MSc in Law and Finance Options

This class builds the conceptual foundation required for the economic analysis of corporate financial policy, competitive asset markets and the regulation of both corporations and financial markets. The course's lectures will focus on: rationality, the Coase Theorem, property rights, competitive markets, the market for risk, market failures, asymmetries of information, and aggregation of information.

Students on the Finance course study the financing, valuation and governance of firms. This course is very similar to courses of the same name that are taught on the MBA, but tweaked slightly to ensure they are particularly relevant for MLF students.

This course will cover:

• The valuation of a firm’s assets
• The determinants of a firm’s structure
• Capital Asset Pricing Model
• Pricing of financial options
• Investment and financing decisions
• How financial markets operate
• New issues of securities
• Debt and dividend policy
• Relevance of different financial institutions to the financing of firms
• Corporate restructurings
• Financial distress

The Law and Economics of Corporate Transactions (LECT) course is the interdisciplinary course that acts as the fulcrum for the entire MLF degree. LECT uses the tools of conventional microeconomic theory (the study of the behaviour and decision-making process of individuals, or individual firms) to help students understand how the legal structure determines the value of corporate transactions. LECT brings together students’ knowledge and the analytical techniques they have developed whilst studying the pure finance and pure law courses on the MLF, to create a single integrated “toolkit” for effectively considering corporate transactions. It does so by taking into account their legal, financial and economic issues and implications. LECT is taught in Hilary and Trinity terms.

Hilary Term

• Economic theory of contracting
• Incomplete contracting and uncertainty
• Information costs and adverse selection
• Strategic behaviour
• Agency costs
• Professional ethics
• Hold-up costs

Trinity Term

In the third and final term, students have to apply their studies to five well-known, real-life transactions, which is why LECT is often referred to as the “Deals course”. Students split into groups and use the theoretical materials from LECT and their finance courses, as well as what they have studied in their law electives to analyse the legal, financial, and economic issues raised by the transactions. Each group presents its work on a particular transaction to their classmates, Faculty members, and the practitioners who worked on the transaction; then, the practitioners respond to give their views and explain what happened in the real deal.

The effect of AI on law and regulation grows as AI shapes critical decisions in areas such as finance, criminal justice, employment, healthcare, housing, and online platforms. As generative AI demonstrates, AI both facilitates significant innovation and raises concerns across domains. This option challenges the notion that AI law is merely about AI-specific regulations, such as the AI Act. Fundamentally, it connects AI, which is created and shaped by data, to the regulation of data, and it illustrates that the concerns that AI raises across domains are largely common. This option will take a comparative approach in all seminars.

This option is divided in two parts. The first is a series of seminars that connect AI, which is created and shaped by data, to the regulation of data. It examines data protection law by focusing on the information economy, including domestic and international legislation, case law, regulatory strategies across jurisdictions, and reform proposals. We will engage critically with the fundamentals of data protection across jurisdictions, the impact of AI on these principles, and the rethinking of harm under data protection law in the age of AI. Students will learn (a) data protection law, which increases in importance as data takes over aspects of social and economic life, and (b) what the successes and failures of regulating personal information teach us about regulating AI.

In seminars during the second part, we will engage with case studies highlighting different legal domains affected by AI. We will explore both how AI impacts these different areas of law in similar ways and how these areas, not designed with AI in mind, effectively regulate AI. We will examine interrelated legal questions broader than AI-specific Acts, while also including specific legislation such as the AI Act. Topics will include, for example: discrimination; transparency; measurement; AI-human interactions; and responsibility. Most sessions will include: (a) an introduction to the factual and technological context, (b) a review of legal aspects, and (c) an interactive discussion or exercise analysing how the law does and should apply.

Assessment is by way of a submission.

On 8 October 2021 over 130 countries agreed to reform the international business tax system in the most meaningful way since its foundations were set in the 1920s. This was the culmination of a lengthy process of reform that was by sparked by public anger at the tax planning practices of multinationals, dissatisfaction with the way multinationals’ profit was shared among countries for tax purposes, and concern that competition among states was leading to a race to the bottom. There is little doubt that the system was in desperate need of reform, but only time will tell if the German Finance Minister was justified in claiming that this “agreement which will really change the world”.

This process of reform, and the political and public debates that accompanied it, showed that business taxation is more than a technical area of law with practical significance. It is an area of law that raises economic, political, and justice questions of fundamental importance. These questions have become even more acute at a time of widespread concerns with rising economic inequality, and an increased need for tax revenue post-pandemic.

This course provides a rounded view of business taxation in a global economy. It combines a rigorous analysis of law with an understanding of concepts from economics and other disciplines that are indispensable to engage with these broader economic, political and justice questions. 

Assessment is by way of an examination.

The aim of this option is to (i) introduce students to a conceptual approach to negotiation and mediation (negotiations assisted by a neutral third-party) and to the most important economic, game theoretic, psychological and legal issues and findings regarding the resolution of commercial disputes by means of negotiation and mediation; (ii) develop students’ skills in negotiating and mediating such disputes by engaging in role plays and other practical exercises, highlighting also the intercultural dimension of dispute resolution; and (iii) let students benefit from the experience of seasoned practitioners in the field who report on specific problems that arose during negotiated and/or mediated cases and provide feedback on students’ negotiation and mediation performance. 

By attending the course, students will gain the theoretical insights and practical skills to resolve commercial disputes by way of negotiation and/or mediation. The course will be taught by a combination of lectures, seminars, and tutorials, and will also feature practical workshops involving negotiation and mediation role play exercises. 

Assessment is by way of an examination. 

The course offers an analytical framework and a comparative study of corporate governance and corporate law in major economies. Corporate governance, broadly defined, is the set of legal and non-legal tools that can be used to ensure that companies are run consistently with their purposes. In many jurisdictions, this has traditionally meant making sure that those in charge of making day-to-day and strategic decisions on behalf of the company act in the interests of shareholders. More recently, a ‘multi-stakeholder’ view of corporations has started to become mainstream: these are organizations whose actions affect the welfare not only of shareholders but also of creditors, employees, local communities and society more generally.

While the emphasis in the teaching will be on legal institutions, and corporate law specifically, the course materials will also cover the ways in which corporate culture, market pressures, reputational constraints, and so on, affect corporate governance and corporate law in action.

The course will be comparative, providing students with knowledge about corporate governance and corporate law core features in major jurisdictions and asking why governance regimes in most countries display some common features and why they diverge in other respects. Closer attention will be given to the UK, the US and continental European jurisdictions, but an attempt will be made to include readings covering newly emerged countries such as India, Brazil and others.

This option will not be available in 2025-26.

The insolvency of a company gives rise to a number of fascinating questions.  Why are formal (state-supplied) procedures needed for the treatment of distressed companies?  When should such procedures be triggered, and for whose benefit should they be conducted?  To what extent should they be geared towards the rescue of the company or its business? What rights should those to whom the company is indebted - its creditors - have over the conduct of the proceedings? In what order of priority should their claims be paid? How should the managers of the distressed company be dealt with, in and outside of formal insolvency proceedings?  Where an insolvency has one or more foreign elements (assets or creditors abroad, or liabilities governed by foreign law), in which jurisdiction, and subject to which law, should the debtor’s insolvency be treated?

In this course, students explore these questions in three ways: first, by reading and evaluating theoretical and empirical literature on the purposes and design of corporate insolvency laws in general; second, by a close study of the formal procedures available under English law for the treatment of a distressed corporate debtor, considering their operation in both purely domestic cases and in those with one or more cross-border elements; third, by exploring some of the core features of the insolvency laws of other jurisdictions, with a view to evaluating the procedures available under English law from a comparative and functional perspective.

Students taking the course can thus expect to acquire:

• an advanced understanding of English corporate insolvency law;
• knowledge of some of the core features of the corporate insolvency laws of other jurisdictions,  including US and German law;
• knowledge of the special difficulties that arise in cross-border insolvency cases, and of the core features of the European Insolvency Regulation as well as knowledge of the rules of English law that govern the treatment of cross-border insolvencies in English courts;
• advanced understanding of seminal literature on the purposes and design of corporate insolvency laws, and the ability to draw on this literature to critique the laws studied in the course, or any other corporate insolvency system. 

Many students taking the course intend to embark upon or continue a career in corporate or commercial law, where an advanced understanding of English corporate insolvency law (on which the insolvency laws of many other jurisdictions are modelled) is particularly valuable.  However, the course has also proven to be of interest to students who are interested more generally in understanding the purposes of mandatory corporate law rules, and their impact on the cost and availability of finance.  No prior knowledge of corporate insolvency law is required, nor is it necessary to have studied company law, though the latter is of some advantage.

Assessment is by way of an examination. 

International Economic Law has been taught on the BCL/MJur in Oxford since 2003. The course introduces students to the principles and institutions of international economic law and focuses primarily on the institutions and substantive law of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), including notably the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and its substantive jurisprudence, but the course also considers, in briefer fashion, central key aspects of international investor-State arbitration (IIA).

The course considers the law contained in the main WTO Agreements, including those dealing with goods (GATT), services (GATS), the environment, subsidies, and other WTO agreements that are indispensable for a knowledge of the theory and practice (by governments, corporations, NGOS, and lawyers) of the subject area. In addition to introducing participants to the major legal disciplines under the GATT/WTO and the basic principles and cores concepts of the GATT/WTO (based on in-depth study of the relevant GATT/WTO case law), the course considers the underlying philosophy of free trade and a number of the controversies concerning the future evolution of the WTO and its relationship to globalisation, regionalism, and the attempt by States to achieve other policy objectives (such as protection of the environment). 

WTO dispute settlement and investor-State arbitration have been by far the most widely used – and in many respects most successful – mechanisms of international dispute settlement that have ever existed. The IEL course involves a focus on both mechanisms, but also provides a deeper understanding by situating them within the context of the substantive law which both mechanisms apply. 

Assessment is by way of an examination. 

This course introduces students to the fundamental pillars of International environmental law, and international climate change law, in particular. The 2015 Paris Agreement,  the result of the most significant, high-stakes and high-profile multilateral negotiation in the last decade, reflects considerable innovation, with implications both for international environmental law, as well as for public international law more broadly. This course explores the conceptual architecture, principles, standards and rules of international environmental law, with a particular focus on the international law relating to climate change.

This course is divided into three parts. The first part focuses on the nature, evolution, sources and principles of international environmental law as well as key institutions and actors, tools and techniques, and compliance mechanisms. The second part engages in an in-depth case study of the climate change regime, and the third part is a practical component in multilateral environmental treaty-making.

This option will not be available in 2025-26.

Digital (that is, computer-based) technology is transforming society, and the legal system is no exception. As computers permeate more of our lives, digital environments increasingly become the source of legally significant events. This means that those seeking to study and/or practice law increasingly need to understand the digital context. At the same time, those seeking to study computer science and/or develop software increasingly need to understand potential legal consequences of design choices. This course, jointly offered by the Law Faculty and the Department of Computer Science, will introduce students from both backgrounds to the terrain at the boundaries of their two disciplines. The overarching theme of the course is consequently understanding law as it intersects with computer science.

Such interdisciplinary understanding requires both lawyers and computer scientists to develop an appreciation of the way in which they typically approach problems with very different analytic tools. A key pedagogical strategy for the course is to combine law and computer science students together for significant parts of the material, and in particular, for a number of group work exercises. This will accelerate both groups’ acculturation to each other’s analytic perspectives through learning from each other as well as from faculty.

As offered to law students, the course content will engage with three distinct but complementary sets of questions:

A. The core theme is: How will computer scientists and lawyers of the future need to work together? Do they at present have a common language and a common understanding of concepts such as “rules” or “fairness”? If not, how can such a common approach best be forged?

This is then developed in two auxiliary themes:

2. Digital technology in legal practice: How is digital technology being deployed in key areas of “legal work” such as contracting and dispute resolution? What commercial imperatives, and legal and technological constraints, operate on this deployment? How are they likely to shape its future trajectory?
3. Digital technology and legal questions: How are concepts and analytic methods from computer science pertinent to the application of substantive law? Are there any gaps in existing legal doctrine that will need to be addressed, and if so, how? Do common themes emerge in the challenges that arise and the ways in which they should be addressed?

A number of different colleagues from the Law Faculty and the Department of Computer Science, as well as the OII and legal practice will contribute to the delivery of the course, bringing a wide range of relevant expertise.

Assessment is by way of a submission. 

This course focuses on the law of the internal market, paying particular attention to rules which aim to create a ‘level playing field’ across multiple jurisdictions. The emphasis is on examination of the internal market of the European Union, covering the law of free movement across borders (goods, establishment and services), as well as competence to regulate the internal market, with special reference to the function of harmonisation of laws. 

Such rules exist in relation to internal markets across the globe, including Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Where relevant, reference will also be made to business regulation in these locations so as to highlight similarities and differences in the approach to de-regulation and harmonisation (re-regulation) in the attempt to manage borders.

Assessment is by way of an examination. 

Financial regulation is subject to rapid change, and its optimal content is constantly debated. This course will introduce you to the underlying principles which various forms of financial regulation seek to implement. Students completing this course will be able to understand the regulatory goals of market efficiency, investor protection, the safety and soundness of financial institutions, and the promotion of financial stability, along with the principal regulatory strategies that are employed to try to achieve these objectives in relation to financial markets and institutions.

Assessment is by way of an examination.

Regulation is at the core of how modern states in a range of jurisdictions seek to govern the activities of individual citizens as well as corporate and governmental actors. Broadly defined it includes the use of legal and non-legal techniques to manage social and economic risks. Traditionally regulation is associated with prescriptive law, public agencies and criminal as well as administrative sanctions. But the politics of the shrinking state and deregulation, as well as re-regulation in the context of the climate crisis and public health crises, such as Covid-19, have meant that intrusive and blunt forms of legal regulation have given way at times to facilitative, reflexive and procedural law which seeks to balance public and private interests in regulatory regimes. Enduring policy debates address whether there is actually too much, too little or the wrong type of regulation in different public policy areas.

This course examines what role various forms of law and regulatory strategies play in contemporary regulatory regimes, and how these become increasingly transformed through innovative technologies, including AI and machine learning. It thereby analyses how regulation both by humans and technologies constructs specific relationships between law and society, and thus how legal regulation is involved in mediating conflicts between private and public power.

Assessment is by way of a submission. 

With the growth of international trade has come a growing recognition of the benefits to be obtained through the harmonisation of international trade law. Transnational commercial law consists of that set of rules, from whatever source, which governs international commercial transactions and is common to a number of legal systems. Such commonality is increasingly derived from international instruments of various kinds; such as conventions, EC directives and model laws, and from codifications of international trade usage adopted by contract, as exemplified by the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits published by the International Chamber of Commerce and the Model Arbitration Rules issued by the UN Commission on International Trade Law. Underpinning these are the general principles of commercial law (lex mercatoria) to be extracted from uncodified international trade usage, from standard-term contracts formulated by international organisation and from common principles developed by the courts and legislatures of different jurisdictions.

The first part of the course concentrates on the general framework, policies and problems of transnational commercial law, while in the second part these are examined in the context of specific international trade conventions, model laws and contractual codes, so that the student gains a perception of the way transnational law comes into being and helps to bridge the gap between different legal systems.

The course will be taught by Dr Thomas Krebs (convenor) and Professor Stefan Vogenauer. There will be eight lectures in Michaelmas Term. There will then be a weekly two-hour seminar in Hilary Term. There will also be four tutorials. The lectures and seminars will examine the following main areas: General issues of harmonisation; Recurrent problems in harmonisation through conventions; Harmonisation through specific binding instruments (Vienna Sales Convention); Harmonisation through contract and institutional rules; Harmonisation through model laws; The future development of transnational commercial law.

This option will not be available in 2025-26.