Difference between LLM and MA in Law

Hi everyone,
I'm thinking of applying for a postgraduate law course with a social sciences degree. I'd like to go into environmental/international law and advocacy. However, most if not all LLM courses require an LLB or CPE, which would mean that I would have to do a graduate conversion course first.

I was wondering if anyone knows about MA law courses, such as SOAS' MA in International Law? What do graduates generally go on to do? Do people usually get a CPE/GDL first?

Thanks!

Reply 1

UGeNe

14

MA means you can't be a lawyer.

You can get in without a law background, but in the end you cannot practice law.

You will just learn about law.

Reply 2

numb3rb0y

15

UGeNe

MA means you can't be a lawyer.

You can get in without a law background, but in the end you cannot practice law.

You will just learn about law.

...LLM wouldn't allow one to practice law either; the only qualifying routes to legal practice in England and Wales are LLB + LPC/BVC or GDL + LPC/BVC. No post-graduate degree will suffice.

rehhh, be wary of reading a GDL with the hope of getting into a post-graduate course. Even at those places that don't specifically say they want applicents to have an LLB, it simply stands to reason that in most circumstances, a post-graduate Law admissions tutor is going to prefer someone who's studied for 3 years in an academic context than someone who took a one-year short course which is expressly designed primarily for vocational use. For some law-related subjects like politics or criminology, it's not really a huge issue, but still worth thinking about.

Reply 3

ideation

could fasttrack an LLB (2 years)

Reply 4

Musicolo

4

Either way you have to get LPC or BVC in order to practice law. I am not sure what is the structure of MA Law and how different it is to LLM but I can tell you that LLM is much more respected as a postgraduate degree then MA---LLM in legal industry is equal to MBA in business.

Reply 5

jjarvis

14

Musicolo

Either way you have to get LPC or BVC in order to practice law. I am not sure what is the structure of MA Law and how different it is to LLM but I can tell you that LLM is much more respected as a postgraduate degree then MA---LLM in legal industry is equal to MBA in business.

This has been debunked in the law forum and law careers forum more times than I care to count. For the most part, an LLM in law is relatively insignificant. Look Simon Myserson's post on his blog (do a search of the threads for LLM and BCL in conjunction.) I'm inclined to trust his credentials for knowing what lawyers care about much more than I trust Musicolo. (My credentials are non-existent, but I pass all this on to the best of my recollection based on many threads on the topic.) Simon is a QC.

If you do an LLM at Harvard or the BCL at Oxford, that will probably add something substantial to your application. Otherwise, the LLM is relatively insignificant unless you have it in a subject directly related to the area of practise you want to go into. Undergraduate marks and extracurricular activities matter much more. By all means do an LLM if you can afford to and enjoy the subject, but know that it won't necessarily add much to your applications. It certainly won't compensate for poor degree results. (I'm not implying that you have made all of these claims, but they ought to be established before anyone spends huge amounts of money for a qualification they assume will help them get a job.)

As has been said here before, neither an LLM nor (most) Postgrad MAs are either necessary or sufficient to qualify you to practise law. The only routes to qualify through degree study are an LLB/BA/other qualifying degree (Sheffield's MA in Law is a qualifying degree) or the GDL.

Reply 6

rehhh

OP

Hi everyone,
Thanks for all the helpful replies. I didn't know that an LLM wouldn't be that useful/well-regarded.

I realise that without a GDL/CPE/LLB it is not possible to practice law. But what about getting into law-related academia? Would a vocational degree and/or practical experience be necessary, or can I pretty much write it off as a career since I didn't do the subject at undergraduate level?

Thanks again!

Reply 7

Musicolo

4

jjarvis

This has been debunked in the law forum and law careers forum more times than I care to count. For the most part, an LLM in law is relatively insignificant. Look Simon Myserson's post on his blog (do a search of the threads for LLM and BCL in conjunction.) I'm inclined to trust his credentials for knowing what lawyers care about much more than I trust Musicolo. (My credentials are non-existent, but I pass all this on to the best of my recollection based on many threads on the topic.) Simon is a QC.

If you do an LLM at Harvard or the BCL at Oxford, that will probably add something substantial to your application. Otherwise, the LLM is relatively insignificant unless you have it in a subject directly related to the area of practise you want to go into. Undergraduate marks and extracurricular activities matter much more. By all means do an LLM if you can afford to and enjoy the subject, but know that it won't necessarily add much to your applications. It certainly won't compensate for poor degree results. (I'm not implying that you have made all of these claims, but they ought to be established before anyone spends huge amounts of money for a qualification they assume will help them get a job.)

As has been said here before, neither an LLM nor (most) Postgrad MAs are either necessary or sufficient to qualify you to practise law. The only routes to qualify through degree study are an LLB/BA/other qualifying degree (Sheffield's MA in Law is a qualifying degree) or the GDL.

Dear my, you can trust who you want. This is all a matter of subjectivity and personal choice one makes about life and career. If you want to make it easier for yourself and avoid doing LLM or MA or any other postgraduate degree, you can do so. Your point goes against any postgraduate degree. If you want to go down this line of thinking, then you don't have a degree either to make success in business. You just have to be lucky enough or naturally gifted like many of the today's entrepreneurs and business people who make great careers without any formal higher education, let alone LLMs, MBAs, oxfords, LSEs and etc. The point of LLM is to further specialize in a certain field. Those who tell you LLM doesn't matter, after you have received your LPC or BVC, are the same as those who will tell you that MBA matters little once you enter business arena. It matters.

Reply 8

LawQueen

14

Hi! I'm doing an MA in Medical Law and Ethics which I chose to do over the LLM in Medical Law. My undergraduate degree is in Law (2:1). The LLM and MA students have the same classes however we are assessed slightly differently. I chose to do the MA over the LLM because I wanted to have a postgraduate qualification in ethics to qualify me for a PhD in Bioethics and the law for which an LLM isn't enough howver the standard of law I'm learning is the same, so in reality it really doesn't make much of a difference other than how it sounds. If I don't get a PhD then I'll probably train to be a lawyer or get a health related graduate job and come back to do the PhD part time.

Reply 9

LawQueen

14

rehhh

Hi everyone,
Thanks for all the helpful replies. I didn't know that an LLM wouldn't be that useful/well-regarded.

I realise that without a GDL/CPE/LLB it is not possible to practice law. But what about getting into law-related academia? Would a vocational degree and/or practical experience be necessary, or can I pretty much write it off as a career since I didn't do the subject at undergraduate level?

Thanks again!

You will need a law degree or postgraduate law qualification. There are professors in the law department at my uni whose specialisation is not law but they are specialised in something else and that's used to teach a component of a course provided by the law department but they don't actually teach law..

Reply 10

rehhh

OP

thanks lawqueen! do you know of any professors who have taken the non-law degree -> law ma -> law phd route?

Reply 11

LawQueen

14

No, you tend to need a law degree, then a postgraduate qualification i.e. a LLM or equivalent which can be a MA however it depends on the PhD - I want to do a PhD in the area of medical law and ethics so I'm doing an MA in medical law and ethics.

The best thing you can do is go on to university websites and read the description of professors - it usually says what their first and subsequent degrees are.

Reply 12

Thekhaldi

1

Thank you!

Difference between LLM and MA in Law

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