Hello,

I am interested in Uk LL.M. taught programmes in commercial law / corporate / Banking&Finance (full time) commencing in january 2013.

I am focused on UK schoold (Australia/NZ is to expensive and far away for keeping relationships alive)

As far as I have noticed the following univers. offer special programmes in spring semester:

- Reading
(programme sounds fantastic, ranked 8th in times ...but I am not sure about teaching quality and reputation among UK firms)

-City Univ. London
the fees seem to be rather expensive, reputation, current graduate experiences?

-Dundee
(concerned about the oil&gas focus, joint ll.m. with paris sounds nice but would focus on common law

-Aberdeen
(same as dundee, besides having talked to grads who found the whole teaching quality disgusting asides from their reputation / rankings

- Kent (only Economic law situated in brussels)

Please, can anyone provide me with some information about the programmes above according to reputation (I am aware of the fact that common rankings rely on undergraduate evaluation), teaching quality and student life. Graduate insights would be perfect.

Maybe meanwhile new programmes have been launched.

Kind regards,
Denislaw

I am writing to ask for your experience with the Joint LLM in dundee university with Cergy-pontoise .please could you clarify to me the advantage of this program and how the program was in cergy-pontoise specifically ?. it was my thinking that dundee law school have good courses and teaching , it is a well-known and high ranked law school in UK and for cergy-pontoise is a good place to gain practical experience by the hand of well-qualified lawyers and as well improving french language

I am in a bad need to hear your opinion as soon as possible.

-Aberdeen
(same as dundee, besides having talked to grads who found the whole teaching quality disgusting asides from their reputation / rankings.

Hi Danis,

I am speaking as a current LLM student at aberdeen law school. the idea of saying that aberdeen's teaching quality is poor seems flawed. All I found here is very interesting. Professors are experts and they are from a bunch of legal jurisdictions which is considered as an additional value as well. Professors are very approachable and if student has a problem there is always someone to help you out. Which you might not find in other Top schools which sometimes consider the students as a "money-machine".

Perhaps, some of you might have to disagree with me but all I can say is that aberdeen law school is ranked amongst the UK law school. Apart from the school ranking, perhaps the weather in aberdeen is just horrible. I am afraid. :(

Hope it helps you.

Thank you for responding.

It is always valuable to take current graduate views into consideration, therefore I am glad to get more insights in aberdeen school of law from you.

I have spoken with other grads (focused on european law) saying that there is huge gap between the self-image of the law school (which is undoubtedly ranked among the top ten uk schools) and the quality of teaching, cutting subjects etc.

Grads from Edinburgh always spoke a bit snorty about the library in aberdeen. Is there a substantial value?

Which programe did you choose? Did you commence in january? Maybe you can post more about acommodation in aberdeen and courses (how many grads in each course?)

Why did you chose Aberdeen? Maybe you can post your favour in comparism to other schools you might have taken into account.

king regards

Denis

Hi Danislaw,

I am a January intake, majoring in Oil and Gas Law.

The reasons of choosing Aberdeen Law School:
1. The uni is an ancient that has been since 1495 and the law has been taught since then. And the law school is ranked amongst the UK law schools as well. http://abdn.ac.uk/law/

2. Oil and Gas Law specialization in Aberdeen probably the most renown programme in such a course.

3. Students are from a bunch of various countries (in my experience - I met more than 20 nationalities students doing different courses; however, a vast majority of them doing Oil and Gas and International Commercial Law.

3. Aberdeen is known as the capital of energy to Europe and many oil companies are based in Aberdeen where you might probably want to take apart of it upon your completion of the course.

4. Aberdeen houses a well-reputed Center for Energy Lawhttp://www.abdn.ac.uk/energylaw/.

5. Apart from the university's main library which equips a high-tech facilities that has just been opened September last year http://www.abdn.ac.uk/library/, the Law School has its own Library (http://www.abdn.ac.uk/library/about/taylor/) with a number of up-to-date books and journals for all majors and legal jurisdictions.

5. Last but not least, I really want to work in the Oil and Gas industry that is why I made up my mind by coming to Aberdeen law School.

For the uni accommodation: http://abdn.ac.uk/about/accommodation.php. As a post-grad student, you might be offered an option to share a flat with mature students (which mostly are masters and doctoral students) if you choose to be on-campus/uni-accommodation.

One last thing, if you like walking then Aberdeen is the great place to fit in. Each places could approximately take 15-20 minutes by walking which is good for having an exercise everyday. I enjoy it so far. :)

Hope it helps.

I was satisfied with the teaching quality at Aberdeen - even though it always depends on the particular lecturer and program. I do not know anything about European Law -

The Oil & Gas program however is highly renowned, but also the Commercial and Private International Law programs are of very good quality - with dedicated lecturers. The only real drawback is the old law library - that is quite stuffy and overcrowded during term time. For this reason a lot of students prefer to study at home and use the huge online data bases, that are available online over the University account. Another thing is the student life - Aberdeen is not London - which can be felt especially during the summer break, when a lot of domestic students travel home - and all pubs are rather empty. But the beach is very nice - and it does not rain quite as often as in the West of Scotland.

Thanks Floris, especially for describing the outer surroundings at Aberdeen. As I`ve posted before inter alia the Univers. of Reading attracts me, because of their specialisation in financial & corporate law. Unfortunately no one posts any comments on that programe or the school as such. I am currently working as a trainee lawyer doing my law clerkship in a law firm focused on corporate, so being close to the "financial districts heart" would be a dealbreaker. Whilst my final exams take place in December Reading in January sounds reasonable. Can you or anybody here give me some insights or suggestions with respect to Reading Univ.? Thanks a lot.

Kind regards