I'm an American and I've long since heard that Leiden is a good university. In fact I'm sure that there European law schools are probably as good as the American schools. But as an American, what do you actually get out of an LLM program in the Netherlands? Employment? And if so, where? My impression is that for non-EU citizens, finding a job on the continent is near impossible. On the other side, I don't know of any American firms that recruit at EU schools. And if you take a look on Martindale to see where lawyers/professors received their (Tax) LLMs, it's from American schools. I don't see the economic value in the European LLM if you are an American. I would happily be corrected if I have the wrong impression.

Well, it depends on what kind of career you want to pursue. I am not sure about tax law, though from what I've heard, Leiden Advanced LLM programme on Tax Law is considered one of the best in whole Europe. You should try searching the board for the posts on that.

If on the other hand international criminal law is your thing, getting a Dutch law LLM and sticking around in the Hague would be a wise decision.

GenericUsername is correct. American employers do not care if you have an LLM in any non-Anglo-Saxon law school unless you talking about an American firm that has an office outside of the US/UK. In that instance, the firm would be looking for only candidates that have a work permit in that jurisdiction.

As ttv^ said, Leiden is renowned in Europe. That does not answer the question GenericUsername was asking concerning economic value. As an American, an LLM from Leiden would have no economic value. The same is true for all of the continental law programs.

It honestly depends on what you plan on doing after your LLM. Leiden/majority of the Dutch LLM programmes have strong links in industry within Europe, especially with regard to European institutions/NGOs/intl firms. As far as EU institutions go, as a non-EU citizen it will be tough.

Amsterdam on the other hand has very close links with many American law schools and offer summer programmes for EU & US law students on different perspectives of EU/US law. I know for a fact Amsterdam provides alot of support for US students academically and in terms of advice on future employment.

I would have to disagree with you IHL25 - no economic value is a rather sweeping statement, especially if you include all continental programs. It depends on what you want to do.

In fact I'm sure that there European law schools are probably as good as the American schools.