I am a UK citizen with a UK LLB and a US JD, so 6 yrs of fulltime legal ed., and have been in the US practising civil litigation with a small firm since I graduated from my JD program in 2002. Am now thinking of doing a specialized LLM to further career prospects, since US and UK/EU prospects at the moment are quite lacking.

Some questions:

Am thinking of doing an LLM in international business and/or public law at a US school or an LLM in international law and/or EU law at a UK or EU school. For the US, am thinking: UCLA, Berkely, NYU, Fordham, or American. For the UK/EU, am thinking: LSE, UCL, Lieden, or Sobourne-Paris.

These are all highly ranked schools. Am I likely to stand a chance with the following academics: a high 2.1 (top 20%) from Southampton University (an "old" uni) in the UK, and a 3.24 GPA (top 40%) JD from BYU in the US (ranked 34/50 in top tier)? I also speak a second EU language quite well, Italian, and have 4 years of post admission litigation experience in a US firm actually in the US. At law school I received honors for the high grades in Evidence and Trusts, and for winning two mooting competitions.

Am afraid that UK schools may bypass my good LLB performance and judge me based on the JD alone. Should I apply to LLMs at newer UK unis? what are career prospects like for graduates of new UK unis?

Also, how does one fund the LLM given that most people don't get grants or scholarships and among those who do, many don't receive a particularly large amount? Since I've been out of the UK for over 3 years I am not eligible for UK loans, but also am not eligible for US loans since I'm not a US citizen or permanent resident. I've heard there are loans available to foreign residents in the US who have established US credit scores. I already have 5 US credit cards totalling $20,000, all obtained in my own name alone without a US cosigner. Should I just pay using the credit cards? I could pay EU/UK tuition fees using all 5 of them?

Any ideas or experiences to share?

Thanks.