hi,

I am currently working as a second officer onboard Maersk vessels. I am planning to complete my Masters exam from southampton UK in April 2013. After that I am currently planning to do my LLM (maritime law). I would like to know which are the best places to do LLM from and what are my career prospects (having a background in the merchant navy). Also how much will it cost (rough estimate)?

Ravi.

I joined this platform a few weeks ago and since then I am observing the correspondence and views expressed with interest. I must tell that I am very surprised with some of the comments made. I see lots of foreign students expressing concerns as to the reputation of law schools and making decisions purely on that. Well I was one of them last year and chose to go to St to do my maritime law llm. Let me tell you one thing: what you read on the School website is very far from reality. When I arrived in September, I discovered that Professor Charles Debatista who is a very big name left the Law School- that was not mentioned on the web-site. I also soon discovered that Professor Merkin teaches only 2 weeks in the LLM programme as he is a research professor- there was no reference to that in the web-site. I also learnt from other students that Professor Gasskel who founded maritime at left the School a few years ago. I ended up taking lectures in key subjects from someone I had never heard about before. I also read comments from people saying go to Bristol or UCL for maritime law as they have good reputation. True UCL has a very good reputation in philosophy of law and Bristol likewise in feminist studies and social studies but do these people know how many maritime/trade lecturers professors exist in Bristol or UCL- not many is the answer as I have friends doing LLMs in those places. All I am saying is that dont be fooled like I was with websites and rankings! Does anyone commenting here know the fact that all rankings published in Newspapers such as Times and Guardian the essential data is obtained from undergraduate courses? I learned all these after I came here. I hope I can help some of you by sharing my disappointment. Be smart and choose a ppace where there is a vibrant environ,ment and people do not live on reputations. Choose somewhere where you will learn a lot. Rankings give you a general idea but no one can claim that Cambridge is the best place for transport law studies! Good luck my friends

Thanks for the info liyin. You may actually help me make an informed decision.
I have an offer for an LLM in Maritime Law from both Southampton and Nottingham. I am a bit confused at the moment on what to do as I have friends who are doing the Masters in Southampton and they told me that two of the big professors have left Southampton (Gaskell and Debattista-it must be true as they are not on the School's website) and that the courses are taught by young lecturers. Also I am not sure about Nottingham as I have been told me that there is no real teaching team there and it in only one Professor teaching the core maritime modules.

Hello there..!
If there are any greek speakers this is a blog you might be interested in checking out, regarding postgraduate life in Southampton.
Regards,
H.

http://mastersviewinsouthampton.blogspot.co.uk/