Master of Laws (LLM) Options and How to Choose

An overseas experience is a great opportunity for law students, lawyers, and professionals of all kinds to develop legal, social, communication and many other skills. When a student visits a new university, they can explore new fields of study and local legislation, interact with other lawyers and students (both local and international), and develop new skills. Living abroad for a while also allows us to critically evaluate the political situation in our host and home countries and appreciate everything we love about our country.

The education market is very broad and diverse. Therefore, the type of programme and university chosen will depend on the student’s objectives. Nonetheless, we would like to provide information on the types of programmes available and the tools we suggest to used to decide where to study.

Types of LLM Programmes

Research Programmes: The student is assigned one or more thesis advisors and does not have to attend classes. Instead, they work on one or more research projects during the term of the programme. There are scheduled submissions and evaluations to guide the student.

Taught Programmes: The student must attend lectures and take a certain number of papers, which may be assessed through exams, presentations, or essays. These programmes do not require a thesis to complete the course.

Mixed Programmes: The student attends lectures and additionally undertakes a research project under the supervision of a supervisor while completing the programme.

These programmes can be delivered in-person or online. Some universities also offer joint programmes, where students study at more than one university and earn multiple certificates. Another classification is by area of specialisation, such as Corporate Law, Tax Law, Commercial Law, Energy Law, Human Rights Law, etc. Generally, an LLM takes one year to complete if studied full-time and two years if part-time (but depends on the county).

Tools for Researching Programmes

Our first recommendation is the “LLM Guide”. This website provides information on a significant number of LLM programmes and the website’s filters allow you to search by area of concentration, country or continent, university ranking, among other categories.

Here, students can identify several universities and read about the programmes, admission requirements, tuition fees and admission dates. The site also offers reviews from current and former students about their experiences at the universities.

Our second recommendation is the university’s website. As universities receive more and more international students each year, they  dedicate a lot of resources and provide extensive information on their websites about the admission processes, programmes, costs and requirements. In some cases, there might be very specific questions for which information is not available on the websites. In our experience, sending emails to the student hub or similar is very effective. Keep in mind that responses might take time due to time zone differences and the university’s workload.

How to Choose Where to Study

Quality of life is a concept that includes elements such as health, community life, cost of living, population index, political and security stability, climate, employment, and equality. These are factors that we believe should be considered when choosing an LLM programme. Since this programme lasts at least a year, living conditions in the place you decide to go will be highly relevant. Studying for a Master’s degree impacts all aspects of our lives and is an opportunity for both academic and personal and social development.

To consider these factors, there are several websites that compare the quality of life between countries. With this, you will be able to identify the quality of life index of different cities around the world. These sites also have comparison tools, allowing you to get an idea of the cost of living in the city you want to move to, how safe it is and the quality of healthcare services.

You should also consider the immigration policies of the country. Some countries offer post-study visas to LLM (post-grad) students, allowing you to stay and seek professional opportunities and increase your work experience. Additionally, other countries allow students, while enrolled in the programme, to work a certain number of hours, which can help cover some expenses while studying. Finally, consider if the country allows you to travel with your partner or dependents. For example, New Zealand allows Master and Doctoral students to bring their partners and dependents, who are given access to education (please confirm this info with an immigration adviser).

Another factor to consider, and possibly something that deters many from starting this adventure, is economic feasibility. We believe this topic warrants a separate article. Nonetheless, it is important to note the countless scholarships and student loans available, both national and international. You must be realistic and avoid lifelong debt trying to pay for your LLM degree.

How to choose an LLM Step by Step

Your selection process can began by using the information from the first websites we mentioned, focusing on the area of concentration, for example, Corporate and Commercial Law. Once you found LLM programmes in this concentration, you should look for the best ones on each continent. At the end of this process, you will have a list of various programmes, for example, in London, Singapore, Chicago, Auckland, Frankfurt, and Toronto. The second step is to identify the requirements of each programme to check if you was a strong candidate. The third step is to consider the quality of life index of each city and compared to your own country.

You can organised all this information in an Excel table, listing the name of each university and programme, the country where it was offered, the tuition fee, the exchange rate of your home country’s currency, the  English exam score required by each University (if applicable), the cost of a round-trip flight to that city from your home city, and the quality of life index. You could also include information on application deadlines and fees, start dates, and the ranking of each university. Once you have all this information organised and clear, you can chose the two universities where Iyou want to start your application process.

Key Insights

This process can take a long time and is not easy. Pink Fern Consulting can help you by preparing with you the comparisons and good strategy to consider all factors that would impact your stay in that place. Get in touch with us.

As a result, you will be able to choose where to study based on the reasons that work for you, for example, because :

• the programme has a specialisation in an area of law that you are interested into;
• the University is the best in that field;
• the city is one of the cities with the highest quality of life in the world;
• the country immigration rules in that country allow you to stay and look for a job after completing the LLM programme. 
• the country allows postgraduate students to bring your partner; and/or
• the University may award you a scholarship.

We hope this information has been helpful in organising and considering the factors that will be relevant when deciding to study an LLM abroad. We would like to know if you have any other suggestions that a student should consider. Good luck!