I'm a law student (LL.B) from Israel.
I would like to know which are the top 5 Law schools in Europe and 
the top 5 Law schools in US (Regarding LL.M degree).
Furthermore, I would like to know the prestige courses (eg. Law and Tech.)
in some of the Universities.
Best regards.

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Request for Question Clarification by politicalguru-ga on 14 May 2006 11:06 PDT

Dear Romko, 

Could you please elaborate what you mean by "top schools in Europe"?
There are different European countries, each with its own law-school
system (for example, the German Diplom, the English LLB/LLM and the
French Maitrise). Therefore, it is very difficult, if not impossible,
to compare different law schools in Europe.

In addition, is there any LLM specialisation you're interested in?

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Clarification of Question by romko-ga on 14 May 2006 13:06 PDT

Hi,

Thanks for your clarification request...

(a) I will be satisfied with England (regarding Europe).

(b) I am interested in "Commercial law" (and especially the following  
     branches: Antitrust, Intellectual property and Technology).

Best regards.

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Clarification of Question by romko-ga on 15 May 2006 12:21 PDT

Hi,

I wish to clarify some terms I used in my question:

"Best" - by 'best law schools' I mean that there are one or two ranking
institution or even a survey that had been made - I just want to know
which law schools are considered to be better than the others.

"prestige" = most famous by reputation / well known.

I am aware of the subjectivity of the presumed answer!

Best,
Romko-ga.

Dear Romko, 

According to a Law Journal ranking, the best schools for LLM in the US are: 

1) Columbia University (NY)  & Cornell (NY)
3) NYU (NY)
4) University of Pennsylvania  (PA)
5) Harvard University (MA)

(See full list at: 
The Law Journal: "2006 Ranking of LLM US Law School Programmes" 
<http://www.thelawjournal.co.uk/Ranking%20LLM%20U.S.%20Programmes%202006.htm>). 

**

Columbia
<http://www.law.columbia.edu/llm_jsd> 

Reviews/Programmes (LLM Guide)
<http://www.llm-guide.com/university/585> 

**

Cornell
<http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/admissions/degreeprograms/> 

Reviews/Programmes (LLM Guide)
<http://www.llm-guide.com/university/584> 

** 

NYU
<http://www.law.nyu.edu/depts/acservices/degrees/llm/> 

Reviews/Programmes (LLM Guide)
<http://www.llm-guide.com/university/288> 

**

U. Penn
<http://www.law.upenn.edu/prospective/grad/> 

Reviews/Programmes (LLM Guide)
<http://www.llm-guide.com/university/302> 

** 

Harvard
<http://www.law.harvard.edu/academics/graduate/programs/llm.php> 

Reviews/Programmes (LLM Guide)
<http://www.llm-guide.com/university/271> 

**

The Guardian provides general ranking for UK law schools, not
specifically for LLM programmes (also LLB and PhD).

The First five are: 
1. Oxford
2. Cambridge 
3. LSE
4. UCL
5/ Warwick

Read further at: Guardian, University Guide, 
<http://browse.guardian.co.uk/education?SearchBySubject=&FirstRow=0&SortOrderDirection=&SortOrderColumn=&Subject=Law&Institution=&Tariff=6>

Oxford 
<http://denning.law.ox.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught.shtml> 
Please note, that the programmes are not called LLM, but are equivalent to LLM. 

Reviews/discussions
<http://www.llm-guide.com/university/118> 

**

Cambridge
<http://www.law.cam.ac.uk/courses/> 

Reviews/Discussions
<http://www.llm-guide.com/university/86> 

**

LSE
<http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/law/study/graduateProgrammesTaught.htm>

Reviews/Discussions
<http://www.llm-guide.com/university/105> 

**

UCL
<http://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/prospective/graduate/index.shtml?llm_programme> 

Reviews/Discussions
<http://www.llm-guide.com/university/108>

** 

Warwick
<http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/pg/>

Reviews/Discussions
<http://www.llm-guide.com/university/519>

I hope this answers your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarifications on this answer before you rate it.

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Request for Answer Clarification by romko-ga on 22 May 2006 12:50 PDT

A job well done!

I'll be pleased if you could send me  one or two links to
forums/blogs that discuss my question's topic.

The perspective of people who actually participated in those
programs is of much importance. 

Best regards,
Romko-ga.

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Clarification of Answer by politicalguru-ga on 23 May 2006 01:41 PDT

You mean, other than LLM Guide forums?

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Request for Answer Clarification by romko-ga on 23 May 2006 02:28 PDT

Every forum/blog will be fine and most appriciated.

Best,
Romko-ga.

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Clarification of Answer by politicalguru-ga on 23 May 2006 09:19 PDT

Law Guru has several forums that could fit: 

Law Guru - Students Forums
<http://www.lawguru.com/forums/index.php?s=90bf7debe05bed9edd62006cb3374866&showforum=6>

Law Guru - Ask a Colleague Forum 
<http://www.lawguru.com/forums/index.php?s=90bf7debe05bed9edd62006cb3374866&showforum=14>

POstgraduate Forum
<http://www.findamasters.com/students/forum.asp> 

LLM Guide has a very good forum, only on this subject: 
<http://www.llm-guide.com/board>

Thank you for a job well done!
Your Answer will help me as it might help others.
See you around...

Arguably some of the better law schools in the US are Harvard, Yale,
Georgetown, William and Mary, Stanford, Cornell, UPENN, Pepperdine,
and Columbia. I would add University of Hawaii to round it out to ten
only because how cool would it be to go to school in Hawaii?

Cowabunga, Yer Honor Dude! Exceptions ROCK!

Ranking of anything is far too overated and I think lawyers are too
obsessed with it.  With that said, ranking an LL.M. is especially
suspect as a post-graduate degree, people get LL.M. for a dirverse
reasons and; therefore, satifaction for the LL.M. program is very hard
to measure.  Generally, if it is attached to a good law school the
program is good too but this is a generallity it could cut up or down,
both ways.  In other words, sometimes the LL.M. program is a bit
better than the school J.D. may indicate and the opposite.  AUP's
ranking is suspect because there is no detailed methodology stated.  I
doubt if most LL.M. give out their statistics.  I know some don't even
keep employment statistics, for example AU doesn't.  Possibly the most
reliable based on reputation only is U.S. News.