Any suggestions? Thanks!

For UK Bar - Ox BCL, hands down.

For UK firms, Ox BCL.

For the US, I'd go for Columbia over NYU unless you're really into international law.

The Oxford BCL is the most prestigious LLM you can do as far as working in the UK goes (it is on a par with Harvard LLM as far as most barristers' chambers/UK firms are concerned) so don't turn it up lightly. The approach taken is also very different - small tutorials, sometimes 1 on 1 (I think?) as opposed to large seminar/lecture groups.

I completely agree with the above.

1. BCL
2. Columbia
3. NYU

shabi - you dont know what you r talking about - wake up and save some rupees...

BCL >>> Columbia > NYU

I have friends who have done LLm fm all the above Law Schools.
I will also say. BCL>NYU>Columbia
All the Best!

BCL - Columbia - NYU for sure! NYU has a great international law faculty, but apart from that, it can't compare to Oxford or Columbia.

Any thoughts on the answer after throwing Cambridge into the mix, combined with an international law and potential academia focus?

1. BCL
2. Columbia
3. Cambridge (CLS and Camb would probably switch if you were interested in UK Bar - they love that old school Oxbridge stuff)
4. NYU

The BCL is definitely a more respected qualification than Cambridge LLM (and possibly more selective?) but all the LLM programmes listed here are the creme de la creme.

eta: Sorry, I overlooked the international law aspect. It is more tricky then. The BCL is really an amazing qualification to have but all three other schools are world leaders in international law. If there was a dissertation involved it might swing on who you could get to supervise, given the interest in academia.

I second that. However i still would make it a hard choice between OX and Colum

a friend of mine is at trinity hall in cambridge. he has a splendid time. i can wholeheartedly recommend their ll.m.

In international law:
First: Columbia: 1) ranked first in that area according to the latest US news ranking; 2) externship at United Nations Headquarters during LLM studies; 3) the largest and most comprenhensive list of courses-seminars; 4) prestige factor: Columbia as university consistently ranked in the top ten.
Second: Cambridge: the best in UK plus its prestige. However, I think that the best US LLM program in international law -regardless of which university holds such status- is still better than its UK LLM counterpart. US legal education arguably has the upper hand over UK legal education, at least in international law.
Third: NYU.
Fourth: Harvard
Fifth: Oxford
Sixth: Georgetown-LSE-Yale
Seventh: UCL, KCL, McGill
Eighth: Leiden, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Utrecht

In international law:
First: Columbia: 1) ranked first in that area according to the latest US news ranking; 2) externship at United Nations Headquarters during LLM studies; 3) the largest and most comprenhensive list of courses-seminars; 4) prestige factor: Columbia as university consistently ranked in the top ten.
Second: Cambridge: the best in UK plus its prestige. However, I think that the best US LLM program in international law -regardless of which university holds such status- is still better than its UK LLM counterpart. US legal education arguably has the upper hand over UK legal education, at least in international law.
Third: NYU.
Fourth: Harvard
Fifth: Oxford
Sixth: Georgetown-LSE-Yale
Seventh: UCL, KCL, McGill
Eighth: Leiden, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Utrecht

In international law:
First: Columbia: 1) ranked first in that area according to the latest US news ranking; 2) externship at United Nations Headquarters during LLM studies; 3) the largest and most comprenhensive list of courses-seminars; 4) prestige factor: Columbia as university consistently ranked in the top ten.
Second: Cambridge: the best in UK plus its prestige. However, I think that the best US LLM program in international law -regardless of which university holds such status- is still better than its UK LLM counterpart. US legal education arguably has the upper hand over UK legal education, at least in international law.
Third: NYU.
Fourth: Harvard
Fifth: Oxford
Sixth: Georgetown-LSE-Yale
Seventh: UCL, KCL, McGill
Eighth: Leiden, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Utrecht

Thanks for the response -- it was along the lines of what I was thinking.

The ability to take more courses and do an externship makes CLS pretty attractive compared to Cambridge. But, the cost difference is a significant factor for me...

Would the above grading also hold true for corporate & securities laws?