King Fung China
King Fung China
I wanted something more practical as Hong Kong is a very fast paced working environment. I’d recommend the course to students as you get to learn from leading experts and arbitrators from around the world.
International Dispute Resolution with Professional Skills, LLM
Introduction
LLM International Dispute Resolution with Professional Skills provides a unique research-lead curriculum for top-quality candidates aiming to break into the field of international dispute resolution and maximise their level of expertise.
Learn about alternative methods to resolve commercial disputes outside of the traditional judicial system, and advance your skills and ability to maintain commercial relationships throughout the legal dispute process.
This LLM is designed to serve a wide range of professionals, including those without a law degree.
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
- January or September
- Location of Study
- Aberdeen
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The last 50 years has seen high growth in international commerce. Arbitration, in particular, has always been the engine room of legal development. Commercial stakeholders rely on international law and procedures to provide protection and means of trading successfully. This programme presents you with an opportunity to understand and resolve, with commercial awareness, legal disputes arising from commercial obligations. It offers a comprehensive range of courses that combine theory and practical professional skills in the field of International Dispute Resolution.
Dispute resolution is faster, less adversarial, and more cost-efficient than the traditional litigation process. It’s why organisations and individuals are increasingly choosing to resolve disputes outside of court. Today there is a rapidly growing interest in and use of international dispute settlement procedures, especially in the fields of international commerce, energy and investments. This prestigious, practical and research led LLM degree will give you the right skills and knowledge to offer a very competitive edge in the marketplace.
The LLM International Dispute Resolution with Professional Skills offers students the opportunity to develop key practical skills in arbitration. Students on this programme undertake an intensive summer school course, 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 is proudly awaiting reaccreditation consideration by CIArb with an expected outcome to follow very soon.
Please note a similar programme can be studied online and via our dissertation study route too.
Available Programmes of Study
Please note: Students staring their LLM programme in January write their Dissertation project during the Summer semester.
Duration: 12 months full-time. 24 months part time.
- LLM
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International Dispute Resolution with Professional Skills
Qualification Duration Learning Mode Study Mode Start Month LocationLLM 12 months or 24 months On Campus Learning Full Time or Part Time September Aberdeen MoreLLM 12 months or 24 months On Campus Learning Full Time or Part Time January Aberdeen MoreProgramme Fees
Fee information Fee category Cost EU / International students £27,000 Tuition Fees for 2024/25 Academic Year UK £13,200 Tuition Fees for 2024/25 Academic Year Semester 1
Compulsory Courses
- Critical Legal Thinking and Scholarship (LS551T)
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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 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.
- Getting Started at the University of Aberdeen (PD5506)
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This course, which is prescribed for all taught postgraduate students, is studied entirely online, takes approximately 5-6 hours to complete and can be taken in one sitting, or spread across a number of weeks.
Topics include orientation overview, equality and diversity, health, safety and cyber security and how to make the most of your time at university in relation to careers and employability.
Successful completion of this course will be recorded on your Enhanced Transcript as ‘Achieved’.
Optional Courses
Thereafter at least one course must be selected from LS553T or LS552K), which both run in January, or LS503M International Commercial Litigation, which runs in September.
A fourth 30 credit course may either be chosen from the three courses listed directly above, or from any other LLM Programme (excluding LS501K, distance learning and professional skills courses). Please visit the Course Catalogue for details: Postgraduate Law 2022-2023 - Catalogue of Courses (abdn.ac.uk)
- Applied Issues in International Economic Law (LS553T)
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30 Credit Points
There is limited appreciation given to the study of the state as a policymaker, legislator, and disputing party in the context of international economic law. Yet, the states have become the “investor of first-resort", while participating in an unprecedented surge of international investment disputes and international economic agreements. The course covers how international investment law interacts with the State’s regulatory powers in different economic sectors.
- Comparative Contract Law (LS555K)
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30 Credit Points
International commercial lawyers frequently work on contracts involving parties from different countries. Here, each one of these jurisdictions may offer a different interpretation of the same contractual provisions. This course is aimed to help commercial lawyers understand how different legal traditions offer different viewpoints on key contractual challenges. At the end of the course, students will be able to understand many of the discrepancies and similarities between legal systems, thus honing a fundamental skill for an international commercial lawyer. The course will cover a wide range of European legal systems, as well as transnational contract law mechanisms including the Principles of European Contract Law and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
Semester 2
Compulsory Courses
- 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.
Semester 3
Compulsory Courses
- International Commercial Arbitration (LS5083)
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30 Credit Points
The demand for international commercial arbitration has increased significantly over the last 20 years. Empirical surveys conducted consistently report figures that suggest around 60% of businesses prefer arbitration over other dispute resolution methods.
Seminar topics have been chosen to give students a good knowledge of international commercial arbitration law. The topics covered will be: (1) Arbitration Agreement and Arbitral Jurisdiction (2) The Role of the Seat (3) Applicable Substantive Law (4) The Arbitral Tribunal (5) Arbitral Procedure and Evidence (6) The Arbitral Award.
The course also provides a lecture on the introduction to international commercial arbitration.
Optional Courses
Thereafter at least one course must be selected from LS503M International Commercial Litigation, which runs in September, or LS553T or LS552K, which both run in January.
A fourth 30 credit course may either be chosen from the optional courses list here or from any other LLM Programme (excluding LS501K, distance learning and professional skills courses). Please visit the Course Catalogue for details: Postgraduate Law 2022-2023 - Catalogue of Courses (abdn.ac.uk)
- International Commercial Litigation (LS503M)
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30 Credit Points
This course introduces international commercial litigation, the major means of commercial dispute resolution for many sectors of industry and the default means of dispute resolution against which international arbitration is positioned. The course demonstrates the relevance of a venue’s Private International Law (PIL) to its attractiveness for dispute resolution and provides advanced instruction in the relevant post-Brexit aspects of PIL to parties engaged in litigating international commercial disputes.
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.
Scholarships
Self-funded international students enrolling on Postgraduate Taught (PGT) programmes for January 2025 will receive one of our Aberdeen Global Scholarships, ranging from £3,000 to £8,000, depending on your domicile country. Learn more about these Aberdeen Global Scholarships here.
From September 2025 all eligible self-funded international Postgraduate Masters students 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
Learning methods include lectures, workshops, and seminars, as well as hands-on and practical skills, and advanced writing.
Learning Methods
- E-learning
- Group Projects
- Individual Projects
- Lab Work
- Peer Learning
- Research
- Seminars
- Tutorials
- 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 Dispute Resolution 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, a dynamic and cosmopolitan city with worldwide links in energy, healthcare and international tourism.
Our Centre for Commercial Law 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
The information below is provided as a guide only and does not guarantee entry to the University of Aberdeen.
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 to view country-specific 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 - 5.5; Speaking - 5.5; Writing - 6.0
TOEFL iBT:
OVERALL - 90 with: Listening - 17; Reading - 18; Speaking - 20; Writing - 21
PTE Academic:
OVERALL - 62 with: Listening - 59; Reading - 59; Speaking - 59; Writing - 59
Cambridge English B2 First, C1 Advanced, C2 Proficiency:
OVERALL - 176 with: Listening - 162; Reading - 162; 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
Aberdeen Global Scholarship
Eligible self-funded Postgraduate Taught (PGT) students will receive the Aberdeen Global Scholarship. Explore our Global Scholarships, including eligibility details, on our dedicated pages.
January 2025 September 2025Careers
This programme is ideal for students aiming to work as policy makers, government officials, adjudicators, arbitrators, mediators, judiciary, legal practitioners, researchers and academics, surveyors, construction professionals, and the financial and accounting professions.
Accreditation
This degree holds accreditation from
Our Experts
The University of Aberdeen is renowned for attracting world-class teaching staff, unrivalled in their breadth of knowledge and experience in their specialist subjects. You will have access to first rate teaching from highly respected staff, many with an international profile, including members of the Centre for Commercial Law.
Many of our courses are designed and delivered by practicing experts. We have guest speakers from top law firms as well as national and international organisations.
- Other Expert
- Dr Patricia Zivkovic, The University of Aberdeen
- Programme Coordinator
- Dr Gloria Maria Alvarez, The University of Aberdeen
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.
Get in Touch
Contact Details
- Address
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School of Law
University of Aberdeen
Taylor Building
Aberdeen
AB24 3UB