Professional Diploma
Professional Diploma in International Trade Law
The diploma aims to prepare learners to understand the legal architecture of international commercial transactions, analyze cross-border contracts and documentation, systematically handle import and export obligations, apply trade compliance principles, and ma...
Duration4 Months
Credit hours14
DegreeDiploma
Language of studyArabic
Terms2
About the program
The diploma aims to prepare learners to understand the legal architecture of international commercial transactions, analyze cross-border contracts and documentation, systematically handle import and export obligations, apply trade compliance principles, and manage contractual risks. The curriculum comprises foundational and specialized courses, alongside the "Future Tools" course, which develops the learner's capability to deploy digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and data analytics tools within commercial and legal operations, maintaining strict standards of confidentiality, data accuracy, and mandatory human review.
Vision
To graduate professionals with a solid foundation in the legal applications of international trade, capable of supporting commercial enterprises in structuring cross-border transactions and optimizing contractual and operational workflows.
Mission
To provide professional qualification integrating structured study with practical execution, enhancing learners' capabilities to analyze international trade transactions, identify legal risks, and coordinate effectively across legal, commercial, financial, and logistics divisions.
Objectives
- Understand the sources of international trade law and their relationship with domestic legal systems.
- Analyze international sales contracts and determine the core rights and obligations of contracting parties.
- Examine delivery terms (Incoterms), carriage, insurance, and payment methods, evaluating their impact on transaction performance.
- Master commercial documents and develop mechanisms for reviewing and cross-verifying their consistency.
- Identify customs and regulatory requirements and apply principles of trade compliance.
- Develop skills in detecting contractual risks and preparing preliminary risk reports.
- Examine international commercial dispute resolution mechanisms.
- Deploy modern digital tools responsibly for research, document management, and professional analysis.
Educational philosophy
The diploma combines conceptual grounding with professional applications, allowing learners to study legal rules and evaluate their practical effect on real-world transactions and hypothetical scenarios. Standard-form model contracts, commercial correspondence, commercial invoices, transport documents, and breach-of-contract case studies serve as core pedagogical materials to build analytical, auditing, and documentation skills.Assessments rely on individual and collaborative assignments, case study evaluations, checklist drafting, risk reporting, and applied presentations. The "Future Tools" course is integrated to link substantive legal knowledge with modern digital workflows, emphasizing manual source verification, sensitive data security, and the strict avoidance of unverified reliance on automated outputs.
Learning outcomes
- Interpret the sources of international trade law and evaluate their direct application to specific transactions.
- Analyze international commercial contracts, isolating core terms, liabilities, and potential legal exposures.
- Assess the operational impact of delivery terms on the allocation of costs, transfer of risks, and contractual duties.
- Audit commercial documentation and verify primary data consistency across transaction records.
- Identify statutory and regulatory compliance checkpoints required prior to transaction closing.
- Compile professional checklists for contract drafting, regulatory compliance, and documentary audits.
- Prepare preliminary risk reports evaluating liabilities, delayed performance, and contractual breaches.
- Compare dispute resolution mechanisms relative to the nature of the commercial relationship.
- Deploy digital tools responsibly for legal research, file management, and transactional data analysis.
- Coordinate effectively with legal, finance, commercial, and logistics units on cross-border operational matters.
Career prospects
- International commercial contracts coordination and transaction administration.
- Import and export operations management.
- Operational support within commercial and contract management departments.
- International procurement and vendor relationship administration.
- Trade compliance monitoring and transaction documentation auditing.
- Shipping, cargo insurance documentation, and commercial claims coordination.
- Operational and research support for in-house corporate legal counsel.
- Supply chain operations and commercial logistics management.
- Business development within enterprises engaged in cross-border trade.
Curriculum
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the Professional Diploma and the Training Program?
The Training Program covers eight applied modules over up to three months. The Professional Diploma organizes knowledge into six formal courses structured across two academic semesters, offering deeper conceptual grounding, broader legal analysis, and comprehensive integration.
Is the "Future Tools" course mandatory?
Yes. The course is a compulsory component of the Professional Diploma curriculum, designed to develop practical capabilities in deploying digital technologies and generative AI in research, data organization, and document review, under strict protocols of data protection and human verification.
Can the diploma be completed within three months?
A candidate may apply for graduation review after three months if the capstone graduation project is finalized, provided that all institutional academic and administrative requirements—including all courses, assessments, and approvals—have been satisfied. Finalizing the project alone does not grant automatic certification.
Is a law degree required for admission?
No. Applicants are not required to be admitted lawyers or law graduates. The delivering institution specifies accepted qualifications under its admissions policy, with preference given to backgrounds in law, commerce, business administration, or relevant industry experience.
Does the diploma qualify graduates to practice as international commercial arbitrators?
The diploma covers the general procedural principles of international commercial arbitration and case file preparation; however, it does not confer the professional designation of an arbitrator or grant a license for regulated legal practice.
Curriculum
The curriculum spans two academic semesters, featuring three courses per semester, totaling six courses.
Admission requirements
- A bachelor's degree in law, business administration, commerce, economics, or a related discipline is preferred.
- Applicants with relevant professional experience may be considered pursuant to approved institutional admissions policies.
- Prior foundational familiarity with contracts or commercial transactions is preferred.
- Competence to read professional texts and core commercial documentation, with readiness to engage with specialized English commercial terminology.
- Commitment to completing all coursework, assessments, and applied assignments across both semesters.
- Completion of graduation requirements determined by the diploma provider.
Tuition & fees
Application fee$895.00
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Apply to this programSources of International Trade Law and Trade Agreements
SITL101 2 credit hours Beginner
This course aims to build a structured understanding of the legal sources governing international trade relations, examining the interplay between national law, international conventions, trade usages, and contractual terms. It covers the evolution of rules governing cross-border commerce and the role of international institutions in developing treaties, standards, and commercial practices, while distinguishing between state-level obligations and those arising directly between contracting parties. Additionally, it examines the core principles of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG 1980), its scope, applicability, and relevant reservations. Students will also learn about the WTO's role in regulating state-to-state trade, ensuring they do not confuse government trade rules with provisions governing private contracts. The course includes practical applications to identify applicable law and potential legal sources in hypothetical transactions, training students to document legal references and verify their validity before reliance.
International Commercial Contracts and Contract Drafting
SITL102 2 credit hours Beginner
This course examines the legal and practical principles of international commercial contracts, from negotiations, offers, and acceptances, to identifying parties, goods, prices, quantities, currencies, and delivery dates, up to warranties, liability, indemnification, and termination. It focuses on analyzing how clauses are drafted to clearly define obligations and minimize disputes, studying provisions for force majeure, hardship, price adjustments, delays, and non-conformity. It also addresses determining applicable law and dispute resolution mechanisms, emphasizing internal consistency among clauses rather than relying on generic phrasing that fails to manage core risks. Students practice reviewing draft contracts, identifying ambiguities, conflicts, and gaps, and preparing contract review logs with proposed revisions and justifications. The curriculum covers version control, approvals, amendments, and related correspondence management, distinguishing between preliminary administrative reviews and the specialized legal vetting required for high-value or complex transactions.
International Sales, Delivery Terms and Commercial Liability
SITL103 2 credit hours Beginner
This course addresses the rules governing the obligations of sellers and buyers in international sales contracts, including delivery of goods, conformity, payment, presentation of documents, and notifying the counterparty of performance issues. It explains the impact of the CISG when applicable, alongside national law and contractual terms in resolving issues not settled by the convention. It also covers the Incoterms rules issued by the International Chamber of Commerce, exploring how they allocate specific costs, responsibilities, and risks associated with delivery, while emphasizing that they do not independently resolve ownership, payment, or breach of contract issues. The course reviews forms of contract breaches and available remedies, such as specific performance, damages, or termination when permitted by applicable rules. Students apply these concepts to scenarios involving cargo damage, delay, and non-conformity, identifying facts, documents, and obligations to inspect before evaluating potential legal options.
Trade Compliance, Customs and International Documentation
SITL104 2 credit hours Beginner
This course focuses on regulatory requirements and documentation accompanying international trade transactions, including commercial invoices, packing lists, transport documents, certificates of origin, insurance, and relevant licenses. It covers the general principles of customs classification, rules of origin, and import/export requirements, noting that their application varies by country, commodity type, and active trade agreements. It also studies trade compliance, counterparty screening, regulatory restrictions, and trade sanctions when relevant to the transaction. Students practice cross-referencing data across contracts, invoices, and shipping documents, identifying discrepancies that could cause cargo delays, document rejection, or legal liability. The course includes drafting a regulatory checklist, documenting data sources and executed steps, and identifying official authorities to consult for current regulations. It emphasizes establishing internal procedures that minimize errors and enhance coordination among commercial, financial, and logistics departments, without treating training models as a substitute for official deal-specific verification.
International Commercial Dispute Resolution and Arbitration
SITL105 2 credit hours Beginner
This course introduces students to the legal and practical frameworks for resolving disputes arising from international commercial contracts. It compares negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and litigation before national courts, studying variations in procedures, costs, potential confidentiality, duration, and enforceability of outcomes. It addresses drafting dispute resolution clauses, highlighting the importance of specifying procedural rules, the arbitral institution, seat, language, and number of arbitrators when selecting arbitration, while clarifying that a clause's validity and effectiveness depend on the law, the agreement, and relevant facts. Students will also learn general principles of the New York Convention (1958) on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, considering its scope and application conditions in the target state. Training includes constructing a factual timeline, classifying documents and correspondence, and outlining potential claims and defenses. The course concludes with building a structured hypothetical dispute file suitable for professional review, though training does not substitute for the formal legal qualification required for representation or independent counsel.
Future Tools in International Trade Law
SITL106 2 credit hours Beginner
This course introduces students to modern digital tools that support operations within international trade law, including digital legal research, contract lifecycle management, data analytics, obligation tracking systems, and AI tools assisting in document summarization, clause extraction, and contract redlining. It covers constructing digital workflows to organize transaction files, record deadlines and approvals, classify risks, and generate preliminary reports for relevant departments. It also examines the limitations of automated tools, including the risk of inaccurate outputs, reliance on outdated sources, or misinterpreting specific legal contexts. The course emphasizes the importance of verifying official texts and rule effective dates, protecting contract confidentiality, personal data, and proprietary trade information, and avoiding the input of sensitive information into unapproved tools. Students execute a practical project organizing a hypothetical deal file using appropriate digital tools, demonstrating data sources, human review steps, and the constraints to consider before relying on results for professional decisions.