International Business Regulation
The Big Picture
Changes in the world economy are intensifying the importance of serious work on the role of regulation in national and international business activity. There is no better place for advanced legal training in this area than NYU. The Law School has been at the forefront of the study of national laws and international rules in the age of economic globalization, and is home to some of the world’s leading experts on the multi-jurisdictional and global regulation of trade in goods, services, and capital flows. Our faculty, which include pioneers in the fields of global administrative law, transnational litigation and arbitration, and international organizations, offer distinctive approaches to global regulation and its national implications.
The Program
The full-time program leading to the LL.M. in International Business Regulation, Litigation and Arbitration is for students with a strong future professional interest in financial, business, and commercial law in an international or transnational context. This new master’s degree brings together our outstanding corporate law and international law professors with experts on securities regulation, banking and financial services, global investment flows, economic development and public finance, comparative and international antitrust regulation, international bankruptcy, global and regional anti-corruption law, trade law, environmental and labor regulation, human rights, and other business-related fields.
The program seeks to educate those who aspire to be entrepreneurial leaders of industry or the private bar, as well as counselors to governments, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations. Accordingly, it addresses the strengths and weaknesses of existing forms of public and private regulation, along with proposals for change, and considers litigation and arbitration as integral to national and international regulatory processes. As befits a school that has long been a leader with respect to public service, the program integrates expertise on business law with the diverse social and economic policy issues that policy makers need to consider.
The program’s curriculum is built around a required seminar and a set of core business regulation classes. After satisfying these requirements, students may enroll in related courses of their own interest to further develop their expertise. The degree program provides considerable scope for specialization, but also ensures that students see a wider context so they are prepared to craft innovative solutions and think imaginatively about regulatory issues and challenges in their future careers. The program differs from a typical course of study in corporate law by focusing less on shaping contracts or transactions, and more on the regulatory environment and its institutions, and the implications of deals and other business conduct from a regulatory perspective.
Some students may have had experience working with national regulators or NGOs, many others may have a background with or future orientation toward major law firms. Some may be focused on specific business law issues such as securities regulation and international finance, others on regulated industries such as banking, or on international commercial litigation or foreign investment arbitration. Regardless of their background, master’s students will develop an intellectual toolbox proving useful in a range of professional pursuits, from defending a business against regulatory investigations and resolving commercial disputes to establishing new governmental regulations in the marketplace.
The Master’s Thesis
All students will complete a master’s thesis in conjunction with the required seminar Topics in U.S. and Global Business Regulation, enabling them to cap their LL.M. year working closely with faculty on an intensive, research-driven project. The Law School’s library and various centers provide ripe resources for accomplishing an advanced inquiry. If students are considering moving into the demanding academic profession, the LL.M. year will present a rare opportunity to dedicate time to the completion of a significant work of publishable quality.
Business Classes for the Law Degree
The Law School and the Stern School of Business at NYU have a long history of collaboration, from offering cross-listed courses to both student populations, to the Pollack Center for Law and Business, to inviting business faculty to teach or co-teach law classes. Master’s students in this program may take some business classes of a related nature for credit toward their degree, with appropriate permission.