University of Milan

LL.M. in Law and Sustainable Development

INTRODUCTION

The Master’s Degree (Laurea Magistrale) in Law and Sustainable Development (LL.M. in Law and Sustainable Development) at the University of Milan is the first European graduate programme that aims at improving the legal skills necessary to better grasp the three interconnected dimensions (economic, social, and environmental) of sustainable development.

It offers students an in-depth interdisciplinary academic education to specialise in key issues agreed upon by the International Community within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development “Transforming Our World” and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The course is open to students with a background in legal, economic or political studies, who are proficient in English. They will complete their training with advanced legal skills, integrated with the relevant socio-economic dimensions, to deal with the challenges of sustainability in the public and private sector.

Entirely taught in English, the LL.M. provides specialised education and training enabling legal professionals to tackle contemporary economic, social, and environmental challenges. The approach to learning will be multidisciplinary, integrated, and holistic, as inherent in the notion of sustainable development.

The LL.M. is a two-year Master Programme. In the first year, students are required to attend seven core courses, in the areas of law, economics, and sociology. In the second year, students can tailor their study plan, by choosing elective courses from among those offered within one of the four curricula, as well as one or more optional courses/activities.

Students who do not speak Italian will also be required to attend classes in order to obtain a basic knowledge of the language (level A2). To complete their degree, students must do an internship and write and discuss a final dissertation.

The courses within the programme use a wide range of solution-oriented educational methods tailored to the learners. In addition to lectures, classes also provide for group discussions, moots, surveys, analysis, case studies, presentation of research papers, directed studies, and workplace experience.

The LL.M. programme trains a new generation of legal specialists able to reconcile social development, environmental goals, and economic growth in the activities of private and public organizations. LL.M. graduates will contribute to fostering favourable conditions for long-term competitiveness, social cohesion, and better environmental protection. At the local, national, and international levels, they will play a role in updating existing legal frameworks, business practices, and social action to the requirements and expectations about what the law can do in the sustainable development realm.


LEARNING OBJECTIVES

The LL.M. in Law and Sustainable Development, entirely taught in English, aims at educating professionals capable of using their advanced legal knowledge and skills, integrated with an understanding of the underlying socio-economic issues, to further the realization of the SDGs in the activities of public and private organizations, at the international, national, and local level.

The programme provides students with an advanced understanding of contemporary legal and socio-economic dynamics, characterised by interdependence, increasing complexity, rapid evolution, and integration between different fields of knowledge, as well as by a pluralist legal landscape, in which the traditional boundaries between levels (international, supranational, and domestic) and sources (public/private) of regulation are blurring.

In this context, students will develop an advanced understanding of the theoretical foundations of sustainability processes and the ethical implications of the choices made in this field by policy-makers and regulators, as well as by economic and social actors. They will also acquire an in-depth knowledge of the international and European legal framework applicable to the design and implementation of sustainability policies by international and supranational organisations, national and local public authorities, corporations (both in the domestic and transnational dimension), and organisations of the civil society (including NGOs).


THE STRUCTURE OF THE LL.M. PROGRAMME

The LL.M. in Law and Sustainable Development is a two-year Master Programme (120 ECTS).

In the first year (60 ECTS) students are required to attend seven core courses (57 ECTS), in the areas of law, economics, and sociology. The remaining 3 ECTS are obtained by demonstrating a basic knowledge of Italian language (level A2) or, for students having previously obtained a school or university degree in Italy, by other optional activities.

To take the exams of the 2nd year, students must have passed all the exams of the 1st year.

In the second year (60 ECTS), students can tailor their study plan, by choosing four elective courses from among those offered within one of the four curricula (24 ECTS, 12 of which in the areas of international, European and comparative law), as well as one or more optional courses/activities (9 ECTS).

The credits for optional courses/activities are obtained by freely combining courses (6 ECTS) offered within any of the curricula, the LL.M. additional courses, legal clinics and workshops (3 or 6 ECTS), and/or the courses (6 or 9 ECTS) taught in English in the Faculty of Law of the University of Milan. Students will also have to take an internship (150 hours - 6 ECTS) and write and discuss a final dissertation (21 ECTS).

The LLM currently offers four curricula designed along the building blocks of sustainable development:

- Law, Economics, and Development;

- Human Rights Law and Social Development;

- Environmental Law and Policy; and

- Rule of Law.

Each curriculum includes an unusually large mix of advanced learning activities in different areas of the law, as well as in the relevant economic and sociological disciplines.

In exceptional cases, students may apply to the Teaching Board to take up to two courses belonging to a curriculum different from the chosen one, provided that this is in line with the learning objectives of that curriculum and the requirement of 12 ECTS in the areas of international, European and comparative law is met.


METHODOLOGY

The Programme uses a wide range of solution-oriented educational methods tailored to the learners. In addition to traditional frontal lecturing, there are: discussions, simulations, surveys, analysis, case studies, writing research papers, directed studies, workplace experience and problem solving.


INTERNSHIP AND TRAINING PROGRAMME

Students must do an internship (150 hours – 6 ECTS) with learning objectives that are consistent with the programme, as determined by the Didactic Board.

Interns may be hosted in Italy or abroad, by inter alia: public and private institutions, companies, law firms, consultancies, non-governmental organisation.

The intern may also develop, in close connection with the reference bodies, projects and case studies that can be the starting point for the preparation of the final dissertation.

While students are required to find autonomously internship opportunities meeting their interest and expectations, the programme may facilitate the process by disseminating information on relevant available positions, including those reserved to the students of the LL.M.


HOW TO APPLY: DEADLINES AND PROCEDURES

Applications are open from 1 March to 28 August.

Students from outside the EU are strongly advised to submit their admission application by 30 April at the latest.

Before starting the application process, students must check if they satisfy the academic and language requirements for access, as set out above. Applications must be submitted online via the UNIMI Portal.

All applicants will be required to upload on the application platform a copy of the following documents (in English and/or translated into English), in pdf format:

- Degree certificates and/or official transcripts issued by the delivering universities, in which exams, credits, and grades are recorded;

- Passport or other ID (page with personal data);

- Curriculum vitae et studiorum (resumé).

Important notice for non-EU applicants

Applicants that are not EU Member States’ nationals and are resident abroad are strongly advised to submit their admission application by 30 April at the latest.

If admitted, this will allow them to timely comply with the special enrolment procedure linked to the required visa application. They will have to pre-enrol through the competent Italian diplomatic-consular representation to obtain the required study visa, before enrolling into the University of Milan. Please note that the competent Italian Embassy/Consulate is the only authority responsible for accepting their pre-applications and checking if they meet the requirements for the Study Visa. The visa procedure opens yearly from April to July.

More information for international students from outside the EU.


About The University of Milan

The University of Milan is a public teaching and research university, which - with 8 faculties and 2 schools and a teaching staff of 2000 professors - is distinguished by its wide variety of disciplinary fields.

A leading institute in Italy and Europe for scientific productivity, the University of Milan is the largest university in the region, with approximately 64,000 students; it is also an important resource for the socio-economic context of which it is a part.

Milan is, in fact, the capital of Lombardy, one of the most dynamic and international regions in the European Union, a leader in the national economy that stands at the Italian forefront of research and development investments and commitment to technological innovation.

The University of Milan also possesses a remarkable artistic and cultural heritage that includes important historic buildings, inherited and acquired collections, archives, botanical gardens and the old Brera Observatory commissioned by Maria Teresa of Austria.

The University’s departments are housed in important historic edifices in the centre of Milan and in modern buildings in the area known as Città Studi (the City of Studies).

Among the palazzos that house the University’s facilities are the old Ca' Granda – a monumental complex from the 15th-century in the heart of the historical city centre - the 18th-century Palazzo Greppi designed by Giuseppe Piermarini – who built the Scala Theatre in Milan – and the 17th-century Sant’Alessandro College commissioned by the Arcimboldi family.