LLM Employment Law
An LLM Employment Law programme provides extensive insight into the rules and regulations of aspects of employment. Main features of this area of law include recruitment and termination of employment law; the procedures in place to regulate and resolve disputes between an employer and employee, the role of unions and discrimination and the law. This includes acts such as the Equality Act 2010.
An LLM Employment law degree isn’t advantageous to practising lawyers alone; many HR professionals and others working within businesses can find an in-depth knowledge of employment law and its application in the workplace to be beneficial – even essential – in their role.
Core modules
Module choice will vary according to each institution; however, an LLM in this specialist area will tend to cover subjects such as:
- Discrimination and the law
- (International) dispute resolution
- Alternative dispute resolution
- EU employment law
- Recruitment and termination law
- Labour law
- Employment law in practice
- Immigration law
- EU competition law
- Bribery and corruption.
Course structure
Most employment law programmes follow a ‘taught’ programme format, which means you will have to complete a number of credits by attending lectures and submitting essays and a dissertation. Some programmes may also involve written examinations or other forms of assessment.
There are a small number of UK institutions that run LLM Employment Law programmes, such as LSE, Kingston University and Middlesex University. Northumbria University runs an LLM Employment Law in Practice; LSE has an LLM Labour Law course. If you are unable to commit to a full-time course, there are part-time courses with the University of East Anglia and the University of West London; University of Leicester also offers an online course for this specialist subject.
Entry requirements for LLM Employment Law
A minimum of a 2:2 law degree (2:1 in some cases) or the equivalent is necessary for an LLM Employment Law programme in the UK. Many institutions will also accept applications from non-law graduates and will assess each individual application. Some institutions will require that non-law graduates complete a short introductory course, such as Northumbria University.