Top 10 Budget LL.M.s in the UK (for Overseas Students)

Lancaster is considered to be one of the UKs best, as per The Guardian’s league table for law schools. The LL.M. can be customized to a high degree, for instance in growing fields such as Intellectual Property Law, European Union Law, International Terrorism and Law, and International Environmental Law. The school also offers entire specialized degrees in areas like Human Rights Law and Corporate Law. As an added value, living expenses in Lancaster are quite affordable (at least compared to a city like London).

The University of Exeter’s Law School is ranked among the top UK law schools by The Guardian, too. Alongside a general LL.M., it offers an LL.M. in Commercial Law and in International Law. The professors on the program are all well-qualified practitioners, combining academic theory with real-world expertise. Exeter’s beautiful Streatham campus is a plus. 

The School of Law at the University of Nottingham is one of Britain’s best. Each year it is consistently ranked in the top 20 of The Guardian’s league table, as well as the ranking compiled by The Complete University Guide. It offers a broad array of LL.M. degree programs in topics such as Human Rights Law, International Public Law, and Maritime Law.

Durham Law School is highly regarded the world over, especially for the quality of its research, which feeds through to the LL.M. curriculum. In fact, Durham Law is ranked seventh in the UK by the The Complete University Guide. The school runs a raft of LL.M.s in subjects such as International trade and Commercial Law, Corporate Law, and so on. Durham is set in a beautiful campus in the Northeast of England, close to the major UK cities of Newcastle and Leeds.

Bristol’s School of Law is certainly one of Britain’s best. The school is ranked 13th in the UK by The Good University Guide. Bristol itself is a major draw for overseas students, having been ranked as the best place to live in the UK by The Sunday Times newspaper. It’s also well-connected, a couple of hours by train from London. The law school has several LL.M. programs, for instance in Commercial Law or European Legal Studies.

The School of Law, at the University of Manchester, is also ranked well by The Complete University Guide. It scored particularly well for graduate prospects, with alumni going on to successful careers in all sections of the economy, from law firms to NGOs and global corporations. The school offers several LL.Ms, for example in Security and International Law, International Financial Law and Corporate Governance.

King’s is one of the oldest and most respected institutions in the UK, with the law school officially having opened as long ago as 1909. It has offered LL.M.s since 2007 and they are ranked very well indeed: in the top-10 of most of the major rankings publications. King’s offers postgraduate law programs in many fields: International Business Law, International Tax Law, et al. There’s also an online LL.M. in International Corporate and Commercial Law.

Warwick has very good credentials: The school was ranked 20th for Law in The Times’ Good University Guide 2018. Warwick is also ranked third in the Graduate Market Survey in terms of being targeted by the largest number of top employers. There are a plethora of LL.M.s to choose from: in International, Commercial, and Economic Law, and Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation. Bursaries for students based on financial need are available. 

The University of Edinburgh is one of Scotland’s most revered and longest-established schools: it has taught law since 1707. Today it’s still doing well, ranked as the best in Scotland by The Complete University Guide. There’s a wide array of LL.M. programs to suit all personal tastes and professional career paths, including Commercial Law, European Law and Climate Change Law.

Queen Mary’s School of Law is relatively young, but has garnered quite a reputation since being founded in 1965. The Guardian places it 17th in the UK, with particularly high scores for student satisfaction. Being based in London affords Queen Mary students several notable advantages. Not least easy access to a plethora of leading law firms and businesses to work at. There is a huge range of LL.M.s to pick from, in virtually every subject, from Banking to Environmental Law. It’s not the cheapest LL.M. of this bunch, but it is relatively affordable, compared to similar high quality LL.M.s.