Hi everyone. I'm interested in pursuing an LLM in public international law and I've been accepted to King's College London, London School of Economics and New York University (still waiting to hear from UCL and Georgetown). Any advice or thoughts on any of these programs? I'm American and I'd be happy ultimately to work for an NGO or international org in either the USA or Europe. As far as living in London vs. NYC, I don't have a strong preference either way so I'm really looking to decide based on the strengths of the programs. I'd appreciate hearing any thoughts you might have. Thanks!

Am currently studying at Kings (doing my 3rd yr of the LLB), and did Public international law as a module for my 2nd year. Having said that. A lot of the prominent writers on PIL and International Trade are at NYU ( Weiler.. Howse.. Ryan Goodman.. just to name a few) . For International Law as a whole, you really cannot get any better than NYU. Especially their Colloquiums ;)


I have accepted an offer at NYU's llm for next year (International Business Regulation, Litigation and Arbitration).

if you are in the us and want to work there afterwards go to NYU

if you want to come to the uk and would like to work in europe then LSE or Kings,,,,,LSE has an excellent reputation but Kings is no jok either,,,both are excellent choices

congrats on your acceptances. if i were in your place i would narrow my choices down to lse vs nyu. kings have a great law department, but their llm programme is not quite as comprehensive as lse's, as can be seen in their comparatively pil limited options. the lse is really very, very strong in the pil field, as is nyu.

having narrowed it down to nyu vs lse, i personally would choose the lse for two reasons. 1) the lse's llm is aimed at and delivered to a post-graduate level, as opposed to nyu's llm, where you take classes with students studying for their first law degree. at the lse, your llm classmates will all already have their law degrees, and the teaching will thus be geared to a higher level than in nyu's llm.

2) it would be good to experience a different educational system. i presume that you went to law school in the US. by coming to the UK you would challenge yourself in a new academic system.

for what it's worth, i've chosen to attend the lse lllm programme next year too (and also specialise in pil). the new law faculty building (new academic building) is fabulous, really glam, and the whole set-up is great. i've also visited nyu, and i liked it too (and greenwich village), but for me the lse (barely) swings it. hope to see you there!

Thanks for your responses. Since I first posted, I've also been accepted to Georgetown. Does anyone have any thoughts on the international law LLM program at Georgetown?

Also, what about the job market in the USA vs. the UK and Europe for people holding LLMs in public international law, human rights, etc. PUCCA, what types of jobs are your classmates at UCL going after and getting over in Europe this year? Does anybody have any thoughts on the current state of the PIL job market in either the USA or Europe?

Georgetown is a great school, but choosing it over NYU would be to go down a few notches. I would choose in the following order:
NYU
LSE
UCL, Georgetown
King's

I agree with the comments above re: the LSE LLM being taught separately from the LLB, but I think you'll get a lot more out of your LLM if you do it at NYU. There are more resources and more of them are put on the students (e.g. careers fairs, excellent careers services, an introductory bus ride through Manhattan, parties etc).

Good luck!