an academic year. LS501T and PD5006 must be taken in Year 1, and LS5905 must be taken in Year 2. Candidates must take either of the following: LS5083 or LS552Z. These can be taken in Year 1 or Year 2. Candidates must take a remaining 90 credit points. At least 60 credit points must be obtained from the courses listed in the optional sections of semesters 1 and 2. The remaining credit points may be obtained from any LLM 30 credit on campus course
Compulsory Courses
For LS5905, students must take either LS5083 International Commercial Arbitration (30 credit points) or LS555L International Investment Law and Energy Arbitration (30 credit points) as a pre-requisite.
For LS594F taking LS555K Comparative Contract Law (30 credit points) is recommended.
- Getting Started at the University of Aberdeen (PD5006)
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This course, which is prescribed for all taught postgraduate students, is studied entirely online, is studied entirely online, takes approximately 2-3 hours to complete and can be taken in one sitting, or spread across the first 4 weeks of term.
Topics include University orientation overview, equality & diversity, MySkills, health, safety and cyber security, and academic integrity.
Successful completion of this course will be recorded on your Transcript as ‘Achieved’.
- Critical Legal Thinking and Scholarship (LS501T)
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This course provides students from diverse legal and educational backgrounds with a common understanding of the core research, analytical, and writing skills which will be required for LLM-Taught courses. The course is delivered as a series of five interactive lectures with two individual assessments designed to encourage critical thinking and provide opportunities for early feedback. It also incorporates a library workshop to provide students with hands-on experience with the resources available for course and dissertation work.
- International Commercial Arbitration (LS5083)
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30 Credit Points
The course is designed to offer in-depth theoretical insights and practical knowledge essential for navigating the field of international commercial arbitration.
The seminar topics have been selected to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of international commercial arbitration law. The topics include:
- Arbitration Agreement and Arbitral Jurisdiction
- The Role of the Seat
- Applicable Substantive Law
- The Arbitral Tribunal
- Arbitral Procedure and Evidence
- The Arbitral Award
Additionally, the course features a podcast introducing the fundamentals of international commercial arbitration.
Optional Courses
In addition to the above, candidates must take courses to the value of 120 credit points. At least 30 credit points must be obtained from the courses listed below. The remaining credit points may be obtained from any LLM 30 credit on campus course:
- Privacy and Data Protection Law (LS504B)
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30 Credit Points
The course aims to introduce students to the core aspects of privacy and data protection law, exploring its international, European, and national dimension.
The course aims to introduce students to the core aspects of privacy and data protection law, exploring its international, European, and national dimension.
The course addresses, in particular, the role of data privacy regulation in the digital environment, critically discussing key global challenges, such as: international data transfers; artificial intelligence and its impact on data subject’s rights; the balance between the right to data protection and other fundamental freedoms (e.g. freedom of expression).
- International Tax Law and Policy (LS504C)
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30 Credit Points
The course will examine the law and principles of cross-border taxation. It will cover core subjects on international tax law, including the concepts of source and residence taxation, double tax conventions, allocation of taxing rights, transfer pricing and thin capitalisation rules, and international tax avoidance (schemes and prevention).
Attention will be paid to topical issues around international taxation and the efforts being made to modernise the international tax system. This includes an examination of the tax challenges of the digital economy and the solutions being introduced by the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.
The course content fulfills the core requirements of Module 1 of the ADIT (Advanced Diploma in International Tax) qualification offered by the Chartered Institute of Taxation. The course is also essential for those aiming to practise tax in an international context, either as academics, government officials, or general tax advisors.
The course will be taught from a legal and policy perspective. No prior knowledge of tax is required, but students should be willing to engage with the tax literature and tax affairs.
- Corporate Finance Law (LS504H)
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30 Credit Points
This course will explore issues within the law of corporate finance, with reference to different legal systems. It will provide students with a wider and deeper understanding of various debt and equity finance issues that are crucial to the law of corporate finance.
- International Commercial Arbitration (LS5083)
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30 Credit Points
The course is designed to offer in-depth theoretical insights and practical knowledge essential for navigating the field of international commercial arbitration.
The seminar topics have been selected to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of international commercial arbitration law. The topics include:
- Arbitration Agreement and Arbitral Jurisdiction
- The Role of the Seat
- Applicable Substantive Law
- The Arbitral Tribunal
- Arbitral Procedure and Evidence
- The Arbitral Award
Additionally, the course features a podcast introducing the fundamentals of international commercial arbitration.
- International Trade and Finance Law (LS508A)
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30 Credit Points
This course considers issues relating to international trade and finance law and addresses the legal and commercial aspects of export-import transactions. It covers trade risks and risk assessment, the law and practice relating to international sale of goods, carriage of goods and insurance matters, international trade finance, digitalisation of international trade and international commercial dispute resolution.
Semester 2
Compulsory Courses
- International Investment Law and Energy Arbitration (LS555L)
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30 Credit Points
The complex interaction between investment protection and the sovereign right of states to regulate has been most acute in the energy sector. On the one hand, investors require strong guarantees that states will respect the “rules of the game” that constitute the basis of their investments. On the other, states can be tempted to interfere with foreign energy investments because of their strategic and social importance. This course aims to analyse if existing investment disciplines and international investment protection framework, are adapted to the specific regulatory risks that investors face in the energy landscape of the 21st Century and how best to avoid disputes and manage them.
Optional Courses
In addition to the above, candidates must take courses to the value of 120 credit points. At least 30 credit points must be obtained from the courses listed below. The remaining credit points may be obtained from any LLM 30 credit on campus course:
- Commercial Tax Law and Policy (LS552N)
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30 Credit Points
Tax law is an integral aspect of all international commercial activities; it is crucial for commercial lawyers to have an understanding of tax law even if they are not tax lawyers. This course is a tax law course for general commercial lawyers, providing a gentle introduction to the varieties of tax laws and policies. The course enables a general commercial lawyer to understand tax law and policy discussions, both as public policy concerns and as issues related to clients' commercial matters. The course covers the basics of tax models and introduces a variety of tax law systems, such as income tax, property tax, sales tax and VAT taxes. The course also explains how tax policy can affect corporate and commercial interests, such as the role of tax law in environmental protection, in energy resource stewardship, or in corporate social responsibility. In conclusion, the course is designed for general commercial lawyers to increase their professional skills and legal knowledge related to commercial tax law and policy.
- Comparative Contract Law (LS555K)
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30 Credit Points
This course is aimed to help commercial lawyers working in transnational settings to understand how different legal traditions offer different viewpoints on key contractual challenges that emerge in all commercial contracts: how agreements are formed, interpreted and enforced; what remedies are available to aggrieved parties; under what circumstances can parties avoid liability. Thus, national contract laws will be seen as variations on a theme. The course will cover the main rules and doctrines of a range of legal systems, as well as transnational contract law mechanisms
- International Investment Law and Energy Arbitration (LS555L)
-
30 Credit Points
The complex interaction between investment protection and the sovereign right of states to regulate has been most acute in the energy sector. On the one hand, investors require strong guarantees that states will respect the “rules of the game” that constitute the basis of their investments. On the other, states can be tempted to interfere with foreign energy investments because of their strategic and social importance. This course aims to analyse if existing investment disciplines and international investment protection framework, are adapted to the specific regulatory risks that investors face in the energy landscape of the 21st Century and how best to avoid disputes and manage them.
- Corporate Governance (LS5582)
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30 Credit Points
This course will discuss the trajectory of the development of corporate governance over the past three decades, especially in the UK and the US, with a view to understanding the extent to which underlying theoretical assumptions and policy decisions impact legislative, regulatory and self-regulatory arrangements as well as reform options. Students will gain an understanding of why the company as a legal entity has the shape and form that it does; why certain actors are regarded as internal to corporate governance arrangements and others external; and why ongoing (and sometimes apparently futile) reform efforts take the form that they do.
Semester 3
Compulsory Courses
Students can select one of the following Professional Skills courses: LS5905 Professional Arbitration Skills (60 credit points) (For this professional skills course, students must take either LS5083 International Commercial Arbitration (30 credit points) or LS555L International Investment Law and Energy Arbitration (30 credit points) as a pre-requisite) Or LS594F Professional Skills: Commercial Contract Negotiation (60 credit points) (For this professional skills course LS555K Comparative Contract Law (30 credit points) is recommended)
- Professional Arbitration Skills (LS5905)
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60 Credit Points
This course is taught over three weeks at the end of May and beginning of June each year. It is highly practical and interactive, involving group discussion and debate, drafting, role play and presentations. Students are taken through the international arbitration process from drafting the arbitration clause, to jurisdiction, preliminary proceedings, the hearing, the award (judgement) and enforcing and challenging the award. Practitioners in international arbitration deliver majority of the tuition. There is no exam, assessment is by presentation, preparing written arguments and award (arbitral judgement) writing. Successful completion of the course can lead to exemption from the Membership examinations of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
- Professional Skills: Commercial Contract Negotiation (LS594F)
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60 Credit Points
This professional skills course equips students with essential practical skills for successfully negotiating commercial contracts. The knowledge and abilities gained are ideal for positions in law firms, companies, businesses, and industry associations involved in commercial transactions. This intensive and interactive course is taught over two weeks, following a preparatory week in the summer.
Programme Fees
Fee information Fee category Cost EU / International students £26,250 Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year UK £13,200 Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year Graduates of the University of Aberdeen are eligible for the Alumni Postgraduate Scholarship, which reduces the tuition fee to £7,000, in line with the current tuition fee loan amount offered by the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS). Please see the following for full terms and conditions: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/funding/653
We will endeavour to make all course options available. However, these may be subject to change - see our Student Terms and Conditions page.
Fee Information
Additional Fee Information
- Fees for individual programmes can be viewed in the Programmes section above.
- In exceptional circumstances there may be additional fees associated with specialist courses, for example field trips. Any additional fees for a course can be found in our Catalogue of Courses.
- For more information about tuition fees for this programme, including payment plans and our refund policy, please visit our Tuition Fees page.
Funding Opportunities
The SFC Postgraduate tuition fee scholarship may be available for those classified as Home/EU fee status students for this programme. Visit the scholarship page for more information.
Scholarships
All eligible self-funded international Postgraduate Masters students starting in September 2025 will receive an £8,000 scholarship. Learn more about this Aberdeen Global Scholarship here.
To see our full range of scholarships, visit our Funding Database.
How You'll Study
Using experiential teaching techniques, the University Law School aims to sharpen your practical and professional skills that will enable you to demonstrate your value to potential employers. Teaching is organised on a modular basis with the professional skills module delivered through an intensive summer school.
Learning Methods
- Group Projects
- Lectures
- Seminars
- Workshops
Assessment Methods
Courses are assessed through essays, presentations, role play, group work and project work. The variety of assessments in the programme ensures that students apply theory to practical situations in order to become expert at being able to analyse and reason issues thoroughly.
The Professional Skills module is assessed through a combination of attendance and participation in classes, preparatory work, a simulated practical exercise and submission of a final piece of extended writing.
Why Study International Commercial Law with Professional Skills?
A foundation discipline of the University in 1495, today our Law School is considered one of the UK’s elite training grounds for lawyers - and there’s no substitute for experience.
There are over 40 nationalities within the School of Law community, so you will benefit from the experiences of international students from all over the world.
Students choose to study Law at Aberdeen because of our reputation for academic excellence and unrivalled student experience. At Aberdeen, you will:
- Gain an advanced understanding of commercial law within an international context, enabling you to apply for jobs around the world as an adviser and consultant
- Benefit from being taught by an internationally renowned teaching staff and authors of major international agreements
- Have the opportunity to study the full spectrum of international commercial law across wide ranging markets. We are located in Aberdeen, Europe's energy capital, a world cosmopolitan dynamic city with worldwide links in energy, healthcare and international tourism
The Centre for Commercial of the Law School fosters research excellence in commercial law and offers unique research activities by serving as a dynamic hub for law academics, legal practitioners, those working in related professions, industry representatives, activists and policymakers, providing opportunities for synergy and rich engagement.
Lecturers regularly provide consultancy, policy work at international level and publish in The International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition, Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA, Law International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Modern Law Review and many other publications.
What Our Students Say
Entry Requirements
Qualifications
The information below is provided as a guide only and does not guarantee entry to the University of Aberdeen.
Normally a 2:1 honours degree in Law (or another related discipline) or equivalent. Relevant practical experience in the field of commercial law will also be beneficial.
Please enter your country or territory to view relevant entry requirements.
English Language Requirements
To study for a Postgraduate Taught degree at the University of Aberdeen it is essential that you can speak, understand, read, and write English fluently. The minimum requirements for this degree are as follows:
IELTS Academic:
OVERALL - 6.5 with: Listening - 5.5; Reading - 6.0; Speaking - 5.5; Writing - 6.0
TOEFL iBT:
OVERALL - 90 with: Listening - 17; Reading - 21; Speaking - 20; Writing - 21
PTE Academic:
OVERALL - 62 with: Listening - 59; Reading - 59; Speaking - 59; Writing - 59
Cambridge English B2 First, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency:
OVERALL - 176 with: Listening - 162; Reading - 169; Speaking - 162; Writing - 169
Read more about specific English Language requirements here.
Document Requirements
You will be required to supply the following documentation with your application as proof you meet the entry requirements of this degree programme. If you have not yet completed your current programme of study, then you can still apply and you can provide your Degree Certificate at a later date.
- Degree Transcript
- a full transcript showing all the subjects you studied and the marks you have achieved in your degree(s) (original & official English translation)
- Personal Statement
- a detailed personal statement explaining your motivation for this particular programme
- Reference
- a reference letter from your university discussing your academic ability. If you have been out of education for a long time you may wish to use your current or most recent employer, or another professional person
Aberdeen Global Scholarship
Eligible self-funded Postgraduate Taught (PGT) students will receive the Aberdeen Global Scholarship. Eligibility details and further information are available on our dedicated page.
Aberdeen Global ScholarshipCareers
Studying International Commercial Law at Aberdeen will prepare you for a range of career options, such as commercial lawyer, commercial legal advisor, commercial litigator or arbitrator, or academic.
We have a very active and supportive Careers and Employability Service, offering support such as mentoring and preparing for interviews, among others. Find out more about the Careers and Employability Service here
Accreditation
This degree holds accreditation from
What our Alumni Say
Chirat Keawchaum
Our Experts
You will be taught by and have access to a number of experts, many of whom are internationally renowned within their respective fields. These will include members of the Centre for Commercial Law.
- Programme Coordinator
- Qiang Cai
- Other Expert
- Burcu Yuksel
Information About Staff Changes
You will be taught by a range of experts including professors, lecturers, teaching fellows and postgraduate tutors. However, these may be subject to change - see our Student Terms and Conditions page.
Facilities
Taylor Library
The School of Law has its own dedicated law library, Taylor Library, which is located within the Law School building, offering access to the Law collection, Official Publications and the European Documentation Centre.
Get in Touch
Contact Details
- Address
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School of Law
University of Aberdeen
Taylor Building
Aberdeen
AB24 3UB