The Master of Transnational Law is a master’s programme designed to have students rethink law within a transnational framework and gain a profound and critical comprehension of a specific topic of global law.

Over the past two centuries, legal thinking has been anchored in the association between law and the state. Typically, students attending law school are still educated within a national framework, dedicating the majority of their intellectual efforts to the study of the law of a specific jurisdiction determined by the physical location of their academic institution. Even a discipline as globally oriented as comparative law is rooted in the assumption that the unit of analysis is the national legal order, focusing on identifying similarities and differences in the structure, content, and administration of national legal systems. The Master of Transnational Law is grounded on the belief that the scope of the law extends far beyond the boundaries of national jurisdictions.

The programme equips students with tools of legal analysis and research that they are expected to use to produce a master’s thesis on a legal issue of their interest. By undertaking this master's programme, students will be prompted to reflect on the challenges of an increasingly transnational legal world and progress toward further specialized or doctoral studies, either in Portugal or abroad.

LL.M. Coursework

The Master of Transnational Law is based on the coursework of the existing LL.M. programmes, requiring a minimum of ECTS in courses included in their curricula.

In their first year, LL.M. students can choose from a diverse array of optional courses, allowing them the freedom to design their curriculum. To qualify for the Master of Transnational Law, interested students must complete a total of at least 60 ECTS from courses and seminars offered in the LEGC, IBL, and LDE programes, including at least 30 ECTS from the MTL curriculum and the Legal Research seminar.

Master’s Thesis

The second phase of the programme involves drafting a supervised master’s thesis (30 ECTS) of no more than 90.000 characters.

The thesis is written after the end of the LL.M. year. MTL students are expected to write and submit the thesis in the semester following the conclusion of the LL.M. year, as illustrated in the image above. During the thesis semester, students need not be in Lisbon: provided that they are able to keep in touch with their supervisor, they may write the thesis in their home country or elsewhere.

After submission, the thesis will be publicly defended before a jury composed of three members: the supervisor, the discussant and the chair.