ONE of the UK’s leading judges has praised a law degree being launched by the University of Bolton this September.

The university’s new chancellor, The Rt Hon Sir Ernest Ryder, is a Lord Justice of Appeal and one of the UK’s leading judges, and he says the new LLM Law degree will equip students with “cutting-edge legal knowledge”.

The university’s Bolton Business School is launching the postgraduate degree which offers advanced knowledge and skills in specialist area of the law.

Students reading the LLM — Masters of Law degree — will be able to customise their programme, concentrating on areas such as medical law, EU and international law, employment law, corporate and financial law, and brand and marketing law.

The course is for law graduates, non-law graduates and lawyers.

Sir Ryder said: “Bolton's LLM has strategic research themes which will enable the postgraduate student to attain specialist, cutting-edge legal knowledge essential in the new global legal environment.

“Developing practical skills, critical thinking and comparative knowledge are also part of gearing up future lawyers for the modern legal workplace."

Graduates starting the course in September will be eligible for the university’s Alumni Masters Scholarship worth £1,000.

The course can be studied full-time or part-time.

Martyn Shaw, director of the Bolton Business School, said: “The suite of modules which have been developed is not only relevant to existing legal professionals wishing to extend or refresh their expertise, but also to managers whose roles require some specialist, focused knowledge of specific areas of the law.

“For example, I am sure that modules such as Medical Negligence, Banking Law, Financial and Economic Crime, Corporate Insolvency, Collective Labour Law, EU Labour Law, Employment Tribunal Practice and Individual Employment Law will be of great interest to practitioners in the health, banking and HR sectors.”