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Exeter, Leeds or Essex for Law?

Hello, i am international student. And this year I will begin my master degree in the UK. I got uncoditional offers from Exeter ( international commercial law), Leeds (business law) and Essex ( also commercial). However I am so undecided about which university is the best at law degree. Specially, financial and academic aspects are very essential for me. Help me plsss))

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In my opinion , of the lot , Leeds is seen as the better Law School. They rank highly in every Ranking Table when compared to the other unis. The city in itself is a fantastic place to live.
Leeds...Exeter is consistently in a scandal....and Essex is not in the league of the other two.
For commercial law, Exeter is far superior to both. For international commercial law, Exeter is exceptional and even more superior to the others.

Ignore children above.
Original post by Realitysreflexx
Leeds...Exeter is consistently in a scandal....and Essex is not in the league of the other two.


Thanks for reply.:smile: But which type of scandal?Yeah, I also share same opinion with u about Essex.
Original post by Lumengrenade
Thanks for reply.:smile: But which type of scandal?Yeah, I also share same opinion with u about Essex.



Racism, but your likely white, so you wouldn't care and if Notoriety above, who is a law geek claims exeter is better then go there lol.
Original post by Notoriety
For commercial law, Exeter is far superior to both. For international commercial law, Exeter is exceptional and even more superior to the others.

Ignore children above.


Thank you for reply.:smile: I also think Exeter better than others, but I dont understand why Exeter is behind others in the some law rankings? (e.g THE)
Reply 7
Original post by Lumengrenade
Thank you for reply.:smile: I also think Exeter better than others, but I dont understand why Exeter is behind others in the some law rankings? (e.g THE)


All rankings use different methodologies, most of which don't really matter to undergrads. Don't pay them too much attention.

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Original post by Lumengrenade
Thank you for reply.:smile: I also think Exeter better than others, but I dont understand why Exeter is behind others in the some law rankings? (e.g THE)


The law rankings are unreliable. One has high student satisfaction and another one lower: one group might be honest about their experience and another group inclined to lie. It really means very little to you.

General law rankings, even if accurate, are general. They do not tell you the ranking of law schools' commercial specialists, for example. When you're doing postgrad, you always have to follow specialism. As international commercial law is really my specialism, I can tell you that there is no bigger name in commercial law AT ALL than Rob Merkin who is a professor at Exeter. If you ever have an interview for a commercial course, they will always bring him up in some way -- it is pretty great if you get to say "Oh, yeah, he was my dissertation supervisor". He has his acolytes, his followers, at the school who are all top tier too. Then in shipping you have Andrea Lista who is a very big name in that, and was formerly professor at Southampton (which is probably the premier maritime course in the country), yet he left it to go to Exeter.

Leeds is a good commercial school and commercial law is one of its specialisms, but trust me it does not come close to Exeter. Essex is a good "big ideas" school, human rights and so on, generally quite average and has no significant commercial law presence compared to the other two.

And I repeat, you must follow the specialism rather than anything else.
Original post by Notoriety
The law rankings are unreliable. One has high student satisfaction and another one lower: one group might be honest about their experience and another group inclined to lie. It really means very little to you.

General law rankings, even if accurate, are general. They do not tell you the ranking of law schools' commercial specialists, for example. When you're doing postgrad, you always have to follow specialism. As international commercial law is really my specialism, I can tell you that there is no bigger name in commercial law AT ALL than Rob Merkin who is a professor at Exeter. If you ever have an interview for a commercial course, they will always bring him up in some way -- it is pretty great if you get to say "Oh, yeah, he was my dissertation supervisor". He has his acolytes, his followers, at the school who are all top tier too. Then in shipping you have Andrea Lista who is a very big name in that, and was formerly professor at Southampton (which is probably the premier maritime course in the country), yet he left it to go to Exeter.

Leeds is a good commercial school and commercial law is one of its specialisms, but trust me it does not come close to Exeter. Essex is a good "big ideas" school, human rights and so on, generally quite average and has no significant commercial law presence compared to the other two.

And I repeat, you must follow the specialism rather than anything else.


Oh, great thanks! All information which you gived is valuable, it helps me a lot.
And what do you think about Sheffield?
Original post by Lumengrenade
Hello, i am international student. And this year I will begin my master degree in the UK. I got uncoditional offers from Exeter ( international commercial law), Leeds (business law) and Essex ( also commercial). However I am so undecided about which university is the best at law degree. Specially, financial and academic aspects are very essential for me. Help me plsss))


Exeter is far better regarded. Exeter is a solid member of the Russel group universities and a well respected university. The recent scandal means nothing for its academic reputation. -PS Iam going to Bristol but I know you cannot even compare Leeds/Essex to Exeter.
Original post by sami1815
Exeter is far better regarded. Exeter is a solid member of the Russel group universities and a well respected university. The recent scandal means nothing for its academic reputation. -PS Iam going to Bristol but I know you cannot even compare Leeds/Essex to Exeter.


Thank u for your reply.:smile: Yeah, seem as if Exeter is the best option to me. In fact I also got offer from Durham and Manchetser (which are my first choice) but they said I need 8 weeks pre sessional course and the course price is 5.600£ which is higer than my budget.:frown: What do u think about Sheffield?)
Original post by Lumengrenade
Thank u for your reply.:smile: Yeah, seem as if Exeter is the best option to me. In fact I also got offer from Durham and Manchetser (which are my first choice) but they said I need 8 weeks pre sessional course and the course price is 5.600£ which is higer than my budget.:frown: What do u think about Sheffield?)


I would regard Exeter as better than Manchester, though Durham as a fair bit better than Exeter, so if you can pay definitely go to Durham, though I would not pay that to go to Manchester. Sheffield is better than leeds/essex but Exeter is significantly better than Sheffield.
Tbh I'd go to Exeter over those two unis any day of the week. It's got a great law department and it's a lovely campus, which is more than can be said for Leeds and Essex. That, and Essex is just crap
Original post by sami1815
I would regard Exeter as better than Manchester, though Durham as a fair bit better than Exeter, so if you can pay definitely go to Durham, though I would not pay that to go to Manchester. Sheffield is better than leeds/essex but Exeter is significantly better than Sheffield.


Original post by Lumengrenade
Thank u for your reply.:smile: Yeah, seem as if Exeter is the best option to me. In fact I also got offer from Durham and Manchetser (which are my first choice) but they said I need 8 weeks pre sessional course and the course price is 5.600£ which is higer than my budget.:frown: What do u think about Sheffield?)


It is not about how the school is regarded; it is about the specialists on offer. Durham is a great general school and has a good number of HR and general topic (contract, tort blah) specialists, but their commercial specialists are not that great. In fact, I would say Leeds is a better commercial school than Durham.

Speaking from experience, it is such a let-down going to a big name school just for its rep and then being deprived of specialists in the area. Thankfully I found nice niches in commercial law on offer at my place, but certainly a reminder to not only go for rep.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by Notoriety
It is not about how the school is regarded; it is about the specialists on offer. Durham is a great general school and has a good number of HR and general topic (contract, tort blah) specialists, but their commercial specialists are not that great. In fact, I would say Leeds is a better commercial school than Durham.

I agree that specialty is important and if the OP was aiming to be an academic then I would say go for the school with the best specialist area. However in regards to employment, at least in the UK, I would say the general reputation and how well regarded an establishment is, is far more useful.
Original post by sami1815
I agree that specialty is important and if the OP was aiming to be an academic then I would say go for the school with the best specialist area. However in regards to employment, at least in the UK, I would say the general reputation and how well regarded an establishment is, is far more useful.


Any employer that is going to be impressed that you went to Durham is probably small-minded, does not see many grads from RGs and is working in a not-so-lucrative area. If you're going into commercial law as a practitioner, the people who specialise in say oil and gas are going to be loosely aware that Uni Y has Dr So-and-So and they're going to be interested in what you learnt.

So OG has credibility from the less prestigious courses because of the well-known academics (partners at firms will read academic journals and practitioner texts written by academics) and it is actually about what you studied which interests them. Going to Durham and having 2 modules in international commercial law, and the rest in human rights because there were no other options, is not going to impress on either front. No one knows the academics and you're not going to have many modules available.
Original post by Notoriety
It is not about how the school is regarded; it is about the specialists on offer. Durham is a great general school and has a good number of HR and general topic (contract, tort blah) specialists, but their commercial specialists are not that great. In fact, I would say Leeds is a better commercial school than Durham.

Speaking from experience, it is such a let-down going to a big name school just for its rep and then being deprived of specialists in the area. Thankfully I found nice niches in commercial law on offer at my place, but certainly a reminder to not only go for rep.


Thank u, it a little bit helped me to throw sadness about Durham.))

Where is your place(university)?)
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by Notoriety
Any employer that is going to be impressed that you went to Durham is probably small-minded, does not see many grads from RGs and is working in a not-so-lucrative area. If you're going into commercial law as a practitioner, the people who specialise in say oil and gas are going to be loosely aware that Uni Y has Dr So-and-So and they're going to be interested in what you learnt.

So OG has credibility from the less prestigious courses because of the well-known academics (partners at firms will read academic journals and practitioner texts written by academics) and it is actually about what you studied which interests them. Going to Durham and having 2 modules in international commercial law, and the rest in human rights because there were no other options, is not going to impress on either front. No one knows the academics and you're not going to have many modules available.


Again I agree with specialism, however I am speaking in general. If OP already has an excellent academic background and is looking for the masters to go into a particular specialism to just further their knowledge in their current job, go to whats best for that module exactly. I apologise if I was being too simplistic, but in general your university reputation is more important, than its rankings for specific modules. I think you're likely right in this scenario since this is a post graduate course and so OP already has an academic background and as such will benefit more from the module specific university. But in general, any Law student would be better off going to the more prestigious institution. Yes its a bit close minded, but after to speaking to many city lawyers and if you look at those who gain TC's, 95% attended what all would consider a "prestigious " university. Have a look, its not too uncommon to see Exeter/Durham graduates in city firms, but it would be a fair bit rarer to see Leeds/Essex graduates employed at the same firms.
The point is that generally the better the university, the better your chance. I have spoken to a number of city Lawyers informally, mainly at dinners or events hosted by my school and they said they do discriminate and have a general baseline of what universities are good and what are not. However as you said other factors come into play, for instance they would rather take someone with a first at Exeter over someone with at 2.1 in Durham, despite Durham being the better university. If you do not even achieve a 2.1, regardless of where you went you won't be considered. So there is that, but again there is some discrimination- even if they do not admit it openly, but other factors are of equal importance of course.

But university name is quite important, even a first from London met won't help you.

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