I would be very interested in student views on LLM Internships. Under the two I have negotiated so far in shipping and competition law, and the others I am currently negotiating the internships aim to add a practice dimension to the LLM, and take place May to July during the LLM Programme.

My view is that they provide a practical edge to the academic learning and enhance career prospects in the corporate legal market-but I am interested in your views on how valuable internships are for students.

Your views will affect my decision on whether to expand the programme next year and organise more internships.

Also I would like to know whether any one else organises such internships? As far as I am aware no one else at least in London has such an LLM Internship programme

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

1. You are providing LLM students at your school an invaluable resource/tool/experience, which sadly is missing from most other LLM programs. 2. Quite often for overseas students the postgraduate degree in the UK is viewed as enhancing their career prospects and/or opening up doors to the UK job market but because of visa/residency issues employment opportunities rarely follow graduation. 3. In addition, the LLM, like most other degrees, is based on academic theory and the internship adds a practical if not a real world aspect to the educational experience. 4. It gives students hope that if they should win the internship, their odds of finding work have dramatically increased and the number one reason why students undertake the LLM is to find suitable employment in the professional marketplace. 5. You should definitely give strong consideration to expanding the programme next year and thus organise more internships.

Dear Euroturk,
Thanks for your positive comments. I have also had a number of positive comments off site as well. We will probably have around potential 5 internships this year in Shipping, Antitrust, trade law and finance. Given the positive reception to the internships programme I am getting from potential LLM students I am looking at raising the number of internships to 10 next year. Which would give students who are interested in internships a very good chance of getting one.

I would also like to ask another questions. The internships I have been organising so far have been with private law firms, but many lawyers work in regulatory agencies and for corporations. Are there any views out there about internships with agencies and corporations-would anyone also be interested in such internships?-let me know your views.

Our latest publicised internship is with Howreys in Brussels. Details are on another of todays postings.

yours sincerely
ALAN RILEY

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

I am glad to see that finally a british law school offer internship opportunities to their LLM students. You should try to continue increasing the number of internships (not only with private law firms but also with corporations as wells as with regulatory agencies). Actually, other academic institutions (i.e. University of Geneva and Frankfurt University) offer internship opportunities to their LLM students not only in law firms but also in corporations.
You should try to find sponsors for your LLM program. The LLM in Business Law of the University of Geneva has more that 20 sponsors including Ernst & Young, Deloitte, UBS, Nestle, among others) anf Franfurt more than 40 sponsors.
In my personal point of view the best programs are the ones that not only offer lessons and seminars to their students but also the opportunity to gain practical experience in a foreign country.

For me, as an Eastern European graduate (namely from Belarus), practical experience would be considered as the most valuable knowledge you could only get and which is unfortunately missing in our educational system.

I would like to confirm that to my point of view those LLM programmes should be really considered as the best ones, as they give a really great start for all graduates, and for international students it's a unique chance to find a job and to start a career either in a foreign country or at int.corporations at home afterwords.

Providing internships to LL.M Students, is an invaluable tool for the students to gain a foothold in the Corporate/Legal World.

Most of the students from developing world do their LL.M in U.S./U.K., with an anticipation that they would get some practical experience after their LL.M and which they could apply in their home countries.

Unfortunately many LL.M programs are run without giving any thought, regarding the practical aspect of students gaining experience after completing the program.

I have completed my LL.M Program in the U.S. and yet to find an internship position. The Career services office in our Law School was also not of any help. I am really disappointed.

I think Universites not capable of having a proper internship programs in place, for the students interested in internship after the LL.M., should not run any LL.M. Programs.

I completly agree with your comments. I do think that the best LL.Ms are those that combine theory as well as practical experience.
You must take into account that an LLMis a big investment of both money and time. Actually, recruiters are most interested in people with practical experience abroad rather than just students with a postgraduate degree. There are more than 4000 foreign lawyers that attend american universities every year and there are just like 200 positions available for foreign students every year. that means that just 5% of the students find a postion in the US (AND JUST FOR A YEAR).