European Master in Law and Economics (EMLE)

Programme Structure

The programme covers one academic year, for which successful students will receive 60 ECTS points. The courses start at the beginning of October and end in June. The academic year is divided into three terms. The unique international and interdisciplinary character of the EMLE Programme is secured through intensive cooperation between lawyers and economists at no less than seven European Universities and three non-European partners.

Students may study at up to three different universities but cannot spend all terms in the same location. In the first two terms, students can choose among three teaching centers. This leads to an average class size of up to 35 students, given a maximum of 105 admitted students in the entire program. -

- In the first term, courses will be offered at the Universities of Rotterdam, Hamburg, and Barcelona. Classes generally start in the first week of October; exams finish in late December.

- In the second term, students will study at the Universities of Ghent, Hamburg or Rotterdam. Classes generally start in the first week of January; exams finish in late March.

- In the third term, there are more teaching centers and a lower average class size. Courses are offered in Aix-en-Provence, Arizona, Barcelona, Rome, Hamburg, Haifa, Mumbai, and Warsaw. Classes generally start in the first week of April; exams finish in late June.

The master level of the programme is documented through the use of a constitutive method (economic analysis) on a particular subject (law) combined with the fact that this economic analysis is based on a continuous legal comparison.

The first and second terms comprise introductory courses as well as core courses on the major topics in the economic analysis of law, while in the third term, students take specialized courses and write their master thesis.

The programme consists of three kinds of courses. In order to make law students more familiar with basic economic reasoning, some courses are more economic in orientation. Some courses deal with comparative law in order to internationalize the legal background of the students. Most courses deal directly with the economic analysis of the most important branches of private, public, international and European law. The references to law in the courses will be of a comparative kind, due to the all-European character of the programme and the international composition of the audience. Students will be confronted with examples of their own and other legal systems.

The EMLE programme will introduce the possibility of specializations in three tracks:

1) the Public and International (PIL) Track,

2) the Innovation and Intellectual Property (IP) Track, and

3) the Markets, Corporations & Regulators (MCR) Track.

Carrer Opportunities inside and outside academia

Although the EMLE is a scientific Master, graduates’ ability to apply and assess legal rules from different jurisdictions with a view to the economic implications, to identify the legal arrangements necessary to support economic and financial transactions, and to evaluate the economic efficiency of alternative legal solutions, is valuable both inside and outside academia. A significant number of EMLE graduates continue their studies in PhD programs, such as the European Doctorate of Law and Economics (EDLE).

Those seeking employment outside university face a steady demand of legal and/or economic consultants by private firms (especially multinationals dealing with economically oriented areas of law) as well as by governmental, international and supra-national institutions (e.g., the World Bank and the European Commission). This is reflected in the actual career development of EMLE graduates, who are employed in the top layers of the private and the public sector, by law firms, economic advisers, financial and non-financial companies, NGOs as well as by competition authorities, regulatory agencies, central banks, governments and other public policy institutions, not to mention by universities worldwide.

Deadline 15 January 2025

Why EMLE?

In both law and in economics, modern young professionals are not only experts in their fields, but are also able to work in an interdisciplinary fashion. This is often referred to as “transversal skills”. Think of a T, with the vertical axis being your particular area of specialization and the horizontal bar symbolizing your ability to collaborate with people across geographical and cultural borders. Both aspects are equally important.

Transversal skills are the key to success in today’s labour market. Attending the EMLE programme, which has been committed to delivering graduate education at the intersection between law and economics for more than 30 years, will allow you to develop these skills.

Here is why: first, you will learn that laws have economic effects and that economic mechanisms vary with the institutional context, which notably includes the laws of different jurisdictions. In other words, you will learn that the world is more complex than you would have ever thought. Then – and here is the good news – the EMLE will teach you how to make sense of this complexity, not just by studying more law or more economics, but rather by learning how to integrate the two perspectives. And finally, you will learn to cross many other borders than just the one between law and economics. Studying at two or three international universities, and meeting with varying groups of people from some 30 different countries, you will become a true citizen of the world.