Fashion Law Courses and Degrees in 2026: LLMs, Certificates and Short Courses

You can now spend five days or two years studying fashion law, and pay anything from €150 to more than $80,000 for it. That range is the first thing to understand, because a Zoom diploma, a summer bootcamp and a New York LL.M. all sit under the same search term but do very different jobs. This guide lists fashion law courses with fees and dates published by the providers themselves, explains what each level gives you, and shows how to check a programme before you pay.

Short answer: Fashion law courses range from five-day summer programmes and online university diplomas to full LLMs. Fees run from €150 for students on Montpellier’s online diploma to $81,592 in annual tuition at Fordham. Short courses give you the map, while an LLM adds depth and a degree. Neither qualifies you to practise law on its own.

Key takeaways

• University degrees in fashion law are available at Queen Mary in London, Fordham in New York, LUISS in Rome and Università Cattolica in Milan, among others.
• Queen Mary also sells smaller awards: a PGCert from £7,350 and a PGDip from £14,700 for home students, for September 2027 entry.
• Short options include Fordham’s Fashion Law Bootcamp at $2,450 for 1 to 5 June 2027 and a four-week Milan course at €3,500.
• A word like “certificate” or “master” can mean very different things, so check who awards it, and whether the course is still running, before you pay.

Which fashion law courses and degrees are available?

FLJ’s guide on where to study fashion law explains the four routes into the subject and how to judge them. This table adds the names, using figures from each provider’s own site as read on 4 November 2026. It is a selection, not a complete list, and every fee should be confirmed before you apply.

QMUL’s fees are for September 2027 entry. Fordham’s are for 2026-27 and come from its cost of attendance page. Disclosure: FLJ sells its own courses. We have left them out of this table and describe them separately in our study guide.

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Which fashion law master’s degrees are worth a look?

The full degrees are the most expensive choice and the only ones that give you a postgraduate qualification with real depth. Queen Mary’s LLM runs 180 credits, with 60 free-choice credits from more than 150 modules. Fordham’s LL.M. is for lawyers, and its M.S.L. is for non-lawyers such as founders and industry staff. Fordham’s 2022-23 handbook sets a minimum of 24 credits for the LL.M. and 30 for the M.S.L., and says the M.S.L. does not lead to bar eligibility.

Italy offers two lower-cost university options, both built for people in work. LUISS’s LL.M. is taught in English, with classes on Fridays and Saturday mornings in Rome. MiFeLL at Università Cattolica, now in its sixth edition, brings students to Milan for two days a month and adds monthly live online sessions. It is aimed at lawyers, in-house staff and graduates in law, economics or political science, with a maximum of 40 places. The page is in Italian and does not state the teaching language, so check that first. Both are “second-level” masters, an Italian postgraduate award that sits above a second-cycle or single-cycle degree. It is not the same thing as a UK LLM. Our comparison of the QMUL, LUISS and Fordham LLMs sets the three side by side.

The IIFM master is a different product: a private institute’s programme that accepts any bachelor’s degree and includes 480 internship hours. Its page calls it a “First Level University Master” worth 60 ECTS, but it does not name an awarding university, so ask before you enrol. Whichever you consider, weigh the fee against what fashion lawyers are paid.

Can you take a certificate instead of a full LLM?

Yes, but “certificate” covers two very different things. A university postgraduate certificate is a formal award with credits, assessment and entry requirements. Queen Mary’s PGCert is worth 60 credits from two compulsory modules, runs part-time for nine months and has broadly the same entry rules as the LLM. Its PGDip is worth 105 credits and adds a sustainability module. These suit someone who wants university teaching and a formal award without committing to a full LLM.

A certificate of completion is something else. It shows that you attended. The Fashion Law Bootcamp, for example, gives certificates of completion to all participants, and Fordham does not issue a transcript for it. That does not make it a bad course. It means you should list it on your CV as what it is.

Montpellier’s diploma falls in between. It is a university programme of 96 hours, taught entirely by live Zoom sessions, and it is open to students who have validated one year of higher education. The page is in French and gives no session year, so confirm the dates and teaching language with the faculty.

What short fashion law courses can you take?

The best known is the Fashion Law Bootcamp, the Fashion Law Institute’s summer intensive, established in 2011. The next New York edition runs from 1 to 5 June 2027 at $2,450, with a $250 deposit that counts towards the fee. It is open to lawyers, fashion professionals, law students and design students, and it lists up to 28 New York CLE credits for lawyers. Applications are reviewed as they arrive. The page indicates that room, board and travel are extra.

In Milan, IIFM’s short course runs for four weeks in English from 14 June to 12 July 2027, with a remote option. It takes current degree students and graduates from law, business or economics. Beyond these, you will find many low-cost online “fashion law” courses from training companies, often with undated pages and no named teacher. Our study guide’s six questions and red flags apply to them just as they apply to everyone else, including us.

Which fashion law course is right for you?

Work backwards from the job you want. FLJ’s guide to fashion law career paths sets out the options, and the table below matches them to a sensible first step.

If you are drawn to one part of the field, such as supply chain or product compliance, read FLJ’s guide to compliance and sustainability careers before choosing a syllabus. And remember that an internship may teach you more than a paid course, at no cost.

What should you check before you pay?

• Who awards it: ask for the name of the awarding university, not only the school selling the course.
• Whether it is running: find a dated intake on the provider’s own page. Queen Mary’s pages now show September 2027, and Montpellier’s shows no year.
• Whether the fee is complete: LUISS adds a €48 revenue stamp, the Bootcamp excludes accommodation and Fordham publishes $37,578 in estimated indirect costs.
• Who teaches: ask for names, and ask whether they still practise.
• What a placement means: LUISS says internships are not guaranteed and do not count towards its credits, and Cattolica limits its internship support to students under 30 with no legal work experience.

Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest fashion law course from a university?

Of the programmes checked here, the Université de Montpellier’s online diploma is the lowest, at €150 for students and €1,500 for professionals. It runs for 96 hours by live Zoom. Its page does not give a session year, so confirm the current dates and fee with the faculty before relying on them.

Can I study fashion law online?

Yes, in part. Montpellier teaches entirely online, and IIFM offers a remote option on its courses. Cattolica’s MiFeLL mixes monthly online sessions with days in Milan. Fordham’s online LL.M. and M.S.L. options are in other subjects, not fashion law, and Queen Mary’s course pages describe teaching on its London campuses.

Do I need a law degree for a fashion law course?

Not always. Fordham’s M.S.L. is designed for non-lawyers, and the Bootcamp and IIFM’s courses accept people from business and design. Queen Mary considers non-law graduates with the GDL or CPE, or at least five years’ relevant experience. Fordham’s LL.M. is for lawyers, and Cattolica focuses on law, economics and political science.

Does a fashion law certificate help you get a job?

It can show interest and give you useful vocabulary, but it will not stand in for experience or a legal qualification. Employers tend to value work you can show them, such as drafting, research or an internship. A formal university PGCert carries more weight than a certificate of attendance, though neither is a licence to practise.

Are there fashion law courses in the UK?

Yes. Queen Mary University of London offers an LLM, PGDip and PGCert in fashion law, taught mainly at its Centre for Commercial Law Studies in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Queen Mary described its LLM in 2025 as the first and only one in the UK. That is the university’s own claim.

When do fashion law programmes start?

The Italian masters listed here start in January 2027, with LUISS closing on 29 November 2026 and Cattolica on 31 December 2026. The short summer courses run in June 2027. Queen Mary’s next intake shown is September 2027, and Fordham’s LL.M. starts in August or January.

This article is general information, not legal, financial or career advice. Fees and dates were read from each provider’s website on 4 November 2026 and can change, so confirm them with the provider before applying or paying. Fashion Law Journal publishes its own courses, which are not listed in the tables above.

Featured image: Photo: Howchou via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (adapted)