The Institute for Law and Finance (ILF) is a center for academic excellence in teaching and research. It was established as a non-profit foundation in 2002 by Goethe University Frankfurt am Main with the support of many prominent institutions. Leading commercial banks and international law firms, the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the City of Frankfurt and the State of Hesse, as well as the European Central Bank and the Deutsche Bundesbank have been actively involved in the ILF right from the planning stages until today.

The ILF conducts academic teaching and research and plays a supportive role as a policy center since its establishment as a private-public-partnership. It provides interdisciplinary training to lawyers, senior management and executives in Germany and worldwide and serves as a policy center in the legislative process by offering forums for discussions and exchanges between academia and practitioners.

Teaching

The ILF offers a Master of Laws in Finance (LL.M. Finance) degree program on a comparative law and interdisciplinary basis to highly-qualified graduates of law or business/ economics from Germany and overseas. This Master’s program is aimed at students interested in combining theoretical knowledge and practical training in the specialized fields of law and international finance. Courses in this highly-specialized program are conducted entirely in the English language.

Our faculty consists of both prominent academics and practitioners. Highly-reputable law and economic professors from Goethe University Frankfurt, all of whom have impressive international experience, as well as guest professors from abroad and partners from major international law firms, experts from central and commercial banks as well as regulatory bodies and auditing companies are here to transfer their knowledge and expertise to our students.

The faculty-student ratio of 70 to 50 is excellent and our small classes ensure close direct contact between faculty and students. In addition, all our students have the opportunity to apply the knowledge acquired during the program and also make professional contacts by doing 6 to 8- week internships with our sponsors. Furthermore, the ILF has cooperation agreements for student exchanges with Columbia Law School, FGV DIREITO RIO in Brazil and Amsterdam Business School.

Every year, the ILF also offers 2-week summer and spring schools. Experts from law firms and banks from the long list of ILF’s sponsors provide an intensive insight into the practical issues involved in the law of banking and capital markets and company law to about 40 pre-selected legal trainees.

Research and Policy Center

In addition to its educational role, the ILF is also a center of competence for research and policy-making in the areas of law and international finance.

The ILF assists in the process during which important legislative changes are made in the fields of the company, banking, and capital markets laws by ensuring that such changes are well considered and discussed via academic researchers and forums. To this end, the ILF has a series of working papers and regularly organizes guest lectures, conferences and discussion podiums on current topics. Speakers include university professors from Germany and abroad as well as representatives from regulatory bodies, corporations, organizations, and legal firms.

The public is cordially invited to all ILF guest lectures which are held on a regular basis in the House of Finance.