I was accepted to both Essex and Nothingham's LLM in Human Rights Program. Can anyone tell me which one has the better LLM in Human Right Program? Nottingham is in the Russell Group (comparable to the Ivy League in the U.S.), but I have heard that Essex has a better IHRL program. Please feel free to share your opinion with me. Thanks guys.

as you say, nottingham is ranked substantially higher than essex as a law department, but human rights law is a comparative strength at essex. were i in your place, i would decide based on a) whether the courses at notts/essex suited me more/seemed more interesting, b) whether there were any particular academics i wanted to work with at either place, c) whether i wanted to work in a HR job or a general law job. best of luck with your decision!

I'd just go for Nottingham. Employers are more concerned with the institution than their strength in particular areas. It's easier for human rights to stand out at Essex as it's not that highly regarded. Nottingham, in general, is very well-respected.

There are a lot of similar threads on this forum on this exact topic - you'll find them if you search for "human rights" or "Essex". The general consensus is that Essex is the better programme. As for the comment above re employers being more concerned with the institution than their strength in particular areas, whilst this is true for undergraduate degrees, it is not as true for postgraduate. Within the field of human rights, all the best people either teach at or have studied at Essex and, therefore, everyone recognises it and what it means to have it on your CV. Good luck with your choice.

I completely disagree that employers are more concerned about the strength of the institution than their strength in a specialty. That may be true for other areas of employment, but not for human rights law. NGOs don't have time to train you, and IGOs have too many good people applying to pick up someone they'll have to train in their area of expertise (or in general human rights knowledge). So pick your school based on what you want to do and the strength of the people teaching in that area.

I just addressed a similar question here:
http://www.llm-guide.com/board/83286

The exact same thing applies in my field, Maritime Law: specialised employers don't have time to train new employees and therefore take people with an LLM in Maritime Law where they would not even consider someone with a general LLM from a top Uni. It's not so strange if you think about it.

I am an incoming postgraduate student from the U.S. I am wondering if there are any students from the U.S. who will be studying at Essex this fall. I was admitted to the LLM in Human Rights Program. Myself and another student are looking for roommates for the year. Please respond to this post If you are also an incoming postgraduate student to Essex and you are also interested in roommates. Also, please feel free to email me at diaka7850@yahoo.com if you're an incoming postgraduate student to the LLM in Human Right Program. I will love to meet some future classmates.

Ho, and perhaps an important point, is that Essex has the best Government department in the UK (with notably top human rights scholar such as Michael Freeman or Todd Landman) in terms of research... Or Essex is ranked 9th best university in the UK for the quality of its research in The Times, The Guardian and The Independent http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2008/dec/18/rae-2008-results-uk-universities. Or, Essex has from far away the biggest network of human rights alumni in the world, which mean that all these people, and the people who employed them, and surely the people they employ, know Essex very well..

While I agree with the all the comments, I think it's important to point out that Nottingham's Human Rights Law Centre is also excellent and the Law School's research quality is very highly ranked indeed (http://nottingham.ac.uk/Law/Research/rae.aspx). But yes, base your decision on your overall impression of the programme/department, not the (undergraduate) league tables. Good luck!