Hi,

I'm an Indian law student interested in pursuing an LLM in Public International law in the 2011-12 time frame.

It would be very helpful if I could get information on the university rankings for this particular programme. Which is the best? Which are top universities to do an LLM in Public International law from?

Thanks in advance!

Altough they don´t have a specific LL.M mention, NYU has a strong line of investigation about "Global Administrative Law". You should look at their web site.

It depends on which area of PIL you want to specialize. For PIL in general I know that Leiden University in the Neatherlands has an excellent program, or London School of Economics also.

NYU
Columbia
LSE
Leiden
Leicester?
Aberdeen?
Geneva

Cambridge is renown as the top international law centre in the UK - specifically PIL. LSE and Oxford round up the top 3.

Cambridge should def be on that list (sorry for omitting it!)

@Good Gosh, does Oxford really have that much repute as far as PIL goes? I hadn't understood it to be one of their showcase specialisms, and none of the faculty strike me as superstars (although most of them are obviously 'names')- maybe I am overlooking something.

A note on LSE: LSE's PIL faculty has changed a lot over the last 3 yrs; it also feels like a number of faculty in that area are on sabbatical or working on reduced teaching loads at the moment (I suppose next year they will be back) so best to check if you are really set on having a particular person supervise your thesis.

count Helsinki in as well

PIL is not one of Oxford's particular strengths, you're right.

We have both also neglected to mention UCL, which have a very strong public international programme as part of the LLM. Definitely take a look at their website. Easily one of the best law departments in the UK in PIL and overall.

I fully agree with hejonas!

i would also suggest UCL. Im doing my specialization Public International law right there at the moment and i couldnt be any happier!

I agree - Cambridge. Has to be among the top in the world for PIL

Perhaps add Utrecht to the list

Thats good........for more info u can search on google by saying top 100 law schools in U.S....you will get the list and in that you can find out the course

Hi,

I'm an Indian law student interested in pursuing an LLM in Public International law in the 2011-12 time frame.

It would be very helpful if I could get information on the university rankings for this particular programme. Which is the best? Which are top universities to do an LLM in Public International law from?

Thanks in advance!

Regarding rankings, check out the ranking in international law: 1. Columbia 2. NYU 3. Harvard.

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/international-law

If you want to base your decision solely on the rankings, which I would not advice, you should then know that the 2011 US News rankings changed a bit from last year. The top US schools for International Law are now:

1. NYU
2. Columbia
3. Georgetown
4. Harvard
5. Yale

I am fully aware that others are going to reply to this by saying "yes, but the overall ranking of the school is more important!". If you were to base your decision solely on the overall rankings or in combination with the specialized rankings (which I do not recommend either), then there is really no substitute for applying to Yale and Harvard. But that is not necessarily everybody's cup of tea.

At the end, it all boils down to what your long term goals are. For example, I would think that Oxford is a superior option in terms of getting an in-depth training on PIL, but this would not allow you to work in the US. Is that a determining factor for you?

So, do some soul-searching, carefully assess your objectives, and seek the advice of people doing what you would like to do in the future.

that's really good advice. vis a vis the UK i have asked around even more and it's accepted that in the PIL field cambridge is far and away the top faculty, followed by ucl/lse. oxford is comparatively weak on international law. it's strengths are jurisprudence/public law.

Good Gosh! Thanks for the clarification. I guess I fell for the "Oxford is Oxford" trap myself! he, he, he

Regarding rankings, check out the ranking in international law: 1. Columbia 2. NYU 3. Harvard.

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/international-law

Something that should be considered as a criterion to establish which institution may be considered the best in public international law among TOP law schools is international law moot court competitions results. In this regard, the Jessup competition is THE point of reference. Needless to explain to those who have some interest in international law what the Jessup Competition is.
After checking out its website http://www.ilsa.org/jessup/archives.php the results of the best law schools such as Columbia, NYU, Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge are as follows:
Columbia: 3 times winner (2006, 1965, 1963) 1 time second place (2010)
NYU: 0
Harvard: 1 time second place (1967)
Cambridge: 1 time winner (1975)
Oxford: 0

So, among the big names law schools, Columbia has been by far the most successful institution. This is only one criterion to assess the quality of one or other institution but one which is, in my opinion, important.

hmmm...this would seem to me to be a rather arbitrary basis on which to judge an institution's strength. obvious questions would include: how frequently does each uni participate? what is the relative strength of the students within the faculty that does participate? most importantly, does this competition say anything about institutions' relative academic quality? in 2009 Universidad de los Andes in Columbia beat UCL in the final, does that mean that Andes is 'better' than UCL, or that these two are the best places in the world to read international law? i'm rather skeptical...