Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia (PUC) envisions a world at peace, where non-violent means are used to resolve conflicts beginning with individuals, societies, governments, and extending to the community of world leaders in the context of international cooperation.

To fulfill this vision, the government and its public officers and those in positions of authority exercise their duties responsibly with compassion to defend and protect the people they serve, especially the poor, elderly, destitute, needy women and children as well as to protect environment and national resources.

Faculty of Law (FL) believes legal education is the key to realize this vision, as people are well-educated, they are empowered to participate and contribute more fully in the life of society. Education is the foundation of individual’s character building. Only education could provide professional skills and develop mental, intellectual, spiritual and wisdom, which will in turn generate genuine peace and sustainable progress for a prosperous nation.

To this end, FL strives to deliver high quality legal education that is attainable by, and responsive to, the needs of the people of Cambodia and that of the global community. FLPA places special emphasis on research and studies in law, ethics, human rights, public policy and environment.

FL, as a school of law, our mission is to produce a wide range of human resources for the 21st century grounded on pioneerism, multi-disciplinarism and internationalism by establishing law programs, internationally recognized in teaching law in English by qualified and experienced faculty members. 

FL uniquely offers a high-level Literally Legum Magister or Master of Laws (LL.M.) program for students, who aim to become successful and reputable professionals in different sectors regardless of legal profession.

The LL.M. program in International Business Law is a credit system composed of 16 courses, which are taught through two consecutive academic years for full-time students based on interactive, experiential and clinical legal education methods.

Year One comprises of 8 courses in which students will acquires knowledge, skills and values from the courses: Cambodian Laws in Context, Business Law and Practice, Research and Writing I and II, Intellectual Property Law and Practice, International Trade Law, Commercial Contract and Writing and Advanced Labour Law.

Year Two comprises of 8 courses in which students will acquires knowledge, skills and values from the courses: International and National Business Dispute Settlement and Advanced Taxation law. Students may opt to enroll in 4 elective courses that can be chosen from a list of elective courses. To graduate, students may choose to write a thesis, report or take comprehensive exam as listed in the curriculum.

Major: International Business Law

Course Description

LAW 501        CAMBODIAN LAWS IN CONTEXT      

This course gives a general overview of contemporary laws in Cambodia. It covers the nature and sources of law, hierarchy of laws, legal and judicial systems, constitutional law, substantive and procedural civil laws, substantive and procedural criminal laws, alternative dispute resolutions, administrative law, employment and labor law, intellectual property law, environmental law, women and law, right of indigenous people, and relation between Cambodian laws and international law. The course aims to provide students with opportunity to review and discuss various legal topics and relation between existing laws and human rights.

LAW 505        BUSINESS LAW AND PRACTICE

This course will first review the foundation of legal thinking and review the basic principles of the Cambodian legal and judicial systems and well Alternative Dispute Resolution System Students will learn about the different areas of business related laws such as Commercial Contract Law, Law on Business Organization and business transactions. Students will also be introduced to the relationship between human rights and business, including the UN guiding principles on human rights and business (“the Ruggie Principles”).

LPAR 503      RESEARCH AND WRITING I

This is an advanced course to legal research and writing where students will learn how to read and brief cases, how to read and analyze laws and regulations, identification of key facts and legal issues, how to cite legal sources, how to develop and write a research proposal, as well as how to write certain important legal documents. The course will focus on reading, analyzing and understanding both Cambodian legal sources and international legal sources, including international treaties and UN documents. Examples will be drawn from human rights law, business law and laws regarding intellectual property rights. Students will also learn advanced research and writing strategies and at the same time will be able to build legal research and writing skills, academically and practically.

LAW 506        NATIONAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW AND POLICY

This is a course on intellectual property law. This course will cover the basics of patent, copyright, trademark, trade secrets and other IP-related topics. This course will deepen students’ understanding of competing policies underlying the intellectual property laws. Through lectures and discussions in classes, students will learn important principles of the intellectual property laws and will be exposed to their main features including protected subject matters, requirements for protection, limitations on IP rights and their enforcement. The relationship and interconnections between intellectual property and human rights will also be introduced and the role of WIPO, WHO and UNESCO will be discussed.

LAW 550        INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW

This course includes legal principles of WTO, AFTA and NAFTA and it aims to understand the global and regional trade legal systems and practice.

LAW 517        RESEARCH AND WRITING II

This course will introduce students to a range of research methods commonly used by those working in human rights. Inevitably human rights lends itself to interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research thus, irrespective of the student’s undergraduate discipline, all students will be introduced to as variety of new methods. This course will be taught by a variety of lecturers including some form the Faculty of Social Sciences. This course will prepare students for completion of assignments in other Majors and in the Electives. It will also lay the foundations for the advanced research methodology courses which preceded the completion of the thesis/report component.

LAW 551        COMMERCIAL CONTRACT AND WRITING

This course will introduce the key clauses of commercial contract writing and practice. Contracts are frequently in business are selected for teaching and practice. This course will prepare students to work in a law firm or any companies.

LAW 507        ADVANCED LABOR LAW

This course will introduce the student to the key aspects of comparative studies on labor laws of selected countries and ILO Conventions, including its historical development and key moments in case law and legislative reform, as well as the theoretical and philosophical debates that have shaped the model over time and at present.

LAW 527        ADVANCED TAXATION LAW

This course focuses on a deeper analysis in relation to a number of taxation issues including the taxation of companies, trusts and partnerships, further capital gains tax issues, aspects of international taxation, tax administration, and tax planning, with a consideration of anti-avoidance and ethical issues in tax planning.

LAW 552        INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL BUSINESS DISPUTE SETTLEMENT

This course introduces students the international and national business dispute settlement under WTO system, international arbitration mechanisms and Cambodian dispute settlement mechanisms

NATS 510      GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT AWARENESS

This course introduces students to concepts and theories related to world environment. It discusses a natural process of an ecological system, economic and social development in equilibrium to environmental conditions. Importantly, it brings updates about human activities and environmental pollution causing major problems from draught, inundation, desertification, contaminated soil, air and water to ozone depletion. The course also raises awareness of essence in environmental preservation through various debates about climate change, natural resource protection and conservation and sustainable development from an environmental perspective. Attention will be focused on patterns of resource availability, human impacts on the natural resources base, and the individual perception of the world about him/her (inscape) which results in a highly discriminating way of modeling landscape to match inner vision.

LAW 544        ECONOMICS AND LAW

This course introduces students the relationship between economics and law and the legal analysis from the economic points of view.

ECON 515      FUNDAMENTALS OF ECONOMICS

This course, in its traditional sense, does not deal with economic issues. It focuses on the principles of economics necessitated for practical applications in the economics. The course also provides basic knowledge in Microeconomics and Macroeconomics used as economic tools of analysis. This is to be accomplished by raising certain key problems or issues relevant to the economics principles, teaching the tools necessary for analysis, and finally applying these tools to analyze the problems.

MGT 530        GOVERNANCE, MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP DYNAMICS

This is an upper level course of management and leadership which looks at how managers and leaders behave and make a decision to deal with an organizational change and a crisis situation. Students will be expected to actively participate in the debate on studies relevant to the themes such as advanced management skills, leadership dynamics and leadership styles. The subtheme on Effective Governance is also introduced for the course followers in order for them to increase an understanding about responsibility, decision making and accountability in the field of management and leadership. A combination of readings and class discussions with hands-on exercises will familiarize students with the variety of approaches one might take to management and leadership. To advance the students’ knowledge in the discipline, case studies on corporations, business firms and public institutions are incorporated into the course.

LAW 571        COMPARATIVE BUSINESS LAW AND TRANSACTION

This course provides students with basic legal framework of business law in Cambodia. It covers foundation of business law; contract and commercial contract; business organizations or commercial enterprises, Employment and Labor law; Intellectual Property Law and Acts of unfair competition, negotiable instrument, consumer protection, environment, Business Ethics, and Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

LAW 510        ADVANCED CORPORATION LAW

This course examines the core legal characteristics of the corporate form in Cambodia and selected countries in Asia, USA and Europe. It explains the common agency problems that are inherent in the corporate form and compares the legal strategies that each jurisdiction uses to solve these common problems.

LAW 553        PROCUREMENT LAW

This course introduces students the Cambodian public procurement law and the procurement of public private partnership.

LAW 554        INVESTMENT LAW

This course introduces students the Cambodian investments and other laws and regulations governing the investment in Cambodia.

LAW 530        ADVANCED BANKING LAW

This course focuses on the history, structure, and regulatory framework of the Cambodian banking system, Overview of banking institutions with special emphasis on development of new services and activities. Topics may include formation of new banks, branch banking, marketing, trust powers, the FDIC, bank holding companies, and international banking.

LAW 528        COMPETITION AND CONSUMER LAW

This course focuses on two main parts namely competition law and consumer protection law. The first part will explain the legal and economic principles which underpin and continue to shape competition law in Cambodia and abroad. The second part will deal with laws and regulations that primarily protect the consumer.

LAW 529        SECURITIES LAW

This course addresses the laws regulating the issuance and trading of securities, in particular the Law on Issuance and Trading of Non-Governmental Securities in Cambodia and other securities laws in selected countries. The course is designed for students without a business background and provides a basic introduction to the theory and practice of the securities markets.

LAW  570       NEGOTIATIONS AND CONFLICT RESOLUTIONS

This interdisciplinary course examines various formal and informal methods of conflict resolution, which are often used in business, law, diplomacy, politics, and in everyday life. The course also focuses on developing effective strategies and techniques in negotiation for reaching different agreements. It emphasizes economic, cultural, psychological, and ethical areas essential to conflict resolution and negotiation.  The course compares and contrasts the traditional methods and styles of conflict resolution used in Cambodian society with the methods and styles commonly used in Western countries.

LAW 524        BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

This course examines business and human rights. The course focuses on the UN Guiding Principles of Business and Human Rights in comparison with laws of ASEAN member states. The course will also examine cases related to business and human rights in ASEAN and other countries around the world.

LAW 522        CAMBODIAN CONSTITUTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS

This course provides students with background on the methodology of comparative constitutional law and experience in comparing the two leading constitutional traditions, the common law and the civil law systems. The comparison is conducted by reference to three key features of all constitutional arrangements: constitutional foundations (constitutions and constitutionalism); organization of power (separation of powers, parliamentary or presidential systems, unitary and federal states); rights of citizens (models of rights protection; judicial review). The course explores the extent to which law and history are essential to proper comparison and adequate understanding of constitutional systems.

LAW 502        INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

This course deals with the body of law known as International Law or sometimes ‘Public International Law’, as distinct from Private International Law. More generally, this course serves as a basic introduction to the rules, procedures, institutions and actors that are involved in the development, enforcement and adjudication of public international law. The course also cover the nature and sources of international law; the role and influence of states, non-governmental organizations and international organizations; the law of treaties; customary international law; jurisdiction and immunities; the implication and impact of international law on Cambodian legal system. Because international law today is more complex and more interesting than at any time in history, and given a limited credit hours, the course will also offer a brief survey of specific and contemporary fields within international law – for example, human rights, laws of war, international criminal law and international environmental law. Students are encouraged to think and discuss critically about legal implications of domestic and international politics and human rights.\

LAW 543        RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

This course intends to prepare the students for their engagement within the PUC Clinical legal Education (CLE). Clinical Legal Education (CLE) is an educational program grounded in experiential learning, or ‘learning by doing’. CLE programs adopt interactive teaching methodologies and operate with the aim of providing law students with the practical knowledge, skills and values for the delivery of legal services and social justice, particularly rights of the persons with disabilities. In addition, CLE programs offer students the opportunity to learn about and apply the rules and standards of professional ethics and responsibility in a real-life, social justice setting. By working with and advocating for the disadvantaged members of society, students gain knowledge and an appreciation of the importance of professional responsibility to the achievement of social justice through fostering a commitment to professional ethics and responsibility. This course is divided into four elements in terms of development of the capacity of the students as legal clinicians in a community education legal clinic for rights of persons with disabilities, building the students to understand the applicable instruments related to the rights of persons with disabilities, developing of the capacity of the students as legal clinicians in preparation of lesson plan for rights of persons with disabilities and building students confidence and enrich them in order to provide legal training to the community. 

LAW 555        HUMAN RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENT

This course introduces students the relationship between human rights and environment. The course examines human rights issues related to the environment under the international law and Cambodian law. This course discuss about the relationship between human rights and environment. It begins with the general concepts of substantive and procedural rights that are related to environment, and it also explains how economic development and environmental damages may have impacts on those rights. Students will have opportunity to understand about the development of international legal frameworks and policies related environment, and how States have taken step to incorporate those laws and policies into their domestic legal system. This course also outlines national laws and policies related to environmental issues, and the roles and responsibilities of national and international institutions that work on the protection of environment and human rights.

LAW 520        CONTEMPORARY HUMAN RIGHT ISSUES

This course offers an opportunity to explore in depth contemporary issues of relevance in human rights. The exact content will vary from year to year, reflecting both the topicality of current events and the interests of the staff and students. The selected issues might include topics such as the reality of human rights defenders, gender issues, and accountability of governments for human rights abuses, trafficking of people, national human rights institutions (NHRI) and human rights and business. Diverse viewpoints will be introduced through the inclusion of guest lecturers with current practical knowledge of the topics under discussion. The course will be highly discursive and will thus build advocacy and consultancy skills.

LAW 518        INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHT LAWS

After having foundation study in International Human Rights Law, this course on International and Regional Human Rights Law seeks to provide students with deeper analysis of regional mechanisms in Europe, Africa, America, Middle-East, Asia, Asia/Pacific, and ASEAN as interpretation of human rights through regional and national court cases, decision of national human rights bodies, and government policies. On the practical side, participants will be introduced to the most important mechanisms as well as challenges to the realization and promotion of human rights, including State compliance and judicial enforcement.

LAW 504        INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AND PRACTICE

This course provides an opportunity for deeper exploration of fundamental legal principles, concepts and doctrinal frameworks (philosophical and moral basis), history, norms, institutions, enforcement mechanism of international human rights. The students also learn the future development/advocacy of “new” rights and threat to rights (i.e. counter-terrorism), the application of international human rights law in Cambodia, and contextualized socio-legal study of human rights issues.

LAW 521        HUMAN RIGHTS AND WOMEN

This course will examine the development of international women’s human rights in its legal, political, and cultural dimensions and the application of critical gender analyses and contemporary human rights thoughts and practices. The concepts include the UN human rights mechanism, Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); key conceptions of human rights and gender issues; the possibilities and challenges of the notion of human rights and women’s rights; transnational feminist advocacy and contestations in regard to the state, sovereignty, law, policy, human rights culture, and global governance. Religion, nationality, race/ethnicity, class, disability status, age, sexuality and transgender issues will be incorporated in the exploration of women’s international human rights.

LAW 519        HUMAN RIGHTS AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

The course deals with both procedural and substantive law aspects of criminal justice and focus on the jurisprudence of various human right courts and tribunals. Topics for discussion including the relation between human rights and criminal law and the models of the criminal process, the types of proceedings to which the guarantees of the right to a fair trial apply, case law on the courts’ independence and impartiality, the right to remain silent, the presumption of innocence, the right to defense, issues related to evidentiary law and witness protection. The course also will give brief introduction to the political mechanisms, tools as well as legal instruments that promote and facilitate transitional justice and reconciliation processes.

LAW 546        SEMINAR (UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW AND PRACTICE)

This course explains the UPR and its process, the roles of stakeholders and state obligations. In this course students are required to practice the report writing and presentation based on the UN Human Rights Council and UPR’s mechanism.

LAW 523        HUMAN RIGHTS AND GOOD GOVERNANCE

This course begins with developing a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of good governance, and in particular the relationship between good governance and 1) public administration, 2) the legal and judicial sector, 3) anti-corruption and transparency, and 4) the military / armed forces. Then, this course will examine the linkage between human rights, public administration and effective and responsible governmental service delivery. The class will also examine contemporary issues in related to human rights and good governance, such as globalization, trade, labour, economic, budgetary, and fiscal policy, health policy, sustainable development, gender, leadership and ethics.

LAW 525        INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW

The course deals with both procedural and substantive law aspects of criminal justice and focus on the jurisprudence of various human right courts and tribunals. Topics for discussion including the relation between human rights and criminal law and the models of the criminal process, the types of proceedings to which the guarantees of the right to a fair trial apply, case law on the courts’ independence and impartiality, the right to remain silent, the presumption of innocence, the right to defense, issues related to evidentiary law and witness protection. The course also will give brief introduction to the political mechanisms, tools as well as legal instruments that promote and facilitate transitional justice and reconciliation processes.

LAW 526        HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

This course examines the intersection between Human Rights and Intellectual Property Rights, in particular on how to strike a balance between the values protected by human right law and policy and values protected by intellectual property law and policy. Topics for discussion will include: examination of the WTO agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), access to medicines, access to knowledge, genetic resources and “bio-piracy,” traditional knowledge, traditional culture and folklore, copyright and free expression, and intellectual property social movements.

LAW 532        GLOBALIZATION AND CONFLICT OF LAW

This course includes an outline of jurisdiction and judgments techniques, but will focus on problems in choice of law, and issues in the exclusion of foreign law. Coverage includes problems in contract and torts, and other areas may be selected from time to time.

LAW 540        HUMAN RIGHTS AND MEDIATION

This is a mediation course where students will learn interest‐based mediation theory and skills and how to overcome difficulties in the mediation process. The course will focus on reading, analyzing and understanding allocated academic articles, understanding the mediation process through a human rights lens, and practicing the skills required to be an effective advocate in this setting.

LAW 542        MOOT COURT

This course will introduce students in how to apply human rights and humanitarian laws to a specific case before the International Criminal Court.  This mock trial before the International Criminal Court will provide students with the opportunity to evaluate facts and apply relevant law either to support or rebut charges against a specific individual on trial before the court.  Final work products of the students will be a written memorial submitted to the mock court as well as oral advocacy before the judges of the mock court.  This course will provide the students with fundamentals of human rights and humanitarian law, an understanding of the work of the International Criminal Court and humanitarian agencies, and written and oral advocacy methods.  The course will simultaneously guide students through student-led research and legal analysis of the specific facts of the case as the students prepare their written memorials and oral arguments in preparation of the national rounds of the ICRC Humanitarian Law Moot Competition.

LAW 545        HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA

This course focuses on fundamentals of human rights, international human rights system and standards, human rights in Southeast Asia, women’s human rights, children’s human rights, human rights and development, business and human rights and environment and human rights.

PSYC 530       HUMAN VALUES EDUCATION

This course is a study about advanced management and leadership application at 4 levels: individual, corporate, state and spiritual. The course explains what are business ethics, morality and character building, as an integral part for a good and responsible leader. The purpose of the course is to enable students: 1) To understand the key components of the four levels of leadership for living a successful career and life; 2) To be able to apply these integrated leadership theories to real life for the benefit of students and society as a whole; and 3) To be able to build their own character and their children’s.

POL 556         THE UNITED NATIONS: MISSION AND ACHIEVEMENT

The course provides a comprehensive overview over the United Nations, its mission and achievements. The course will elaborate first on the UN system and its five principal organs focusing on the question how those institutions have evolved and what role they play in the contemporary international system.

ECON 544      ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Economic development is an endgame of any national economic interest in the pursuit of an increase in national wealth. The Development Economics course pays much attention to various concepts of economic development, Lucas’s development theory and dual economy. It also includes economic growth factors, such as population, production factors, trade, national income, agricultural policy and industrial policy. It tries to find out ways to break a cycle of national poverty from analyzing poverty theories and applying solution to the root cause of poverty, built upon from community development, transfer of financial assistance from the central government to the local community. It finally investigates the issue of economic sustainability from three pillars, i.e. social development, economic development and environmental preservation.

FIN 565          INTERNATIONAL FINANCE (MULTINATIONAL BUSINESS)

This course remunerates background and update about international monetary system, international financial markets, i.e. bond, capital and commodity markets and global financial institutions and systems. It provides the analysis of monetary authority, banking systems and non-bank institutions. It also covers institutional foreign exchange markets, international trade and finance, the balance of payment, international financing and international financial analysis of the multinationals. It finally examines economic exposures from a foreign exchange rate, foreign currency risk management, the risk and return in an international setting, and international financial crises like those in Latin America, Mexico, and in Asia. Case studies about crisis of certain multinationals and emerging economies are introduced to enrich the students’ understanding and knowledge in international financial flows and operations.