CCLS began life 40 years ago, when Professor Sir Roy Goode sought funding for a new centre dedicated to the study of commercial law. The centre was designed to break down the historical division between law as an academic subject and law as a professional practice.
Today, with its home in legal London, CCLS is perfectly placed to deliver on this vision. As one of the world’s leading commercial law schools we maintain strong links with the law firms, barristers’ chambers, regulators, policymakers and global corporations on its doorstep. Freshfields and Clifford Chance, for example, sponsor prestigious annual lectures at CCLS, and there are several senior members of the judiciary on the CCLS staff.
English commercial law is inherently transnational and outward looking, and this is reflected at CCLS. The Centre’s world-leading academics advise national governments, the EU, international intergovernmental organisations, NGOs, and global law firms on the development and application of commercial law.
Being responsive and flexible in our approach to complex changes in commercial law work that come with new forms of business regulation has been critical to CCLS’s growth and evolution. Rapid technological advances, including artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and new financial technologies, have transformed traditional systems and ways of working. Much of the work undertaken at CCLS today is focused on understanding the implications of these developments.
Academics at CCLS lead the way in researching the interrelationships between law and global commerce. Our unique way of working means that we secure research funding from a diverse range of organisations, including UK research councils, national governments, international intergovernmental organisations, and global corporations.
Each year, we welcome over 1000 students onto our renowned LLM programme. They come from more than 80 countries from around the world. Each student brings a unique perspective and life experience, making the Centre a diverse and exciting place to study, grow and network.
As well as LLMs taught in London, we offer opportunities to study abroad, including in Paris, Piraeus and Singapore. Students can also study from home or work on our distance-learning programmes. In addition, we support a large body of PhD students to undertake independent research, as well as a range of legal and other professionals with our specially-tailored executive training programmes.
Over the years, we have taught more than 10,000 students – creating an international family of CCLS alumni: senior lawyers, barristers, judges, legislators, policymakers, IP experts and business people. Many of these alumni maintain links with CCLS throughout their careers. Many also choose to support the new generation of CCLS students with mentoring, advice and work placements.
Our students all share common goals – a desire to deepen their knowledge and expertise in an area of commercial law, to develop their careers, and to learn from, and with, the best.
Whether you want to advance your career through postgraduate study, to collaborate on a new research project, or to support CCLS’s activities, we invite you to be part of the next 40 years.