Hello,
I'm intending to study for the LLM in international (commercial) law and have offers for 2010/2011 from the University of Warwick and the University of Nottingham. Which one would you recommend if you were to make the decision based solely on reputation and future employment prospects?
According to my research so far, Warwick has a better overall ranking as a university but Nottingham has a better ranking in the area of law.

I'd personally pick Nottingham. It has a much better law school. Don't read too much into its relatively lowly position in overall Times/Guardian league tables, it has an excellent reputation as a university as well as for law. It's one of the oldest universities in the country, much older than Warwick, and is held in high regard. As universities there isn't much to choose in terms of reputation but the law school at Nottingham is stronger. I think your prospects would be better at Nottingham.......that said, I'm going to decline my offer from them and go to Durham.

Hello Panthro,
Thank you for your advise. I'm currently favouring Nottingham because it seems to offer some subjects that are more suitable for me.
By the way, I've noticed that you are very well-read and knowlegeable about the universities and their strengths and weaknesses. Also, I've seen that just as me, you applied for the general LLM programmes. I'm actually thinking about changing to the international (commercial) law specialism. Anyways, why do you think Durham will be a better choice for you? Does it have a better reputation or does the course structure suit you better?

Kind regards,
lawstudent2010

You're welcome!

I chose general programmes as I didn't want to become too specialist. I want to work in a mid-tier London firm and therefore it wouldn't be in my interests to specialise too narrow. This way I can study a few subjects that I have greatest interest in and that will benefit me in my career. I read an article in Lawyer2B in which one of the graduate recruitment officers at one of my favourite firms advised doing this. Also, I spoke to the course leader at Durham, told him I was looking at a general programme and asked of the relative merits of general vs specialist and he told me that specialist LLMs generally targetted foreign students. I'm from the UK.

There are a few reasons I'll pick Durham. It is always one of a handful of universities that sit immediately below Oxbridge. As a smaller university it occupies a relatively lowly position in global rankings but it's always a top 5-10 UK university. There is a lot of prestige attached to Durham University. I know of a lot of Durham students who are to train with the best firms, and that's a major factor in my decision. While I'd like to do the course, I'm ultimately doing it to boost my applications to the best firms. Durham has a "wow" factor, as I experienced when talking to a partner in a fairly major regional firm on Friday evening.

Furthermore, my home is not too far away. While I'll live in Durham during the course I have a lot of friends and interests in Newcastle and Northumberland.

When applying for LLMs I generally applied to good/excellent universities but my choice would always be between Durham and UCL if I was lucky enough to receive offers. Nottingham would have been my first choice outside of these options if I didn't receive an offer from either. Don't assume that my decision to decline Nottingham means I regard it as in any way inferior for law.

Hi Panthro,

Thanks again for going into details about your reasons to go to Durham. I'm myself from Germany and as sad as it is, the general public and, to some extent this applies to personnel recruiters, are not very familiar with British universities except for Oxford and Cambridge. For this reason it perhaps may be a little bonus for me that Nottingham seems to appear in major world rankings among top 100 universities. By discussing your reasons for the general LLM you touched upon an interesting subject for me. As a non-lawyer I also thought extensively about doing a general LLM; my logic was that by avoiding to specialise I could keep many more career doors open than if I did choose to specialise. On the other hand, however, isn't there some danger that someone with a general LLM would be considered as a Jack of all trades, but master of none by a potential employer?

Kind regards,
lawstudent2010

As a general LLM you are able to pick and choose a handful of subjects and thus avoiding specialisation.

Recruiters are of the view that you should NOT specialise that much but do a course with a more general nature and study what you want!

Durham does attach some prestige but there are other schools of law that you could consider that also have a very strong position in the world rankings such as Bristol. It is one of the best schools in the country and positions very well with city firms.

I am about to qualify as a solicitor in 2011 and will apply to some of these schools enrolling in the one that will give me more financial assistance.

I believe Durham has the "wow" factor as regards to its LLB as I am not sure about the LLM. It sure is a good school in any case.

Most quality LLMs require you to choose 3-5 subjects to study. For me that's great, you can cover a decent range while focusing on certain areas you like. Maybe it would help if I let you know what I'm thinking of covering. I have an interest in IP so want to cover that, I also think an EU option is important as EU legislation will affect you in practice irrespective of your area of specialism. I also want to cover something more corporate/financial. I think that should give me a decent balance.

I was about to apply to Bristol but literally the morning I was going to send the application I received the offer from Durham. Bristol is good but possibly not quite one of the very top law schools.

Durham's LLM is very reputable. It only accepts around 70 students though, across its 3 LLM offerings. The LLM focuses on its research strengths, and Durham (tied with Nottingham) is the 4th best law school for research. It is one of the very best LLM programmes on offer, though some students might not be able to find the right combination of modules as its range is more limited than a number of other universities.

Nottingham is a brilliant choice - and over £2,000 cheaper than Durham! The city centre's actually really good too, you should have a good year socially in addition to your legal studies.

No point on arguing which is better than the other.

Outside London and Ox/Cam, there is not much difference in the schools. Durham might have been the best option for Ox, Cam 40, 50 years ago but there are other schools now as good or better. I am not bashing its reputation, I am just saying that Bristol for example is a good school and at the same level in Law with Durham.

In any case, an LLM from either will open you doors in the city.

I agree with that. I just thought it was worth explaining that, while Durham's LLM is not discussed as much as others, possibly due to the fact that it doesn't market it heavily and only admits a small number of students each year, it is actually a very good programme.

Re admission 70 students was a few years back. Since at least 2006 they admit 115 students...

I was admitted in 2008 and did not take up the place. That year they admitted 120 students.

You'd think they'd update their website then:

"Our LLM programme is especially cosmopolitan, with around half of the 70+ students from across the enlarged EU and half from outside the EU. "

The "+" must count for 50 students on that basis.

I think so..!! I had the same question in mind...