Dear friends,
I have some offers from Durham (International and european trade law), Edinburgh (Commercial law), Bristol (commercial) and Manchester (int business law). Eventhough I am a great fan of Edinburgh, I cannot find any courses that suit me, since most of them are based on scots/british law and the other seem too general. On the other hand, Manchester, probably not as good as Edinburgh, seems to have a more interested variety on courses, as well as Bristol or Durham.
What is your experience on the courses of the above-mentioned universities? Could sb tell me what is going on with the courses of Manchester? Which ones are worth following? If any of you has a relevant experience about any of the above please help me!

Thes, sorry to hear you've not found exactly what you've been looking for at the University of Edinburgh. Phone through to the postgraduate office at the School of Law and ask to speak with someone before you decide whether or not to accept the offer. The number is 00 44 (0)131 650 2010. Dial that number and explain the nature of your query and you should be put through to someone who can address your concerns directly.

If you decide to accept the offer, I'll see you on campus in the Autumn!

All of those Universities have excellent reputations. Manchester is an excellent university, increasingly recognised as one of the best in England. Durham and Edinburgh are older and have the prestige that goes with great age but I think Manchester is the most dynamic and certainly the best place to live of any of those Universities.

It's obvious that that's what your heart is telling you to do and it is good advice to follow your instincts when you can't make up your mind. Edinburgh may be old but don't forget that Scottish law is different to English law and if you don't like the sound of the courses, you may well feel you've wasted your time.

For what it's worth, Bristol has a very good reputation for law as well.

Hi thessaloniki, yeah i do have personal experience with Manchester. I took the llm there three years ago and am now working with clifford chance. i took the following courses: european business law (which i think they have not transformed into telecoms law), competition law (very good course, also because it is assessed by exam and coursework which gives the opportunity to dig a bit deeper), international law of credit and security (also partly coursework and given by the extremely knowledgable professor mccormack) and private law of international trade (which i think was interesting but more useful if you want to go into shipping). good thing is that at the end you will have to write quite a decent sized dissertation, whereas at some other uni's (even at some of the london colleges) you can get the llm by merely sitting four exams. also don't believe the stories londoners tell you, manchester (as is London) is a very pleasant city to live in and certainly more entertaining than most other places anywhere in the UK.
I hope this helps. Best wishes.

Thank you all for your support!
It will not be easy to decide... Right now Bristol is on the top of my preferences but Edin and Manchester wont be easy to reject. I will reject Durham (crazy huh?), it may prove too small for me... But I cant believe the thing with Edin... why are the courses so brit based??? Why are courses such as EC Competition out of the commercial law stream? Why that confining list of courses? Great disappointment.

CMiller you are the only exception, and thank you so much about it!
Of course it is great what I hear about Manchester. I didnt know that it is so dynamic!
Thank you all for the information! I have some more weeks, I hope that I will make up my mind until then!

All of them are very good schools. Best of luck to you ! AND enjoy :))

I would also lean towards BRISTOL in your case.
I have also applied to Bristol and Durham through British Council, got admission to the latter one and Bristol is still pending.
I am sure you will enjoy it!

Dear friends,
as I have realised the assessment of the courses in Bristol will be only by written examinations and not by essays..This is a great disadvantage, according to my opinion, and I am back to zero. Anyway, have a nice day, hope to hear from all of you soon if you have any news!

Why do you think that would be a disadvantage (want to know your reasoning). Hmm.. As I recall in the UCL there would be the same situation...

Here's a quote I just picked up on these forums. Seems pretty apt for this discussion too:

"....The legal system of Scotland is a mixed system, it has elements of common law and civil law. As such, I think that it is one of the best places to study from a comparative and international perspective, because it gives you a very thorough and broad view of the wider world beyond beyond one legal system. The LL.M. programme in Edinburgh has a lot of international options, so you may very well spend an entire year in Edinburgh without having to learn anything about Scots law, but I think that this is important because you get more out of the year if you learn about the host system." http://www.llm-guide.com/board/873

Gamayun... If there was in Bristol a combination of exams and essays then of course I wouldnt consider it a problem.
But after four years in the law school of my city and written examinations (no essays) on more than 45 courses, I am not interested in spending another year like that. Moreover, I strongly believe that essays are much more educating. Dont you?

CMiller..Thanks again for your opinion. Maybe I will see you in September! I am thinking about Edin and courses such as Inter. Comm Arbitration, Inter.Tax law and EC Competition, eventhough the first two arent my ideal options. Of course Edin has a great reputation in my country, while not many have heard about Durham or Bristol.
Manchester is also a fantastic option, but edin seems to be a bit ahead.