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University of Oxford to launch Master's in Law and Finance

14 December 2009

The University of Oxford's Law Faculty and the Saïd Business School of the University of Oxford are launching a pioneering new degree programme 'The Oxford Master's in Law and Finance'. The new degree, which begins in October 2010, will be a full-time nine-month programme offering students with a background in law the chance to develop an advanced interdisciplinary understanding of financial transactions, and of the swiftly evolving economic and regulatory context.

The programme is designed to provide a thorough grounding in finance for lawyers, as well as those pursuing a career in financial institutions, government or business. It will support and lead the integration of law and finance, a new field which holds much significance for the future. 'The Oxford Master's in Law and Finance will act as a launch-pad for a successful career in law, regulation, or academic finance,' explained Professor John Armour, Lovells Professor of Law and Finance and Academic Director of the new programme. 

'The financial services sector has grown exponentially in recent decades. The volume and complexity of both the regulation, and the transactions conducted within the framework it provides, have grown apace. Understanding corporate finance is vital to the success of law in this field. Designing transactions to maximise value requires an understanding of the underlying economic rationale for a deal, and likely future points of tension between the parties. Regulating such transactions appropriately requires knowledge, both of legal infrastructure and the macro-structure of the financial markets.'

The Master's in Law and Finance will bring together legal practitioners, financial experts, economists, and academics, both as students of the programme and in delivering the programme. It will also use practical case studies that have been developed in partnership with industry participants.

Professor Timothy Endicott, Dean of the Faculty of Law at Oxford, explained the reason for developing the new programme: 'It is crucial for law schools to make a contribution to understanding the challenges of regulating markets in ways that enable commerce to thrive, without allowing unmanaged risks to escalate into disasters.' Professor Endicott believes Oxford Law has 'an important role in research and in training lawyers at the graduate level in law and finance.'

The full-time, nine-month programme is for graduates who wish to study advanced law in areas related to financial transactions, such as corporate finance law and corporate insolvency law, and core courses in economics and finance.  A specialist interdisciplinary course in the law and economics of corporate transactions provides students with the chance to integrate the law and finance components.

Professor Tim Jenkinson, Head of the Finance Faculty at the Saïd Business School, added: 'This is a course whose time has arrived. The financial crisis showed that understanding of financial products, decisions and their associated risks, is required throughout organisations. Those who can combine legal and financial skills will be particularly valuable to businesses, professional practices and regulatory bodies.'

There are 30 places available for the programme and applicants can have a wide range of backgrounds, from newly qualified solicitors to those with several years of post qualification experience, as well as students currently completing related undergraduate and graduate degrees.  For those interested in finding out more about the programme, an informative e-brochure is available: www.law.ox.ac.uk/mlf.

For more information, a photograph or to set up interviews, please contact the University of Oxford's Press Office on +44 1865 280534 or email: press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk or the Faculty of Law on +44 1865 281050, email: lawfac@law.ox.ac.uk 

Notes to Editors

  • The Faculty of Law is the largest unit in the University's social sciences division. Its members include many of the UK's and the world's leading legal scholars, earning the faculty its top (5*) rating in the 1996 and 2001 Research Assessments conducted by HEFCE. The 2008 RAE assessment showed that substantially more top-rated research activity went on in Law at Oxford from 2001-2007, than any other university in the UK.For more information about the University of Oxford's Faculty of Law, go to: http://www.law.ox.ac.uk/
  • The MSc in Law and Finance:  There are various scholarship funds open to graduate law students that students of the new Master's programme would be eligible to apply for: http://denning.law.ox.ac.uk/postgraduate/scholarships.shtml.  For further information about the new programme, go to: www.law.ox.ac.uk/mlf
  • The Saïd Business School Established in 1996 the Saïd Business School is one of Europe's youngest and most entrepreneurial business schools with a reputation for innovative business education. An integral part of Oxford University, the School embodies the academic rigour and forward thinking that has made Oxford a world leader in education. The School has an established reputation for research in a wide range of areas, including finance and accounting, organisational analysis, international management, strategy and operations management. The School is dedicated to developing a new generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs and conducting research not only into the nature of business, but the connections between business and the wider world. It is ranked in the top 20 European Business Schools (Dec 08) and in the top 20 MBA programmes in the world (Jan 09) by the Financial Times.  It is ranked in BusinessWeek's top 10 business schools outside the USA (Nov 08).  In the Wall Street Journal it is ranked in the top 25 business schools in the world (Nov 07).  In the UK university league tables it has ranked first of all UK universities for undergraduate business for the past six years in The Guardian and in seven of the last eight years in The Times.   For more information, see www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/

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