How does the digitisation and mass distribution of creative work affect intellectual property rights? In what ways can digital technnology regulations evolve to better protect individuals and organisations from identity fraud or security breaches?
Technology has become an important issue in almost every area of national and international law practice. Today, people are constantly confronted with concerns of privacy, personal data protection, cybercrime and cybersecurity. New uses for technology are often developing more rapidly than the law itself, creating interesting challenges for legal professionals and scholars. This programme will equip you with both theoretical knowledge and professional skills necessary to thrive in an interdisciplinary, global environment.
As a student of the Law and Digital Technologies programme, you will benefit from:
More reasons to study Law and Digital Technologies
Are you interested in learning more about complex legal and regulatory issues related to the development and convergence of digital technologies? Law and Digital Technologies is a focused and demanding postgraduate programme that will foster your knowledge of this ever-growing field. It is aimed at both legal professionals and top graduates who wish to acquire in-depth knowledge of law and digital technologies from an international and multidisciplinary perspective.
A two-year international course providing a combination of theoretical knowledge and practical training, equipping you to manage and curate the digital information and digital assets of organisations across public and private sectors. Students study for one year at King’s and one year at Humboldt University Berlin, and choose from an exceptional range of options covering different aspects of digital curation.
Reasons you should consider the MA in Digital Curation are:
This King’s-Humboldt joint MA in Digital Curation is a two-year course involving one academic year of study at each institution. It offers you access to the combined talents of two world-class departments.
Digital content and digital technologies are a defining feature of our age. Digital data, information and knowledge are an asset for cultural heritage, memory institutions, industry, commerce and government. They are fundamental for research and practice in fields such as the law and medicine. As individuals we increasingly communicate and record our lives and our memories in digital form. But digital information is fragile and complex and requires ongoing and active curation as we seek to ensure its longevity and innovate in its use, and exploit its social, cultural and commercial value.
This course will give you the core skills, knowledge and competencies you need to become a leader in the rapidly expanding field of digital curation. You will study a wide range of subjects including metadata, preservation, knowledge representation, digital libraries, ethics and rights management, and new digital technologies and methods, including cloud and crowd-sourcing technologies. You will also have an opportunity to undertake an internship to gain workplace experience. We want you to acquire a great deal of practical knowledge, but even more we want you to develop your critical and reflective capacities, and to acquire an understanding of the inter-dependence of developments in digital processes, technology and curatorial practice. This MA will also provide an excellent grounding if you are interested in going on to a PhD in Digital Curation or a related area.
The MA in Digital Curation is designed to prepare students for leadership roles in organisations and enterprises with significant volumes of digital information and knowledge. The course responds to the increasing demand for digitally literate professionals to work in education and heritage institutions, as well as wider industry by equipping students with a range of strategic, technical and practical skills to provide direction and leadership in the curation of digital information and assets.
Take a look at Humboldt info here
Find out more info about preparing for your stay in Germany
Info about what you need to submit to enrol at Humboldt
Teaching
In your first year, Humboldt University will provide 300 hours of teaching through lectures and seminars, and they will expect you to undertake 1,200 hours of independent study.
In your second year we will provide you with 110 hours of teaching through lectures and seminars, and we will expect you to undertake 984 hours of independent study.
Assessment
You will be assessed through a combination of coursework and exams.
Students spend four semesters over the course of two years on the programme: two consecutive semesters at Humboldt and two semesters at King's, beginning the programme at Humboldt in all cases.
All teaching will be in English.
More information about the Digital Curation programme at Humboldt.
Many exciting opportunities await the graduate with an LLM in IT Law and Policy. Graduates with specialist knowledge of IT law and policy are in high demand in this fast-moving and swiftly growing sector.
You will study two compulsory modules – International Electronic Communications Law and Emerging Technologies and Law – in combination with two further modules of your choice from a wide range of options. This will give you a solid grounding on which to build with further specialisations, and you can tailor your course specifically according to your desired career path.
The International Electronic Communications Law module explores the existing legal framework around the electronic communications sector in the UK and Europe. It also examines emerging areas such as cloud computing, net neutrality and surveillance, along with questions relating to spectrum management. Changes to European law are also investigated.
In the Emerging Technologies and Law module you will study a range of internet and emerging technologies law and policy principles. You will also consider consumer protection online and the rules relating to digital marketing, distance selling and e-payment, as well as the legal requirements for online company presence and advertising. The module also offers the exciting opportunity to examine in depth any emerging legal issue in the area of the internet and emerging technology.
This highly relevant, contemporary course will provide you with the knowledge and understanding you need to work within the exciting, dynamic technology sector. Taught by specialists in their fields and continually updated and underpinned by the latest research and practice, you can be sure that you will graduate with up-to-date knowledge and skills to thrive in your chosen career.
Innovative, practical teaching methods are designed to develop your intellectual, transferable, interpersonal and practical skills. These skills, in combination with the knowledge and critical understanding you will receive of the history and current and emerging developments within the sector, will ensure that you are very attractive to potential employers!
In addition to your study modules, the University’s co-curricular programme offers a wide range of options that will further enhance your skills.
Level 7
Core Modules
Optional
A combination of theoretical teaching and hands-on practice will provide you with the knowledge, skills and experience you need. Class seminars are supported by group work, collaborative projects, role plays and debates, to develop those all-important skills of negotiation, persuasion, presentation, teamwork and leadership.
Independent study is, of course, essential, and you will have the opportunity to demonstrate and apply what you have learnt in the written assignments, which are the assessment vehicles for the two compulsory modules. There will also be a practical assessment in the Emerging Technologies and Law module, which will help you learn, for instance, how to design and present a poster, or how to work effectively in a group.
A peer support and mentoring scheme is also available, to help students settle into university life, and to offer further opportunities to develop your mentoring, teamwork and leadership skills.
Successful completion of the LLM will qualify you to work in a wide variety of technological organisations and departments and/or start-ups, in the private or public sector. Alternatively, you may wish to consider a regulatory path, or a future within civil society or advocacy groups, international organisations, or even academia or research.
This course offers a detailed insight in law, management and policy relating to patents, copyright, trademarks and other intellectual property rights.
It provides international and comparative perspectives that cover not only traditional intellectual property issues like industrial property, artistic works and brands, but emerging areas of policy including the digital economy and biotechnology.
This programme reflects the growing importance of international developments in intellectual property, and confronts growing controversies such as the relationships between intellectual property and human rights norms, access to knowledge, new technologies and economic development.
You’ll explore the international norms and institutions relating to intellectual property such as the World Trade Organisation’s TRIPS Agreement, and consider the wider social and economic implications of intellectual property for health, culture, education, technology, innovation and economic development.
You’ll benefit from the expertise of leading academics in a stimulating research environment. Our research groups include:
The compulsory modules studied will give you an opportunity to:
These compulsory modules will also enable you to hone your legal research and writing skills, which you’ll be able to demonstrate in your dissertation – an independent piece of research on your chosen topic.
If you study with us, you’ll also benefit from our academic skills programme. This 10-week programme runs alongside your taught academic programme, and is specifically designed to meet the needs of home and international students in the School of Law. It allows you to refine and develop the academic and transferable skills to excel during your taught postgraduate programmes, as well as prepare for professional roles after graduation.
The wide-ranging list of optional modules means that you can explore a mixture of related subjects of interest to you.
As a part-time student, you’ll take four compulsory modules in your first year and two optional modules. In your second year, you’ll carry out your dissertation and study two optional modules.
Compulsory modules
Optional modules
Our compulsory and optional modules are taught through a range of weekly seminars, lectures and workshops.
You’ll need to prepare for your seminars and lectures, undertaking any exercises that might be prescribed in advance. Independent study is integral to this programme – not just to prepare for classes but to develop research and other critical skills.
You’ll be assessed using a variety of methods but for most modules you’ll be required to write an essay at the end of each module. You’ll also be expected to write a final dissertation.
This programme, which is also accessible to non-lawyers, provides essential knowledge and skills should you wish to embark upon a career in the legal professions, and in knowledge-intensive commercial sectors. These include the technology and creative industries as well as their representative organisations.
The degree will attract employers in other occupations where in-depth understanding of intellectual property is considered economically or strategically important. These include government service as well as intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations.
The School of Law offers career and personal development support through the School of Law Careers Advisor. The School also arranges career development workshops, seminars and one-to-one sessions for students on all postgraduate programmes.
We encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. That’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers.
The Careers Centre and staff in your faculty provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate. Find out more at the Careers website.
The programme focuses on each institution's strengths: International and European Law in Leuven and Arbitration Law, Financial Law and Human Rights in Zurich. Switzerland is a centre of arbitration and banking, and many international institutions are based here.
Upon completion of the programme, students receive a double degree - one from KU Leuven and another from the University of Zurich. A double degree from two leading law faculties in Europe will be of enormous added value for your future professional career in an international context.
Each partner university will select fifteen students to participate in this programme.
The ideal prospective student:
Knowledge and insight: The student has a basic knowledge of law and also a thorough, consolidated knowledge of their national, European and International law and develops a clear vision on the interaction among the three of them whereby he/she integrates the expertise in positive law with insight into the principles of law.
The student does as well have specialized knowledge and insight in the two main legal areas offered, European and International law, just as a profound knowledge in a wide-range of transversal legal areas that express the relation and interaction between the different, basic, legal areas and the dynamism and renovation of the Law.
The student can frame legal arguments and legal reasoning in a social, historical or value based context as a result of a critical and reflective basic attitude towards the law, human beings and society in general terms.
General legal skills: The students adopt a systematic method when approaching complex legal or social-related questions. He/she is able to make an independent legal analysis and synthesis of problems. The students have the capacity to offer adequate solutions and adopt clarifying, problem solving points of view.
Scientific - legal related skills: The student handles one or more legal areas with an independent and scientific approach. He/she can apply his legal knowledge, insight and skills when accomplishing independent legal research.
Communication skills: The student can draft texts and explain orally, in a structured and clear way legal issues to both laymen and legal practitioners.
IT skills: The student can make use of modern technologies applied to legal information sources (ex. digital libraries and databases)
Learning skills: The student is able to deal with new legal areas and acquire further knowledge in the ones he/she is more familiar with.
The Master of Law programme is a stepping stone to an interesting legal career. As experts in European and international law, our students work in international law firms, a wide variety of public service fields at all levels of the government and in European and international institutions or interest groups. Our graduates are also recruited by non-governmental organisations and companies in the private sector.