hello peeps

I intend to focus my LLM on Intellectual Property Law, and have received offers from KCL and Univ. of Manchester. I've still to hear from UCL, Edinburgh and QMUL, but my questions would still be relevant regardless of the replies I receive from those applications.

King's College: I think it has a better reputation than Manchester Uni internationally, and London is more exciting than Manchester- not to mention the fact that the area of Manchester that the uni is situated in is slightly dodgy. HOWEVER, the LLM structure is generalized, allowing a student to simply 'pick and mix' different modules which are not interrelated. I would prefer to solely focus on IP, and they only offered 2 IP modules that I was really interested in. Additionally, the consequence of the general Univ. of London LLM degree means that I can choose from more modules outside of KCL, but that might entail having to go all the way to QMUL or UCL just for lectures. Could this irritating fact outweigh the benefits of taking slightly different modules offered by those unis than those that KCL can offer?

Manchester Uni: LLM is focused solely on IP; workload appears more demanding (2 dissertations, several exams etc), and there appear to be solid connections between the different modules. But of course, note advantages of KCL above.
What's a guy to do?

Definitely KCL!!

KCL has David Lleweylin and Tanya Aplin for IP. They are both really good especially Lleweylin who is also a partner at White & Case, an American law firm specialising in IP. If you go for KCL, you dont have to do other subject irrelevent to IP. You can choose only IP law or other related business law if you want from any U of London colleges.

I did the LLM in IP at King's in 2004. I chose two subjects at KCL and 2 at Queen Mary (who has an excellent reputation for IP).

I do not regret anything. Excellent program, King's is a great university and London is also an amazing city.

The London intercollegiate LLM has the best reputation in Europe for allowing you to choose a speciality among hundreds of subjects.

Manchester has also a good reputation but I think that London is more international. And I do not know if they have a strong reputation in IP though... That is only my opinion....

once again reputation seems to be a very subjective matter!
in manchester we have an IP stream where the choice is limited to IP subjects, then within the IBL we have a subject referred a IP where we study generally the various institutions.
dont want to discourage anybody but half of the students in the IP stream failed in the first semester exams; this could be a good reason to choose london, as i cant see any other good reason leading to that choice.
by the way the manchester university area is one of the most exciting in europe (excluding rusholm, which is not uni area though) and mancunia itself is a truly young city with every kind of attraction for students.

greetings from the republik of mancunia

Oddos - I'm planning to do IP law, i've recieved offers from both King's and Queen Mary. Given the fact that you've done subjects at both Uni's, what would you recommend me to do?