City Law School has launched London's first Master of Jurisprudence in international commercial law, with the two-year course due to start this September.

The two-year MJur course has been devised in response to demand from students wanting a more in-depth commercial course in light of the current recession.

The course will be taught by a mix of commercial lawyers and academics, allowing students to focus on two specific areas of commercial law from a list that includes competition, media, maritime, banking and international dispute resolution.

To earn a masters, students will have to write two dissertations over the two-year period, alongside a number of taught courses.

City Law School director of masters programmes, professor Alan Riley, commented: "The ability to take seven specialist courses and two dissertations allows students to build both a broad and in-depth knowledge of commercial law."

"The MJur can help students prepare for the economic recovery by building a major platform of commercial law knowledge which will give them a significant degree of flexibility to help them exploit the opportunities as the recovery takes hold."

Towards the end of last year City Law School launched its own version of the part-time Legal Practice Course. The course is one of several new initiatives ushered in by new director Gillian Woodworth, who replaced Melissa Hardee last June.