Hello,

Do you guys know anything about the following LLM:
- International Commercial Law (Kent, Newcastle)
- European Legal Studies (Bristol) ????

I'm trying to select one of those, and after hours of looking at rankings, courses and different posts, i'm still confused and hesitating between those 3.

Tricky choice...any help would be great

Kent has a very good LLM programme (links to Brussels etc). Bristol and Newcastle always seem more focused on their undergraduates.

The concentrations are very different, so I think it's hard to decide... I would vote for Bristol, but since it's is in european legal studies, maybe you should try Kent... First of all, I think you should decide what subject do you want to study.

thanks for ur reply!
actually, i have a double profile: EU+international, so i don't really look to specialize in a field. Since both LLM in EU and LLM in international commercial law will allow me to choose among different courses, in the end i'll pick the courses that interest me the most ie competition, IP, sales of goods and international contracts.
At this point i think i'm more into:
- the quality of the program
- facilities of uni (library, accomodation),
- and of course the international reputation (when i'll go for a job interview i don't want to get a question like: "oh, what is this university, never heard of it?")

Well I think that based on heritage, national and international rankings and general academic reputation, Bristol might just pip the other two in terms of recruitment prospects. I've certainly met a significant number of practising lawyers in the big City firms with a Bristol degree. I have taken the LLM International Contracts course with Professor Hill and can vouch for it as a thoroughly enjoyable and stimulating programme. The teacher really knows his stuff and goes out of his way to make sure the students do too (this is not common in my experience of UK univeristy education). I read competition law elsewhere, under Val Korah, but we drew heavily upon Brenda Sufrin's (Bristol Professor) work in doing so. She has written the leading text on the course and would no doubt provide a fantastic introduction to this subject. Hope that helps...

hello gizzajob,
if i got it well u'v been to Bristol last year? if so, could give me an "objective" point of view of Bristol uni: pro, cons...
hence if i pick Intenrational contracts and competition at Bristol, i'm good as far as the quality of the programs go ?!

Hey,

Yeah absolutely, you're good for International Contracts. I cannot sing highly enough for Jonathon Hill's teaching. He is extremely competent and supportive. Which, as I'm sure you know, is a rarity for someone at the top of their field. Objectively, this is sadly not true of every course on the LLM Commercial Law at Bristol. In particular, another course I took with a similarly well qualified professor was poorly organised and badly explained. I felt that the professor in question was more concerned with his busy practice as a barrister (and probably his undergraduates) than with ensuring his LLM class felt confident with the material. Having said that, I survived the exam for that subject so maybe I'm being overly harsh and the dissatisfaction was due to a clash of teaching/learning styles.

On the whole, I would say that good support systems are in place, however. Compared to where I took my undergraduate degree, I felt much more looked after, and as though I am more than just a candidate number and tutition fees. The course as a whole was a very rewarding experience and I genuinely feel that the Bristol name is not a bad one to have on the old CV. The only thing I would say, which no doubt applies to LLM courses in general, is that it feels very rushed, cramming everything into 12 months. But you would be expecting that anyway, wherever you go. In terms of extra curriculars, I would recommend getting involved in the Bristol Law Clinic. It gives you excellent practical experience, as well as training in basic practical skills, given by a leading local commercial firm.

I can't speak for competition law specifically, because I studied it elsewhere. However, from my prior studies I know that Brenda Sufrin is the real deal, absolute top flight academic in the field. I have friends who took the course, and they say that they enjoyed it, so that's probably a good sign.

Hey,

Yeah absolutely, you're good for International Contracts. I cannot sing highly enough for Jonathon Hill's teaching. He is extremely competent and supportive. Which, as I'm sure you know, is a rarity for someone at the top of their field. Objectively, this is sadly not true of every course on the LLM Commercial Law at Bristol. In particular, another course I took with a similarly well qualified professor was poorly organised and badly explained. I felt that the professor in question was more concerned with his busy practice as a barrister (and probably his undergraduates) than with ensuring his LLM class felt confident with the material. Having said that, I survived the exam for that subject so maybe I'm being overly harsh and the dissatisfaction was due to a clash of teaching/learning styles.

On the whole, I would say that good support systems are in place, however. Compared to where I took my undergraduate degree, I felt much more looked after, and as though I am more than just a candidate number and tutition fees. The course as a whole was a very rewarding experience and I genuinely feel that the Bristol name is not a bad one to have on the old CV. The only thing I would say, which no doubt applies to LLM courses in general, is that it feels very rushed, cramming everything into 12 months. But you would be expecting that anyway, wherever you go. In terms of extra curriculars, I would recommend getting involved in the Bristol Law Clinic. It gives you excellent practical experience, as well as training in basic practical skills, given by a leading local commercial firm.

I can't speak for competition law specifically, because I studied it elsewhere. However, from my prior studies I know that Brenda Sufrin is the real deal, absolute top flight academic in the field. I have friends who took the course, and they say that they enjoyed it, so that's probably a good sign.

The law fair is a pretty good one. All the magic circle firms put in an appearance and plenty of mid sized and US City firms, not to mention the big firms from Bristol. A number of very large firms specifically went in looking for foreign students taking a Bristol LLM (to offer an internship and woo you into qualifying for them in your home country), so this might be something worth looking into, should you end up going there. I think its a good idea to do a coursework assessed module, it takes the pressure off during exams a bit. I can't really comment on the accommodation, as I was in private rented with friends. I did have a couple of fleeting visits to the halls, they seemed pretty nice / standard. Nothing to worry about there.

That sounds good! Thanks for these infos!
What bugged me is that on their accomodation website, they say that they don't guarantee accomodation for EU students...anyways...