LLM Law
Canterbury, United Kingdom
LLM
DURATION
1 year
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Jan 2026
TUITION FEES
GBP 20,700 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for international | UK: £10,000
Key Summary
You’ll explore how the law influences and responds to challenges expressed in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, such as inequality, climate change, health insecurity and human rights violations.
At the heart of this course is a critical approach: you’ll examine legal rules and institutions in context, and question who they serve, how they shape society, and how they might be reformed.
Whether your interest is in commercial law, environmental law, public international law, human rights, health or criminal justice, this course gives you the tools to think deeply and write persuasively about the most pressing legal issues of our time.
You’ll learn from expert researchers and become part of a community that values justice, curiosity and debate. With the flexibility to specialise and the space to grow, you’ll graduate with the confidence and knowledge to shape law and policy on a local and global scale.
Specialist pathways
You can develop in-depth expertise by studying one or two specialised subject pathways or study for a general Kent LLM with no specialist pathway. Specialist pathways include:
- Law (Human Rights Law) LLM, PDip
- Law (Intellectual Property Law) LLM, PDip
- Law (International Commercial Law) LLM, PDip
- Law (International Environmental Law) LLM, PDip
- Law (International Law) LLM, PDip
- Law (International Law with International Relations) LLM, PDip
- Law (Law and Health) LLM, PDip
- Law (Law and Society) LLM, PDip
Scholarship value
The award covers tuition fees, return airfares and living costs for a one-year taught Master's programme.
Deadline
Deadline for Commonwealth application: - 12 December 2024.
Hold an unconditional offer (with the only outstanding condition, international fee deposit) of a programme of study from the University of Kent - 31 January 2025
Criteria
To be eligible to apply for this scholarship, candidates must:
- Hold an undergraduate degree at UK first-class level equivalent.
- Be a citizen of or have been granted refugee status by one of the eligible Commonwealth countries listed or be a British Protected Person.
- Be a permanent resident in one of the eligible Commonwealth countries listed above.
- To be committed to the University of Kent, you can apply for more than one course and/or to more than one University, but you may only accept one offer of a Shared Scholarship.
- Not have studied or worked for one (academic) year or more in a high-income country.
- Be unable to afford to study in the UK without this scholarship.
- Return to their home country as soon as their period of study is complete. In some circumstances, a student may be permitted to remain in the UK if seeing doctoral study and satisfy certain strict conditions.
- Hold an offer by the deadline for a full-time postgraduate taught degree on one of the eligible courses at the University of Kent:
- MSc Artificial Intelligence
- MSc Infectious Diseases
- MSc Cyber Security
- MA International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
- MSc Applied Actuarial Science
- MSc Conservation Science
- MA English and American Literature
Further details
Commonwealth Shared Scholarships, set up by DFID in 1986, represent a unique partnership between the United Kingdom government and UK Universities.
Funded by the UK Department of International Development (DFID), Commonwealth Shared Scholarships enable talented and motivated individuals to gain the knowledge and skills required for sustainable development. They are aimed at those who could not otherwise afford to study in the UK.
These scholarships are offered under six themes:
- Science and technology for development
- Strengthening health systems and capacity
- Promoting global prosperity
- Strengthening global peace, security and governance
- Strengthening resilience and response to crises - Access, inclusion and opportunity.
How to apply
To be considered for the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship you must:
- Make a formal application for a postgraduate degree at the University of Kent commencing September 2025/26. This can be done online here.
- Complete the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) online application process. For information on how to do that and full details of the application process please go directly to the Commonwealth Scholarships webpages.
- Applications will be considered based on Academic Excellence and a completed application.
- The Commonwealth will accept applications until 12th December 2024 (closing at 16:00 GMT).
The following modules are offered to our current students. This listing is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation.
Stage 1
Compulsory modules currently include the following
- Legal Research and Writing Skills
Optional modules may include the following
- Intellectual Property: Copyright and Breach of Confidence
- International Law on Foreign Investment
- Contemporary Topics in Intellectual Property Law
- Public International Law
- Global Environmental Law
- International Trade Law and the Environment
- International Human Rights Law
- International Criminal Law
- World Trade Organisation (WTO) Law and Practice I
- Policing
- Transnational Criminal Law: Rights and Security
- Climate Change and Renewable Energy Law
- Critical International Migration Law
- International Environmental Law: Legal Foundations
- Commercial Credit
- Privacy and Data Protection Law
- Law and Economy
- Banking Law
- Land Development and Conservation Law
- Intellectual Property and Industrial Practices
- Intellectual Property: Patents and Trade Marks
- Healthcare Law and Ethics
- Reproductive Justice
- Global Health Law, Governance and Ethics
- Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice
- Law and Regulation of Healthcare Practice
Stage 2
Compulsory modules currently include the following
- Dissertation in Law
Expert in law. Ready for change.
This course will deepen your legal knowledge and expertise and provide you with the skills to put it to use. You will be equipped to answer pressing questions such as:
- Why is the law the way it is?
- What social, political and economic impacts does it have?
- Whose interests does it serve?
- How could it be fairer, more inclusive or more effective?
Whether you want to enter legal practice, expand your existing skills and expertise, or pursue research, you’ll graduate ready to take on complex challenges with clarity and purpose.
How you'll study
- Lectures
- Seminars
- Tutorials
- Independent Study
- Group Work
- Workshops
Teaching and assessment
The postgraduate programmes offered within the Law School are usually taught in seminar format. Students in the Diploma and LLM programmes study three modules in each of the autumn and spring terms. The modules are normally assessed by a 4-5,000-word essay. Students undertaking an LLM degree must write a dissertation of 15,000 words.