Commercial Law LLM or Criminology and Criminal Justice LLM ??

summersunplease

Hi all,

I am in a bit of a dilemma at the moment! I'm a final year law student in UCD. I really want to continue my legal studies in UCD also. I am really interested in both the Commercial Law LLM and the Criminology and Criminal Justice LLM. I was wondering would anyone have any advice for me as to which one would be better to do??

I enjoyed Company Law and I have taken a number of Criminal related modules over the last 3 years also. To be honest I think I'd enjoy the Criminal one more and I'd say I would do better at it. I'm just worried about job opportunities afterwards. Also I hear that there is more money in Commercial law and there may be a better chance of getting in with law firms in Dublin as there are many "Commercial" ones in the city.

Another issue is in a couple of years time I would like to work back home in the North West. I have heard that general practice is very different from the work you may do in a Commercial law firm and that it may be difficult to make such a change.

I would really appreciate if any one has any advice on this matter! I am hoping to apply for one or the other by the end of the week. Thank you in advance!

Here are the two links to the course discriptions:

http://www.ucd.ie/law/programmes/llmcriminology/

http://www.ucd.ie/law/programmes/llmcommercial/

Arsenal1986

In my opinion Commercial law one is the way to go. I say this purely from the point of getting a training contract. The big Commercial firms are the only firms that are still hiring trainees in appreciable numbers, indeed I don't think criminal firms ever hired many trainees, as in more than 1 or 2 a year. The big firms tend to view a commercial masters pretty favourably and you would be very likely to get an interview with them with the LLM. The money with 'Big 5' Commercial firms is quiet good, ranges from 32 to 40k a year starting off.

I'd look at it this way, if you do the commercial llm and do well, get a 1.1 in it I would be very suprised if 2 years down the line you didnt have a good traineeship. Wheras I would not be suprised at all if you did the Criminal LLM, did equally as well and couldnt find a traineeship.

legal eagle 1

If your even slightly contemplating trying to obtain a training contract with the large firms, steer well clear of the criminology masters it will not do you any favors!

summersunplease

Thanks for the comments so far. It's great to hear other people's opinions. Please keep the comments coming

dee8839

Hi, I was in sort of the same position as you last year, except that I knew I wanted to work in Dublin so that made the decision easier. I went for the Commercial Law LLM. As earlier posters have said, in my opinion the Commercial LLM looks great if you're going for a traineeship with one of the big Dublin firms. I think its what got me my traineeship this year. I've always heard that Human Rights or Criminal based Masters do your application to a big firm more harm than good. As for moving to the north-west eventually, in my opinion the commercial firms give a more well rounded legal training than you expect, and its definitely easier to move from a big commercial firm to a small practice than the other way around. Also, you may find once you get into the (horrific!!) hunt for a traineeship, that you have to compromise on what you are willing to do. You may need to "sell your soul" (as I've been told I've done!) to a big commercial firm just to qualify as a solicitor, even if you do want to end up in a smaller firm asap.

Career issues aside, you have to study this stuff for a year. If you really enjoyed Criminal subjects that much, that has to be a consideration. There are aspects of Commercial Law I find very interesting and easy to study, such as IP and Property, but there are also times its impossible to be motivated because the subject is so boring. It is surely better to do Criminal Law and get a great result than get a 2:2 in Commercial. The relevance of this depends on you as a person. But if you liked Company Law (some of my friends who since went the criminal route HATED company), then you should find a Commercial LLM interesting enough.

In summary, do what makes you happy, but in terms of career, its probably a better bet to do the Commercial route. Best of luck.

summersunplease

Thanks for the input!
I went with the Commercial LLM as my first choice in the end.
Here's hoping I get it now!
Thanks again..

summersunplease

In a turn of events I was offered a place on the Trinity LLM and have taken it. I have to say I miss UCD already but it's early days yet. The module choices have to be made by tomorrow and I'm going to stick with the more commercial ones. Thanks very much for your advice a few months back, it put a lot of things in perspective for me