Thesis

Writing a thesis

The Master’s thesis is a major part of the LLM in Law and Economics. It stands as the culmination of your work during the year, and it enables you to focus in-depth on the areas of the law and economics of competition and regulation that interest you most. Writing your thesis enables you to develop your abilities in analysis as well as helping you to hone several professional skills – working independently, conducting independent scientific research, and maintaining a logical and consistent argument. Done well, it is a piece of work to be proud of. If your thesis is particularly good, your lecturer or tutor may help you to turn it into an article for publication; and each year, the best thesis is published by Utrecht University to make it available to a wider audience, including the national and international media, and specialist publications.

Thesis details

Your thesis is a long-term research project, worth 15 ECTS credits, and it normally takes about three months to complete. It is intended to be the product of independent thought and study. However, you are assigned a supervisor who will offer you advice and intensive coaching, as well as approving your thesis topic. You meet regularly with your supervisor throughout Semester 2 to ensure that your thesis is progressing satisfactorily, and it is advisable to show a completed draft to your supervisor well in advance of the deadline. The finished thesis should be approximately 10,000 words in length, with an additional 200-word abstract included in an appendix. It should be submitted on or before 20 June, and it will be assessed by your supervisor.

Independent research

Your thesis gives you a unique opportunity to focus on areas of the law an economics of competition and regulation that you find particularly interesting. In previous years, some of the most successful theses titles have include:

• Winner of the faculty prize for best thesis, 2009
• Sjoerd Kamberbeek, ‘Merger performance and efficiencies in horizontal merger policy in the US and the EU’;
• Loes Brekhof, ‘A law and economics approach to damages actions as a means of private enforcement of EC competition law’.