The College of Law has launched a new international masters degree in law in conjunction with the International Bar Association.

The part-time masters course will start in January and is available via online learning to lawyers around the world.

Around 30 lawyers are expected to start the course in January, with the College anticipating that the course will take between 18 months and five years to complete.

Students are expected to be predominantly a mix of junior lawyers in City firms' overseas offices and foreign lawyers in London.

International offices of firms including Baker & McKenzie, Allen & Overy and DLA Piper have contributed material to the course.

The new course was announced at the IBA conference in Singapore earlier this week (17 October). It is an extension of an existing diploma programme run by the IBA and College, which has already had 1553 students from 97 different jurisdictions.

Commenting on the move, IBA president Fernando Pombo said: "I am delighted that the IBA is the first Bar association to bring this type of qualification to newly-qualified and more experienced lawyers alike who want to develop their international practice skills."

Sarah Hutchinson, director of the College's professional development division, added: "We've had a lot of support from the firms providing case studies. We expect it to be of interest to junior lawyers between nought and five years' post-qualification experience looking for technical legal training."

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