Which is better? For international criminal law? Do you think I'd have a better experience at CLS?

I think Harvard would be better than CLS.

People! Please give the poor poster reasons!
I am a bit jaded with this forum but all I can say is that Cassese (a judge on the ICC) teaches a seminar in International Criminal Law and if you put that as your first choice when you select your courses you would get to take it. That would be pretty cool. Also George Fletcher and Debra Livingston are big in this area.
I chose CLS over HLS because I wanted to live in NYC and I thought the faculty was better in my area (Constitutional Law/Legal Theory). I don't regret my decision but I am sure you would have a great time at HLS too.
Congratulations on having the choice!

Down, flygirl, down.

International Criminal Law is a bit specialized as an LLM goal. I suppose you're not another mysterious troll (inside joke), so might you elaborate a litle on your background? Where are you in your career, what are your goals for the LLM, and what do you hope to do after the LLM?

My understanding is that Leidin in the Netherlands has a specialized LLM in International Criminal Law. If that is what I really wanted to do then I'd probably go there.

Antonio Cassese is not a judge at the ICC (http://www.icc-cpi.int/chambers/judges.html).
He was the first president of the ICTY...

For International Criminal law as such, I guess HLS or CLS or NYU are all very good. Just make sure to study the basics and to read public international law and a lot of criminal law and criminal procedure if you ever want to work in that field. You will also have to pass your bar. It doesn't matter which one, just have one.

I agree that Leiden is also a very good university in that area and very close to The Hague.

Good luck

People! Please give the poor poster reasons!
I am a bit jaded with this forum but all I can say is that Cassese (a judge on the ICC) teaches a seminar in International Criminal Law and if you put that as your first choice when you select your courses you would get to take it. That would be pretty cool. Also George Fletcher and Debra Livingston are big in this area.
I chose CLS over HLS because I wanted to live in NYC and I thought the faculty was better in my area (Constitutional Law/Legal Theory). I don't regret my decision but I am sure you would have a great time at HLS too.
Congratulations on having the choice!

Hi there. My field is also ICL, and I've chosen Harvard over several other schools for a couple of reasons.

HLS may not be particularly famous or renowned for ICL in particular (as, for example, Leiden or NYU), but it does have some enormously talented thinkers in international law, e.g. David Kennedy. But clearly Harvard's reputation and prestige give it an edge in the job market, while also ensuring that there will always be a large pool of extremely intelligent people to work with, even if ICL is not their specialty. Harvard has an academic edge that other schools do not. In this respect Leiden is more useful for getting your foot in the door at the UN or with a UN-affiliated tribunal than for real academic rigour. At this level, with the experience that you've probably already accumulated in the field, you don't necessarily need a completely ICL-centred programme - all you need are good brains around you and you can do excitiing and interesting work. With Harvard's resources and reputation it's a compelling choice.