 Excellent way. Good morning and welcome everyone. Thanks so much for joining this first webinar which the Law School hosts about the MA and LLM program. It's very good to meet you and even before we begin I'd like to encourage you to ask questions during my presentation. So if anything comes up don't hesitate. We have about an hour at our disposal so there will be ample time to return to the slides. My name is Martin Lau. I'm the postgraduate taught programs convener. That means that I am in charge of the running of the MA and the LLM program and I work with two more colleagues the LLM and the MA tutor. So the purpose of today is to give you an overview of source of our LLM and our MA programs to give you an introduction to the Law School what makes us unique strong interesting and attractive to you as potential students here and to give you a bit more detailed information about the content of the LLM program scholarships and so on. There will be time also at the end of the presentation for questions and I will of course aim to answer all of them. So we have a presentation just to give you a trigger warning. It has about 21 slides but I hope you find them interesting. So let's start with source. The source stands for the School of Oriental and African Studies. Then we well established a university. We waited our hundredth anniversary about five or six years ago. Source started really as a training institution for civil servants for the context of the British empire but really has now totally transformed into an institution which studies in our case the School of Law of course the legal systems of Asian Africa from a critical and theoretically advanced combination. So source itself has more than 100 graded programs 400 degree combinations. It is our library is one of five national research libraries in the UK. We have a weapons library for South Asian law and an obligation to actually collect and maintain library sources on South Asian law just to give you an example. Source of course also very well known for its teaching of non-European languages. I myself actually was a student at source in the 1980s and attended a course on Odu language which I put to good use because quite recently I spent two years in Lahore as the Dean of the Law School at LAMPS. We are very international. You will see this when you join us on campus. It is an incredibly international atmosphere and range of staff and students. About 50% of our students are from outside the UK and that also applies to the LLM program. We have the largest concentration of staff specializing in the global south. Really I think in that sense we are a global leader. I don't think there is any other university which actually has a higher number of regional specialists and that I think also applies to the law school but I say a little bit more about this later. So let's move to the school of law. The school of law actually celebrates 50th anniversary, about 10 years ago. The law school started off as a specialist department focusing largely on non-European law. So we had specialists in Islamic law, in Hindu law, Chinese law and gradually this was supplemented by experts on English law. We started teaching the English qualifying law degree, the LAB, in the mid 1970s. But throughout our existence at the law school, we've really been known for our research and strength in the legal systems of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. And of course as I will say, explain later, this starting point of regional expertise now of course is combined with subject, specialism and if you see the different specialist areas which you can study in the LLM a little bit later. So the slide here mentions language options and this is perhaps we will take this up again a bit later. But as I said earlier, source is also well known for the range of non-European languages and you can actually study a language as part of your core LLM program or you can study a language outside the core program in the language center. I'd say a little bit more about employment opportunities later, but yes, you find LLM graduates really globally in magic circle law firms. Many of our graduates actually good to work for the NGOs, UN, International Multicultural Corporation, civil service. Some continue to do PhDs. So two of my students who attended my course on environmental law later on actually pursued PhDs under my supervision, one on public decision in India and the other one on legal remedies against oil pollution and oil spills in Nigeria. So this is kind of here some of the things you can can do. So I already mentioned how we started off with an institution to train British civil servants many, many years ago and we are now the world's leading institution for post-colonial studies. So in that sense, we are still connected to this past, but of course have moved on greatly. The law school itself and our LLM program, I think, is yes, very well known globally and internationally. So it certainly has a proper good name recognition. Let me move forward. So what are our our interesting and perhaps unique aspects? One important aspect is quite the basic one, but I think quite important to students. We have an excellent staff student ratio. So currently we have about 30 colleagues teaching on the LLM program and we aim to limit the total number of LLM and MA students to about 150. So you can make your own calculations and excellent staff student ratio. We're constantly working on our programs. So we constantly add and also we move modules. Modules is the term we use for courses. So new modules are constantly being added, really reflecting research interests, research expertise of colleagues, and of course, new colleagues joining the law school also bring with them kind of new areas of teaching expertise, which is translated into new modules. We have a number of student exchange programs in the US, China, Singapore, India. However, I have to add to this that actually for an LLM student in a one year program, it's not possible to actually participate in an exchange program. But yes, you certainly benefit from this in the sense that we have a number of study abroad students from other universities, and they quite often actually attend LLM courses. So very indirectly, you also get to know about our exchange program. Our strength, of course, is our research and all our teaching on the LLM is really research led. So you benefit from being taught by research active, active academics. What do they research? Well, I've kind of summarized our kind of principle research strength in the law school. The last one on the list Islamic law really goes directly back to our core expertise six years ago, but we have added to these core expertise or areas of core expertise. So we have interest in the relationship to law colonialism. And the way colonialism actually has marked and to some extent determined the legal cultures and systems in the global south. We have a very strong cluster of expertise in international humanitarian law and international criminal law. We study the areas of human rights conflict and the environment, globalization, governance and transition, development and pluralism and especially legal pluralism and also international commercial law. We have a very strong cause in international commercial arbitration. And yeah, I think that our research expertise translates very directly in a highly specialized and very advanced LLM specialisms and LLM modules. I'm just looking, no one has actually asked any question as yet, but I'm just looking at excellent. So our focus on research and research lab teaching is also reflected in a number of research centers inside the School of Law. So we have a law environment and development center, which for instance, and that might be of interest to especially you as prospective students has a regular evening, weekly seminar where academics, practitioners actually present their present papers on on recent cases or developments in environmental law and international environmental law. We have the Center for Islamic and Middle Eastern Law. I actually used to be the director of the Center. We have the Center for Law and Conflict, the Center of East Asian Law, which in fact, apologies, has now actually changed its name to Center of Asian Law. We have the Center for Ethnic Minority Studies, Center for the Study of Colonialism, Empire and International Law is a very, very active center and also has a number of events and activities which are open to students and the Southeast Asian Legal Studies group. I'm just glancing at the screen. So research culture. We are one of the top 20 law schools in the UK for research culture. We are just approaching the next web. We publish a number of journals. So I'm the editor of the Yearbook of Islamic and Eastern Law. We have the Journal of African Law and the Law Environment Development Journal. We co-edit the Journal of Comparative Law, the London Review of International Law, the new criminal law review. And in fact, our students also edit a source law journal, which is based on the US model of high quality student edited university law journals. I'm just looking at a question from Rwanda. My core question is regarding degree choice guidance. I'm interested in the gender dimensions of transitional justice and nation building. Does the LLM and law and gender allow for flexibility in this regard or should I go for the LLM and human rights conflict and justice? So this is a question on modules and specialisms. So I'm going to answer this in a short while when we actually get to the slide which goes through the specialisms. Okay, yeah, I have an engagement culture. I called it on my slide when I was writing it a few days ago. So we have an organization called Banyan. And that consists of postgraduate students, LLM, MA, PhD, and offers kind of advocacy work and networks, poor bono to offer legal and policy research. And in fact, we have an LLM module, which actually was inspired by the human rights clinic, where students work actively with various NGOs as part of the module and actually do already in some ways kind of intern and gain practical experience as part of the LLM program. Our staff, staff is at so as a term used for academics. So our research does have real life impact, because we work our work influences international politics, governmental debate, legal practice, public understanding of social and legal issues. So all of us actually work on and off of course, time permitting with civil society organizations to give you an example for myself. So I quite frequently act as an expert witness on Indian or Pakistani law in asylum cases, but also in extradition and deportation cases. I've worked for different on justice sector reform in Somalia. I spent a couple of years in Afghanistan working for the EU. And of course, would always kind of bring these experiences and knowledge back to source and back into my teaching and research. So we've kind of listed a few organizations we our our staff has worked with. I'm just glancing at the time and optimistically, I thought this presentation would only take 15 minutes, we are already 20 minutes into it. So I won't actually read out this list and you can refer to it in your time a little bit later. Famous alumni here again, I'm not going to go through them. So post graduate taught programs, this is the generic term for our LLM and MA programs. You have over 60 module options, including Islamic finance, law and development, climate change law, feminist legal theory, law of armed conflict, ADR, arbitration. And you also have internationally focused courses on criminal law, trade law, environmental law, human rights, refugee law, comparative law. Now, I could go to the list of modules, but I'm not going to do this now during the presentation, but would invite you if you wanted to kind of get a clearer idea of the range of modules or courses on offer, please visit the website, or just Google source LLM modules. And you find the whole list, it's really too long to actually go go through now. So the LLM is reserved for applicants who have a law degree, and who want to build on this law degree to add specialization, expertise and also employability, because an LLM is a significant investment of time and of money. And whilst, of course, all of you will be motivated by an interest for research and studying, you without doubt also want to know that this LLM will actually enhance your employability. And I think looking at the past, which is I think always the best indicator of what is going to happen in the future, it's quite clear that our LLM graduates have excellent employability. I mentioned right in the beginning of the presentation, you know, LLM source LLM students working in so-called magic circle firms. So these are international law firms with a global reach. But in number of our LLM students also work for international organizations, the UN, for instance, and international NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and so on. And if you have further questions on employability, please don't hesitate to ask them. But I think it's good to know that the source LLM actually is also a excellent qualification to get into the next level of seniority and jobs. The requirement where we have quite a strict requirement, so we want to maintain the overall quality of the program. So our minimum entry requirement is a two one or equivalent. It is possible to make exceptions. So a special case can be made. But it has to be a very convincing case. The structure of the LLM program, it consists of four modules taught over the span of two terms. Starting at the end of September, the teaching finishes in the beginning, end of March, beginning of April. The third term is used for revision and exams. And the summer period is then used to complete a 15,000 word dissertation. And this dissertation actually, the work on the dissertation actually starts already from the very beginning of your entry into SOAS and into the law school. So we have a series of weekly seminars to support dissertation, to support students for their dissertations from research skills, mainly research skills in the first term to a series of workshops on research methodology, and also more practical advice on how to structure a dissertation, how to improve your legal and analytical writing. And this year, for the very first time, we are organizing a one day MA LLM colloquium on the 19th of June. This is a whole day event, which starts off with a keynote address, given by Professor David Lloyd, who is going to look at Island postcolonial theory and Brexit, and will be followed by a colleague of ours, Dr. Samia Barrow, who is kind of offering her own reflections on this topic. And the colloquium then will allow students to present their ideas and structures and approaches to their various dissertation topics. And yeah, I think it's going to be an interesting event, which is modeled on the existing PhD colloquium. So we're trying to have a similar approach for our dissertations. We have seven specialisms. And of course, before I actually talk you through the specialisms, I also to mention, we also have a general LLM. So if you don't want to specialize or your range of interest is such that actually, you can fit it into just one specialism, then I would really recommend you just you do the LLM Masters of Laws, which gives you, yes, almost limitless flexibility in terms of combinations of options. We then have the LLM and law agenda. I'm starting from number eight in LLM and international law, Islamic law, international commercial and economic law, law development and globalization in LLM, specialism in human rights, conflict and justice, and lastly in LLM and environmental law and sustainable development. Now, what makes an LLM a specialist LLM? It's the combination of modules and the focus of your dissertation. So you will have a list of modules or courses which you're required to take in order to qualify for the specialism. And you then have the remaining two modules as kind of free floating modules, which you can pick from the general list. The LLM allows you to take one postgraduate course from anywhere at source, or another language as part of your LLM program. So in the past, we've had students who would take a module in Arabic language or Chinese language, and this can form part of your specialist LLM. And you could also take a course on politics for instance, or from the economics department. So it's, I think, a wonderful aspect of our LLM program that you actually can draw from other departments and postgraduate programs at source. As you saw on the first slide, we have about 100 graduate programs. So there's quite a lot to choose from. The requirements, yeah, quite similar in terms of structure and degree requirements. And given that you're already 30 minutes in, I'm not going to say more about this. We have six and eight specializations MA legal studies, which is really the equivalent in terms of the reality to the just the LLM masters in law. And then we have five specialisms. And again, I'm not going to read them out now, but you can refer to them later when you look at the slides. Fees, this I think needs to be updated. This might not actually be the the current feed gone up ever so slightly. There's an English language requirement. And if you don't have a UK degree, there's a GPA requirement of 3.3 scholarships. It's very important. I would encourage you there is still time but quite a few of the deadlines are towards the end of February. So please visit the scholarships website on the source websites and actually look at the different scholarships on offer. There are a number of specialist scholarships like the Paul Wembley Alpha Wood scholarship, which funds a full time MA in human rights or an LLM in human rights, conflict and justice. And we have also unspree college studentships. So again, given the time, I'm not going to go through all of them. But this might be a time to actually go back to the questions. Because I promise to answer one that I don't know whether this is Mr or Mrs Wunder, but does the LLM and law and gender allow for flexibility? Or should I go for the LLM? So what I would suggest on this one is if you're not quite clear about the choice of modules, my advice, and it sounds perhaps a little bit lame, do not worry about this at this stage. I think what is important is to see that actually the individual modules actually are the areas and subjects and two approaches you want to study. And then you can see where, you know, what is the specialism, which actually is quite closely linked to the modules and interests I have. And I think that way, you'll be able to come to a decision more easily. Now, we've got another one, Valentina. Hello, Valentina. I'd like to know if I can apply the LLM if I'm graduating bachelor's degree in Chinese society to cause Chinese nation, but I'm not graduating in law. So this is a very good question. Valentina asked, is it possible to join the LLM program if you have not studied law? And the answer is no. But about 15 or 20 years ago, probably now is to introduce our MA in legal studies to allow students who do not have a law degree to take a number of postgraduate law courses at the School of Law. So Valentina, check out our MA in legal studies. And we saw this mentioned in the other slides. Excellent. Moving on swiftly. Where are we? So it actually is the end of my presentation. It's taking me a little bit longer than I had planned or expected. But it is now the slide. Any questions? I see Haida Zizhan typing here. I am a law-abiding lawyer from Lahore. And no, this is wonderful. Yes, so hello, Haida. I'm not sure whether we met in Lahore, but I just spent two years in Lahore as the Dean of the School of Law at Lumps. So very good to see your message. Do you have a question, Haida? Oh, he's expecting a PhD degree. Excellent. Yes, I mean, this is, of course, a presentation focusing on the LLM and the MMA program. But we have a very, very strong PhD program. And as I mentioned in the beginning, a significant number of our students actually continues with their studies and research at SOAS and actually uses the LLM as a kind of stepping stone towards the PhD. Excellent. So what you see is our website, and it actually shows you if I go down the modules which were running in 2018-19. So they're currently being taught. Now, some of these modules are half modules. So they count as half a module. So as I mentioned earlier, when I talked about the structure of the LLM consists of four modules, taught modules, with 60 credits each, a half model carries 30 credits. So in theory, I don't think we have quite as many half modules. You could also actually structure your LLM on the basis of eight half modules, or of course, any other kind of combination. And you see here is the LLM dissertation in law, which is in some ways the fifth module, which has to be submitted by the 15th of September. And the same applies for the MAs, an MAs dissertation in law. And yeah, so you see, if you just looked at the term gender, you see that we have kind of three courses related to gender. If you just check out international, you see six courses, international commercial arbitration, criminal law, human rights clinic, international investment law, international protection of human rights, international refugee and migration law, which is very popular and very recent addition to our portfolio of modules. Islamic law I already mentioned. And next year, we will add to this list a course on law on society in South Asia, which I'm going to convene with my colleague Dr. Kanika Sharma. So yeah, I think it's a wonderful range of courses and giving you a chance to study law in global and very often also in a critical perspective. I've been accepted to the MA in human rights program and would like to know about postgraduate recommendation. Yes. Good question and an important one. We are located right in the very center of London next to the British Museum and next to the Institute of One's Legal Studies. And I should have mentioned this during my presentation that actually is a huge advantage to students because the Institute of One's Legal Studies is the largest law library in the UK, perhaps even Europe. And you have, of course, free access to that library. We are also in walking distance to the courts, to the world courts of justice and to the ins of court. So if you're interested in pursuing a career as a barrister or solicitor, we are in a very convenient location to actually maintain interaction and pursue network and opportunities. SOAS has a number of student residences, all in walking distance from SOAS. And we also are very close to University of London student accommodation, like the really good enough house, for instance. And of course, private accommodation also available, but for one year program, I would always strongly recommend to our LLM students to find accommodation, which is conveniently located, because you don't want to spend a lot of time on commuting if you're here for just a one year program. Kayleen, I think I answered yours. Daria, thank you for your presentation. Would you please repeat the point about taking up additional courses at the University of law? If you do not have an LLB to obtain an LLM degree in the end. So the qualifying law, the LLM is not a qualifying law degrees, so it will not actually allow you to become a solicitor or barrister. The qualifying degree in the UK is the LLB. And you can of course do a conversion course, which is now called the graduate diploma in law. And the GDA would certainly allow you to apply for the LLM program. So I hope this answers your question, Daria. Kayleen asks, can the dissertation be written with a legal history approach? Yes, I myself have written on British Indian legal history, not investigate what motivated Jinnah to actually ask for Pakistan, or to demand the equation of Pakistan. So definitely, yes, of course, you need to find a member of faculty, a member of staff with that interest able to supervise you, but there are a number of colleagues who would be able and willing to do that. Louisa Schneider, is it possible to focus in the dissertation on issues regarding Latin American law? In my case, Mexican environmental law? Yeah. Also, our core expertise is on Asia and Africa. We of course can just have our wings much further. And it will definitely be possible to have a dissertation focus on environmental law, which is not based on Asia and Africa. So yeah, Louisa, I think, hopefully that answered your question. There is Haider. Haider also applied for, so here is Miranda again. How do we get around having to come back home? It seems like such a waste. I want to continue with the PhD. I mean, this particular query of does one have to go back to one's home country after the LLM in order to return for the PhD that I can't answer really, that depends on scholarships you get and the individual requirements governing your particular scholarship. So any other questions? Yeah, I'm just said thank you from Louisa and thank you from Daria. So thanks. No, I think actually we are at the end of our presentation. So it's 1246 now. I think we've covered really most of the areas I wanted to cover with you. Accommodation, our location, our, I have to say, kind of really wonderful atmosphere. It's a great place to study. So I'm going to finish off. Thank you very much for all your questions. I hope I answered all of them. If you further queries, do not hesitate. My email address is on the last slide, ml1.sauce.ac.uk and goodbye.