Hi!

I'm an european law school graduate with a LLM in European Union Law. I'm thinking of trying my luck in the USA. Nevertheless, I can only imagine that to be able to get an antitrust lawyer job at USA, I'd have to study some kind of LLM program there...

So the question is: ANYWHERE in the USA, for someone who whishes to pursue a career in antitrust competition law, which is best? Chicago, Berkeley, Harvard...etc.?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers!

Peter

Hey Peter,

My interests are also in competition law and economics, and I concluded that Chicago was the place to go. I think this is especially true if you have an interest in the more rigorous price theoretic approach to antitrust policy. I had an amazing experience in the Chicago LL.M - the faculty is truly extraordinary and I learned a ton (especially in economics).

There are other excellent programs too. NYU has an LL.M in trade regulation, which is supposed to be great. Columbia would be a good option. Berkeley too. Harvard would obviously be outstanding as well, but I've been told that it can be difficult gaining access to the faculty (simply because it's such a big program). Perhaps someone who has actually studied there can give more useful information on HLS. It was interesting to note, though, that several of my antitrust-oriented Chicago LL.M classmates were admitted to Harvard, but chose UofC for its reputation in law & economics.

I did my JD at Stanford after the Chicago LL.M. SLS is an amazing school (in my completely biased view, perhaps the best all-round), but I wouldn't especially recommend it for antitrust. There were minimal course offerings when I was there. If you're interested in IP and competition law, though, Mark Lemley at Stanford is an absolute expert and a great teacher.

Hey Peter,

My interests are also in competition law and economics, and I concluded that Chicago was the place to go. I think this is especially true if you have an interest in the more rigorous price theoretic approach to antitrust policy. I had an amazing experience in the Chicago LL.M - the faculty is truly extraordinary and I learned a ton (especially in economics).

There are other excellent programs too. NYU has an LL.M in trade regulation, which is supposed to be great. Columbia would be a good option. Berkeley too. Harvard would obviously be outstanding as well, but I've been told that it can be difficult gaining access to the faculty (simply because it's such a big program). Perhaps someone who has actually studied there can give more useful information on HLS. It was interesting to note, though, that several of my antitrust-oriented Chicago LL.M classmates were admitted to Harvard, but chose UofC for its reputation in law & economics.

I did my JD at Stanford after the Chicago LL.M. SLS is an amazing school (in my completely biased view, perhaps the best all-round), but I wouldn't especially recommend it for antitrust. There were minimal course offerings when I was there. If you're interested in IP and competition law, though, Mark Lemley at Stanford is an absolute expert and a great teacher.

Hey there,

I decided during the first quarter of my LL.M that I wanted to work full-time in the US and in particular in Chicago. You need a JD to take the Illinois bar (unless you've worked for 5 years as a qualified lawyer in your home country, but I came straight from undergrad). I also enrolled in Chicago's JSD program immediately after the LL.M, but I'm the kind of person who benefits from some structure (i.e. regular classes rather than self-motivated research), so doing the JD actually helped. Add to that the fact that I couldn't turn down the opportunity to study at a top-3 school and it was a no-brainer (at least to me!).

The only downside is the expense, which I'll be the first to admit is severe. Still, I'm working away in Chicago now and loving it. I had an incredible 3 years between Chicago and Stanford - if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't change a thing.