Welcome to the Institute for Law and Finance (ILF)

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.

The ILF stands for

Internationality in All Aspects

The LL.M. programs are international in every respect: our curriculum, our faculty and our students. The courses offered by the LL.M. Finance and LL.M. International Finance programs include such as European and international corporate law, the law on capital markets and securities as well as topics on European monetary policies and central banking. The LL.M. Finance degree program also offers a wide range of courses on specialized topics such as “Accounting”, “Insurance Law” and “Law of Business Taxation”.

Our large faculty comes from over ten countries in Europe and the United States. In addition, our students come from all over the world – generally from more than 22 countries each year.

Learning in Excellence

The Institute for Law and Finance (ILF) is a center for academic excellence in teaching and research in the fields of law and finance. It was established in 2002 as a foundation of the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main with the support of many prominent institutions such as leading commercial banks, international law firms and regulatory authorities.

The ILF also provides a policy platform in the legislative process by offering forums for discussions and exchanges between academia and practitioners. Numerous public conferences and guest lectures are held during the year to keep interested parties updated on relevant issues relating to law and finance.   

Financial Hub Frankfurt

Frankfurt plays a central role in European and global finance. As a result of the European Central Bank, the German Central Bank and the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority as well as many international banks and law firms being located here, our students find themselves right in the midst of legal and financial activities and at the forefront of legislative and regulatory changes.  

The ILF, which is located in Frankfurt, the major financial center in Europe, provides the ideal location to train young professionals to deal with the legal and financial challenges facing a Europe with 27 states in the European Union and beyond.

 

Mr. Hans Eichel, former Federal Minister of Finance, Germany, Member of the ILF Board of Trustees:

"With the Institute for Law and Finance and the Center for Financial Studies, Frankfurt am Main has created a center of competence in finance that is of national importance."

Prof. Dr. Rudolf Steinberg, former President of Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Member of the ILF Board of Trustees:

"The ILF marks an important step forward for Frankfurt as a center of learning and finance. We offer students a community of excellence that focuses on training tomorrow's leaders in the world of business and finance. Goethe University is proud to have founded the ILF as a vital part of our far-reaching commitment to interdisciplinary teaching and research in finance."

Prof. Dr. Andreas Cahn, Executive Director of the Institute for Law and Finance:

"The ILF has a teaching faculty that comprises both distinguished academics and outstanding professionals. Therefore, students from all over the world who study at the ILF are offered an ideal environment to engage in both the theoretical as well as the practical aspects of legal and financial education. With its international and interdisciplinary focus on training coupled with its prime location in Frankfurt, the European financial center, the ILF furnishes its students with the much desired head start in careers of their choice."

Goethe University Frankfurt am Main

 

The Goethe University Frankfurt am Main is proud to bear the name of the brilliant thinker, scientist and poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe, who was one of Frankfurt’s greatest citizens.

Goethe University is one of Europe’s leading institutions of higher education. Although the current organization was founded as a university in 1914 by prominent citizens of Frankfurt, its actual origins go back to 1763. The Faculty of Law and Faculty of Business and Economics are among the largest and best known in Germany. Frankfurt has earned an excellent reputation in the field of international business law. The well-known Institute of Foreign and International Business Law, which was founded in 1953 by Helmut Coing, Walter Hallstein, Heinrich Kronstein and Hans-Jürgen Schlochauer, has now been integrated into the ILF. Its extensive library has been incorporated into the ILF library.

With currently more than 45,000 students, including around 7,000 international students, the University prides itself on a rich tradition of intellectual and cultural excellence. Numerous Nobel Prize winners in science and medicine, including Max Born, Paul Ehrlich and Max von Laue, were among the students and teachers of the University. It is home to the world-renowned Frankfurt School, the Institute for Social Research of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, and has enjoyed the teaching of philosophers and theologians such as Paul Tillich and Martin Buber, and currently, Prof. Jürgen Habermas.