Hi all,

I'm looking for a bit of advice.

I've been accepted to a few LLM programs - Harvard, NYU, Oxford, Columbia, etc. I'm sure every school is the best at something. I'm most interested in jurisprudence though, and from what I've heard from professors and the like, NYU is tops in the US for jurisprudence and Oxford is the best in the UK for the same. I've received scholarships to cover the costs, so purely in terms of academics, which school is better?

A bit of background: I graduated from a top level Canadian law school, I'm currently clerking at an appellate court in Canada, and my long term goal is to become a law prof. I have no formal education in philosophy.

Any advice or suggestions are welcome, particularly from those who have some interest or experience in this area.

no univ in the world can be better than oxford in juris
juris and phil founds make an awesome combo for u as u from common law

I suggest you look for specific professors. Professor Jeremy Waldron will be teaching at NYU next year.

I would have thought it would also be worth looking at the home of Bentham and Austin-University College London, who have a very strong and lively centre of jurisprudence.


Dr. Alan Riley
Director LLM Programme
City Law School
City University, London
Electronic Mail: alan.riley.1@city.ac.uk

UCL has an excellent jurisprudence department if you are a Dworkinian or if you are not one but wish to be surrounded by those that will defend him to the death - if the latter, I would only go to UCL if you are really brave and willing to take risks in whatever papers you end up submitting on the course!

That said however, in terms of the course structure, the BCL Jurisprudence course is far more challenging - the UCL jurisprudence LLM class is really what you make of it - and none of your tutors at UCL are going to expect any more than that. I think you might say the same with NYU.

The only problem with the BCL is that they expect you to have done some Jurisprudence already, so if you haven't, you'll probably have your work cut out for you over the summer before you get there.

I'd say go for Oxford if you really want a challenge.

I'm also interested in Jurisprudence, though not only jurisprudence and perhaps not primarly jurisprudence. (I am taking for granted that you mean analytical jurisprudence, which is narrower than legal theory in its broader sense). I will choose Harvard (among other reasons) because my research interests are quite broad, but I wouldn't if my only interest was jurisprudence.

Having said this, I add:

1) If you like Dworkin's scholarship go for NYU, but if you admire the man but dislike the ideas, be aware that he has the reputation of being an intolerant (famous disputes with Oxford).

2) If you like critical legal studies, you have to choose Harvard: Duncan Kennedy and Roberto Mangabeira Unger are the best in the field.

3) If you want pluralism in all relevant senses, choose Yale (if you were admitted...). They have Jules Coleman, Bruce Ackerman and Jack Balkin, just to mention but few.

4) If you want a real challenge in analytical jurisprudence, you must choose Oxford. Some names: Joseph Raz, John Finnis and John Gardner (among many others). However, note that Oxford is very much focused on a purely analytical perspective. If you're also interested in normatve jurisprudence or Private law theory, for example, it is not the best option (but still a very good option!). Grosso modo, if you want to study what "the law is" and elaborate on the Hart-Raz-Dworkin debate, Oxford is your dream...

Regards.

Its a personal decision but had I been in your position I would go for Oxford especially if you want to focus on Jurisprudence...other than academic reasons...you have already studied in America for your JD/ LLB so you might want to get the whole British experience...on the other hand New York does sound very tempting if you like living in a big city....good luck!