The specialized LLM in International Business Regulation, Litigation and Arbitration is designed for US and foreign-trained lawyers with interests in financial, business, and commercial law in a transnational context. Those who aspire to be entrepreneurial leaders of industry or the private bar, or advisers to governments, international organizations or NGOs, study with some of the world’s leading experts on the multi-jurisdictional and global regulation of trade in goods, services, and capital flows. Through intensive coursework, students develop an intellectual toolbox for future careers in an age of economic globalization.
This full-time program trains students to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of existing forms of public and private regulation, and to utilize litigation and arbitration as enforcement tools or as strategies to produce changes in the law. Unlike a course of study in corporate law, focus is given not only to shaping contracts and transactions, but also to solving disputes that arise in a transnational setting. Outstanding international law and business law professors are joined by faculty who teach securities regulation, banking and financial services, transnational litigation, international commercial and foreign investment arbitration, comparative and international antitrust regulation, international bankruptcy, trade law, civil procedure, and business-related subjects. Professors’ expertise in these areas is integrated with the diverse social and economic issues that policy makers and others consider.
The Curriculum and Master’s Thesis
The curriculum is built around a year-long required class, entitled International Business Transactions, and a core curriculum, which focuses on business law as well as transnational litigation and international arbitration. All students must complete a master’s thesis as part of the required class, enabling them to cap their year working closely with faculty on an intensive, research-driven project.
Other than the required class, thesis and core curriculum, students may select from the list of related elective courses to further develop their interests and expertise. The degree program provides considerable scope for specialization, but also ensures that students see a wider context so as to allow them to be prepared to craft innovative solutions and think imaginatively about issues and challenges arising in an international business context.
The Law School’s library and various centers, such as the Center for Transnational Litigation, Arbitration and Commercial Law, provide abundant resources for accomplishing advanced inquiries. Students will also benefit from the presence of scholars-in-residence at the Center for Transnational Litigation, Arbitration and Commercial Law; each scholar will spend one month at NYU School of Law to conduct independent research in the specific areas on which the Center is focusing, to meet with students in the LLM in International Business Regulation, Litigation and Arbitration, and to give a public lecture on a topic of the scholar's choosing.
Focus on Courses
The Law School and the NYU Stern School of Business have a long history of collaboration. This relationship includes cross-listed courses open to both student populations, opportunities to participate in the activities of the Pollack Center for Law and Business, and invitations to business faculty to teach or co-teach classes in the Law School. Also, master’s students in this program may take some business school classes of a related nature for credit toward their degree, with appropriate permission.
Many Law School classes in public and private law focus on the transactions, contracts and deals that shape a lawyer’s practice in a global context. Some of the courses offered this year that follow this approach are:
- Conflict of Laws
- Commercial Sales Law: Domestic and International
- International Litigation and Arbitration
- Arbitration and the CISG
- International Business Transactions
- International Investment Law & Arbitration
- Introduction to US Civil Procedure
- Investment Arbitration Law, Practice and Written Advocacy Simulation
- Investment Treaty Arbitration
- Oral Advocacy in International Investment and Commercial Arbitration Seminar