Ranking European universities... You guys make me laugh! This is absolute nonsense. You guys make rankings based on personal experience? Or you just did scientific research during the last summer holidays? LOL

If you want to do tax law: go to Leiden or to that Austrian university
Otherwise, each country has good universities. Of course, Leuven is not Oxbridge or Sorbonne.

European Law schools cannot be compared since each will teach their national law, most often in their national language. A german degree won't be of any help if you want to know/practice French or Spanish law.

If you just want it as a line of your resume to practise in the US or UK just go for prestige. Sorbonne, Heidelberg, Bologna, etc... would be good choices.

Now to practise in Europe with a real competence in local law, do not discard younger Universities with less international prestige but an excellent local reputation such as, for France, highly regarded Assas, Paris V, or Sceaux.

If you are looking for a very specific field, other Universities could even be a better choice. For example, in international arbitration, E. Gaillard, one of the world references, teaches in Paris XII Saint Maur. For European law, that's of course Strasbourg's specialty. For Business law, I cannot think of better professors than Viandier and Canivet (former chief justice) in Paris V.

I would go for "real" prestige, i.e. what recruiters and admissions officer know.

While 99% of people in the street think Harvard is a better law school than Yale, the recruiters know the difference. Ok, both are top universities. The Sorbonne might be a better experience: famous for its history, but a crap university today.

So it's definitely worthwhile to do some research.

The Sorbonne might be a better experience: famous for its history, but a crap university today.

La Sorbonne a crap law school !!!

Do you have any idea of who teaches there ?

Yes. Although I am obviously generalising and putting Paris I, III and IV in the same bag. Paris I for law and Paris IV for the Celsa and LEA stand out.

Again, the recruiters will know.

Pantheon-Assas (Paris Deux, Paris II) is generally understood as the best known for its Law faculty. After all, they were the leader of "Paris Universitas", the group of faculty who insisted on maintaining the traditional subjects taught - Law being one of them --, instead of the division of subjects favoured by the now Paris-IV (Paris-Sorbonne).

Plus, most of their students are from the upper-middle class -- the reason you might want to pick prestigious law schools, or any universities of prestige, really, because you want to get some bloody connections, so attending posh ones are only logical.

But honestly, the question is really what do you want to do? Research? Or do you just want a degree to practice (LLB)? If you want research then check the department and see if they have the supervisor(s) you are interested on working with, and of course, you need to check how much funding they have. But, if you just want an LLB or something of the sort, then go find the university that teaches the kind of law you want to practice. This is perhaps where your question comes into picture, which one is more likely to give me a "good" job. Then I can only suggest that you find an Index that gives you their graduates' employability -- I'm not sure where you can find this sort of Index in Europe, however.

Nevertheless, note that selectivity of getting in to a program does not necessarily mean the program is THE best. It might give you a sense of prestige; getting in to a tough program and all. But some tough universities lack the "proper" connection to the local, or national, industry. So do you research on that as well, that is, if the university has a good relationship with the industry.

Also, don't forget to gauge your potential faculty. If your professors are well connected, then you might be able to get them to notice you. Who knows, you might get hooked up.

If you think about Central Europe, probably the best law school is at the Jagiellonian University (the oldest universities are Charles University in Prague /1348/ and Jagiellonian Univeristy in Krakow /1364/). In Krakow there are several LLM programs organized in cooperation with foreign universities (Washington, Dresden, Orleans) which grant their national diplomas. There is also the European Doctoral College (Krakow-Heidelberg-Mainz).

Personally I can agree with the opinion of a previous person that Jagiellonian University is one of the best in Europe. Another Polish University which is regarded as one of the best is of course Warsaw University but there is not LLM but MA in English. I read that Dutch Universities are very good in English programms which are very practical and useful for students. Danish , Norwegian and Swedish are regarded as as one best too because of their stndards. If you know well French and you consider French as a place of work Sorbonne is recommended as a higly University. In Germany there are many good proogamms.

As being a french law student, I'd advise you all to choose ASSAS (Paris 2) as your LLM choice if you plan on coming to France. It's considered as the Best Law School in France, and like someone already said, the students that go there come from the upper-middle class, so .. you get it.
Assas is considered by far here as the #1 law school in France. I hope I helped some of you out!

I can only agree with the person mentioning that we (Central Europe) are not so much into elitism. Especially in Austria we do not (yet) have elite universities - so we're just "fighting" who has the better reputation, Vienna or Salzburg...:-)

In my opinion it is far more important to choose an llm programm that brings you forward concerning the content. Here in Salzburg we have, for instance, an LLM-Program in Transnational Business Practice which focuses on European and American business law, in collaboration with McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento (which is, as far as I know, among the 100 best universities in the US). The courses are all taught in English, so you do not have any language problems and if you can't decide whether to stay in Europe or the US, you're having both here! There are always very super-qualified lecturers like judges of the ECJ and members of the EC.

It is quite a lot of work and quite exhausting - and surely nothing for people just whishing to collect titles to impress recruiters. But if you really want to gain knowledge, it is - in my opinion - one of the best programmes I know!

Anyone knows Vienna School of Law is better than Salzburg. And you can tell that after you observe and compare the library facilities, the professors, the student life, the opportunities from Vienna and Salzburg. Actually, I don't think we should really compare the two: they are on different caliber. Vienna enjoys prestige in all Europe ...

(However, Salzburg is very beautiful as a mountain resort. )

My friend took the Salzburg/Sacramento programme - it does have a very high level - but it's still lacking wider recognisability (a Central European standard :)

I can recommend the new LL.M. Programme "Master of Laws in Corporate Restructuring" at the University of Heidelberg. A very good programme!
(www.llm-corp-restruc.de)

I also recommend Sciences Po Paris (Institut d'Etudes de Paris) which is a very highly regarded university in Paris. They have programs in law and have connections with prestigious universities such as the LSE (London) and Columbia (NY) among others.

I can recommend the new LL.M. Programme "Master of Laws in Corporate Restructuring" at the University of Heidelberg. A very good programme!
(www.llm-corp-restruc.de)

Hello, everybody,
I need your help
I am student from Armenia, and I have posed my candidatures for Assas and Sorbonne. In Armenia we have a state program which funds studying in the "top" universities. I really want to study in Assas but I don't know how to prove that Assas has an international reputation. I have found Sorbonne in the top Universities (e.g. at this site). But nothing about Assas as being prestigious worldwide in the field of law. So, can anybody tell me is there any ranking where Assas is considered as a top university or any other proof? I would be very grateful to you.

Hi everyone! I'm interested in International and European Labour Law LLM at Tilburg University!

Does anybody have any idea of this programm?

Thanks!

Cambridge is better law school than Oxford ..LNAT test required..very thought to get in..but know few people who didi LSE and oxford..and i am not really sure how they fifnished it cause these guys are not even able to give full speach in english for like 10 minutes..so be careful..
personally called them to address this question and no reply until today...ia m considered as an international student too and dont get me wrong but really wouldn't like to study with any of them..one of my friends from Oz quit the course and complained to directors too..maybe they make diffrent gruops or something i really dont know..just know that they have like 50 colleges inside any uni..
good law degrees in eu..HEC international law and mangement...Leiden advanced taxation..maastrich advances law....if somebody knows more feel free to post...also note that english law is different from eu law...this eu law degrees are becoming very popular.its good time to start...especiall law degrees combined with management, tax or investment..why..any of you who every had a company and/or worked on some management position realised that without proper law knowledge you are really not able to make any move....also good if you are planing in the future to have your own consulting or practise...please note that for this degrees you need to have or master degree already or/and some experience in the business....working excluded and part time styding is really not advised...Leiden tax doesnt even have scholarship...please also note some LSE law courses are not recognized in eu ..same with university of monaco...me personally will choose the school from the continent..you will learn another lanaguage too and will ahve real feel of europe....forgot rotterdam too..Also check danish Msc elite degrees but they are quite expesnive for internationals...around 35000 eruos but really excellent courses..NHH in norway too and sweden of course university of stockholm....cheers

Hey,

I think it is really hard to compare the various Law schools in continental Europe. I am a Law student myself in the Netherlands, and I believe one could say that all schools have a general good level here. There are some differences of course, but they are not that big. Same situation in countries like Sweden, Denmark and Belgium I believe?

However, there are some rankings of course, and some programmes might be (a bit) better in some schools. I have heared many positive stories about Tilburg recently, but for example Public International Law in Leiden seems to be a very good program in that field.

I would advise everyone who is interested in doing a LLM in the Netherlands to really check the differences in the programs, the teachters, some rankings and of course the faciltiies rather then the name of the school. And do not forget everything here is really close (as is Belgium and Germany) so do not be afraid to go to a smaller city.

Ranking by prestige:

1. College of Europe
2. Université de Liège (ULg)
2. Panthéon-Sorbonne
3. Leiden
4. Ludwig-Maximilians


Ranking by citation of faculty scholarship:

1. College of Europe
2. Bologna
3. Université de Liège (ULg)
4. Ludwig-Maximilians
5. Panthéon-Assas