Hey guys,

just a quick question for those of you who have information on the courses that are offered at Cambridge:
I know it's ridicolous to think that the course at Cambridge will be an easy one. However, personally, my prior goal in going there is to have an enjoyable year. Have fun, meet people and take interesting classes. It's not my top priority to get a First or anything.
So: Does anyone know if there are any courses (assumed no significant background knowledge in one particular field of law) that require less work than others? Cambridge will surely never admit it but I guess it's like often in life: you can choose the hard way or you can choose an even harder one. So anyone any information?

Thanks a lot!

Could anyone tell us about the courses they're taking on the LLM (not necessarily re: which ones are easy/difficult)? That'd be really useful, as I have no idea what to take at the moment.
Thanks

Why don't you choose the courses that interest you most??? There are detailed descriptions of the courses offered last year on the homepage:
http://www.law.cam.ac.uk/courses/llm-subject-forum.php

Thanks Dutchman, I've seen that. I think that inside info is always useful. As an undergraduate I took many courses out of sheer interest and ended up being really disappointed due to bad lecturers, bad structure etc.

Yeah, this IS Cambridge, though. I doubt you need to worry about bad lecturers and course structure, so what interests you really should be the only determining factor in choosing modules.

Yes, of course Cambridge is Cambridge, but every university has bad/mediocre classes. For instance, they can be taught by an amazing academic who doesn't know how to teach.

Anyway, doesn't look like this thread is getting anywhere since current LLM students are probably really busy revising for exams.

Yes, of course Cambridge is Cambridge, but every university has bad/mediocre classes. For instance, they can be taught by an amazing academic who doesn't know how to teach.

Anyway, doesn't look like this thread is getting anywhere since current LLM students are probably really busy revising for exams.

I have taken commercial equity and corporate governance this year. Also finance and international tax. My thoughts:
1. If you are serious about finance you HAVE to take tax, though it is a fairly tough course. That's where you will deal with CFC rules, dividend repatriations, group structures, thin capitalisation. In terms of useful and immediately applicable knowledge, this is the course to bit.
2. Corporate governance - really enjoyed the course. The professor is one of the best teachers I had, he is not the most chatty and you will not here many (or any jokes) during the year but his logic and clarity is indisputable. The structure of the course is outstanding, there is a clear beginning, middle stage and the end. When you are approaching an exam you start valuing this clear and concise approach so much more! I believe that people who had a bit of work experience will benefit from this course more as it is all about shareholders rights, directors duties, shareholder activism and private equity. Basically how to sack a thieving director, how to influence a direction/strategy of the company, how to deal with private equity investors. If you are a fresh graduate, it might be more difficult to comprehend because you are at contract checking, not director removal stage
3. Commercial equity is a challenging course from an intellectual standpoint. Has quite a serious business implication and you will talk about securitisation, trusts as vehicles to hold assets and avoid taxation. You will also spend some time analysing fiduciary duties of trustees. This is the course you HAVE to read case law, do not even dream of passing it if you are not on the top of the cases.
Corporate Governance and Tax - not that many cases.

3.

Thanks Private Equity. That is a huge help. I am in practice right now (I'm also working in private equity), so it sounds like Corporate Finance will be beneficial for me. Do you know anything about the Restitution course?

Sadly, Corporate Finance will definitely not be offered this year because Professor Ferran is on leave for the academic year 2010/11. Therefore, it's also not listed on the provisional course list.

I have not done the course but this is what I heard.,,The lecturer is a very well known one and very entertaining etc. Plenty of jokes to go around...Many people enjoy this method and learn well through it, an equal amount of people do not. It means that people will be left to pick up peaces and do self study. Considering that restitution is also a case base course again and some people are from civil law jurisdictions, this means that you will be doing a lot of self studying without having fundamentals in place. I have heard people screaming just before the exam as they have realised that they will be examined on things they have not covered in class....However, the professor is world famous. My advice here will be: take this couse and do the exam if you have a background knoweldge, take this class and do a dissertation (avoid the exam) if you do not. Then you can enjoy the lectures without pulling your hair out in preparation for exams

Thanks Private Equity, the insight you give is very helpful.

Do you happen to know under which modules are students allowed to take a dissertation on? I was told that some modules do not allow a dissertation in lieu of examinations.

Also, are there any modules which are probably more "fresh graduate" friendly?

p.s Has anyone retained a copy of the LLM 2010/2011 courses? It doesn't seem to turn up anymore when I google for it.

The final (sic) list of papers can be found here. It also explains in which courses you are allowed to do a thesis instead of the normal exam.
http://www.law.cam.ac.uk/press/news/2010/05/publication-of-final-lists-of-papers-for-the-tripos-and-llm-examinations-for-2010-2011/1264

Hi, on clarity of the lectures, having good slides & notes and ease of revision because of this Corporate Governance wins hands down. As for other classes, most people were pretty happy with Intellectual Property and International Dispute Resolution (though there are quite a few cases to read). Also many people took Environmental Law and Jurisprudence. I have heard that Jurisprudence was perceived as an easy subject suitable for the 4th option. However, I have not done this course myself so I do not know 100%. I have not heard of people taking any other courses except for a couple of guys taking a course about EU something like this

Private Equity, could you write something more about EU courses? Have you heard perhaps something about prof. Dashwood?

I am deeply interested in EU law, so I am going to take four courses related to this field of law:
- External Relations Law of the European Union
- Contemporary Issues in the Law of European Integration
- Competition Law
- E.U. Trade Law

Does anyone have any comments concerning these subjects?

Private Equity, could you write something more about EU courses? Have you heard perhaps something about prof. Dashwood?

I am deeply interested in EU law, so I am going to take four courses related to this field of law:
- External Relations Law of the European Union
- Contemporary Issues in the Law of European Integration
- Competition Law
- E.U. Trade Law

Does anyone have any comments concerning these subjects?

If you want an easy and enjoyable life, here is the lo-down:

(i) Do International Criminal Law - the funniest module on the programme. Although, lecturer is slightly harsh on marking

(ii) Banking and Finance - least amount of work BUT maximum results;

(iii) Do one of the many EU law subjects (but not Competition law) as they are all open book, so an easy life. Especially the course on international private law

(iv) Law of Armed conflict - exams predictable as anything

(v) If you have any more questions ask away

hi..this is a deviation from the topic of discussion..but just needed little info from all of you. According to my self service page.. while I was recently accepted by a college...queens actually (anyone else admitted?)..my conditions of offer still lists college membership as a pending condition...

is there a time lag between the home page stating you are accepted in a college and the conditions page getting updated...I was planning to send across docs for the other conditions of my offer..but the cover sheet also contains college membership requirement...I have not received any official communication from my college yet..Am i supposed to provide written proof/ other docs in this regard to the university or the does the university and college communicate amongst themselves the info...

Thanks...

communicate *between

Yes, there actually is a time lag of approx. 1-2 weeks before the condition is removed by the BoGS, even if CamSIS already lists "Accepted at XY College". However, you needn't do or send in anything as far as the college condition is concerned. The update will come as soon as the staff has had time to deal with your file.
Don't worry about this, and send them the documents for your other conditions asap.