There have been a few posts recently which suggest Cambridge isn't all it's cracked up to be, or at least that it depends on what units you take. Has anyone taken any commercial law units at Cambridge that they recommend? Or taken any they suggest future students avoid? Does anyone who has gone there regret their choice? How do people think it compares to Oxford, in terms of enjoyment rather than prestige?

I second this post, but would like to add a request for people to also state the basis of their opinion - ie they have taken the paper themselves, or had a friend that did etc.

Also, any comments on the relative merits of electing to be examined by thesis alone, or essay and exam and so on would be appreicated.

I have had lots of friends do the LLM. I was considering going to Cambridge but ended up going to Oxford. My thoughts are as follows:

1. In terms of enjoyment, if this is your priority I would say that you should strongly consider Cambridge. Oxford is a more fun place to live but the workload of the BCL is very heavy (especially if you choose subjects like Restitution and Conflicts of Law) and most of the students here are struggling. So you will probably have a more relaxing and fun year in Cambridge. But don't take this as a criticism of the BCL. It is an amazing programme and if you really want to push yourself hard and reap the rewards it is wonderful. But it is not easy.

2. Restitution at Cambridge is said to be very good. Virgo is very popular. International Dispute Settlement was highly recommended to me as well and has some commercial arbitration elements. The comparative financial law course is quite similar to the course at Oxford which is very practical and popular, and not as tough as some other subjects. The conflicts of law course at Cambridge has not received huge support from people I know who have done it but it is probably a useful subject to do. Let me know if you want to know about any papers in particular.

3. Most people I know who have done a thesis have found that it is rewarding and gives them a lighter load in the exams, which is nice. I don't know much about the essay & exam option (only available in a few subjects, if any, I seem to remember).

Not doing many commercial options but the international settlement of disputes is phenomenal. I would absolutely 100% recommend it.

Thank you to the above posters - both are very helpful.

Joseph - I've also heard that the LLM is less demanding than the BCL. Certainly in Australia (where I'm from) that is part of the reason why the BCL enjoys a better reputation. I'm note sure whether you (or Yellow) are from the UK, but I'd be interested to know whether that perception is widely held (without wanting to go down the path of other, acrimonious threads on this forum), and in partocular, whether there is a significant professional advantage to holding a BCL (as opposed to Cantab LLM) in large London firms & the Bar etc.

Yellow - thanks for the tip. Did you take any other good units (commercial or otherwise)?

Does anyone know anything about the Competition and Insolvency courses?

Thanks again.

Joseph,

Quite interesting info - thanks! The only thing is that you metnioned Coflicts of Law course art Cam, whereas I could not locate it on their site - could you pls clarify?

I'm from Ireland. I think it is fair to say that UK LLMs are viewed in a sort of a tiered fashion there.

Tier 1: Cam, LSE, Ox
Tier 2: UoL
Tier 3: Dur, Nott, Warw

The other course I would recommend is Int'l Crim. It is almost universally liked. The lecturer is really good and more importantly approachable. You do get the odd stinker which for me has been Int'l HR. The course is quite interesting but is taught from an extremely liberal stand point which can make it difficult to foster debate. To say that you can see certain situations where torture is inevitable or even desireable is not to say that you think torture is a good thing! It also is not focusing on what I hoped it would which is the institutional basis. It is taught with the focus on different aspects of HR but then that is subjective.

The Conflicts course at Cambridge is called Private International Law, sorry about that. Fentiman teaches it. It was not offered this year.

SR,

I don't think firms in London will care too much whether or not you've done a Masters degree if you're from a good Australian Uni (UNSW, Sydney, Melbourne etc) and you have experience at a big firm there (Mallesons, AAR, etc).

The BCL or LLM may be more of a plus if you're from a non-common law country or for local students looking to get Oxford or Cambridge onto their CV.

However, at the Bar in London, the BCL is a big plus and the LLM at Cambridge is certainly an advantage.

In summary, I would say that there is a wide recognition at the Bar here that the BCL is the top programme. Firms definitely care a lot less.

One last post. At Oxford:

Insolvency: outstanding course, unfortunately not offered this year. It has a great reputation. It's meant to be difficult though so if you're doing Rest & Conflicts as well you should be careful.

Competition: mixed reviews. Not one of the "famous" BCL subjects, certainly. Couldn't really say much more than that. But if you're into it, you could put a great programme together with Competition, IP, Regulation and a dissertation.

Hi everyone,

Are there any pre-requisites that need to have been taken in the LLB for courses in the BCL at Oxford or the LLM at Cambridge?

At Oxford, some subjects are restricted to BCL (as opposed to MJur students) although MJur students may be able to take some of them (e.g. some of the tax law subjects) with an appropriate corequisite subject (e.g. trusts).

Otherwise, language is a factor in a couple of subjects. At least one requires Latin and another (Comparative Public Law) suggests that one has a working knowledge of French (although people have done very well in this subject without any French).

I can't think of any other prerequisites.

Thanks for your response Joseph1.

So, for example, you wouldn't need to have taken Public International Law in your LLB to be able to enrol in Public International Law at Masters level or in the BCL?

As far as I know there are no restrictions at Cambridge. Certainly alot of the people doing substantive international law courses appear to have never even seen an international law book before. I would say however that if you intend doing international law with absolutely no background in it that you take the foundations of international law class. I'm not taking it myself because I've already done P.I.L. as an u/g but alot of people are and it may give you a broad overview which you will otherwise struggle w/o

Thanks :)