Law

Entry requirements

The minimum academic entry requirement for the Cambridge LLM programme is a First Class Bachelors degree in law from a UK university or its equivalent from an overseas institution. This means that applicants will typically be placed well within the top 10% of law students in their jurisdiction. Students may apply during the final year of their first degree in law. Successful applicants who are studying towards a law degree, other degrees, or similar relevant qualification at the time their application is assessed are likely to have an academic condition attached to the LLM offer.

A first degree in law (meeting the requirements of the previous paragraph) is the preferred preparation for the Cambridge LLM programme. However, in exceptional and rare circumstances, applicants without such a degree may be considered, provided they can demonstrate that academically they are within the top 10% of lawyers in their jurisdiction. Applicants will typically demonstrate this through substantial relevant professional legal experience or having obtained a professional legal qualification with the equivalent of a First Class result.

Months of entry

October

Course content

The Cambridge LLM (Master of Law) is a nine-month taught masters degree commencing at the beginning of October each year and finishing by the end of the following June. The LLM, as a masters degree, is intended for those who wish to pursue further legal studies after completing their first degree in law, including those who are considering an academic career or intending to practise law.

LLM students take four courses of their choice from the list of available LLM course offerings. In recent years, the number of LLM courses on offer has tended to be in the region of 30. The advanced nature of the LLM programme is reflected in the fact that it is organised and taught separately from the undergraduate law degree at Cambridge. All of the LLM courses are specifically tailored for the LLM programme.

Currently, each course is most commonly assessed by means of a three-hour written examination at the end of the LLM year, although students may elect to write a full thesis in lieu of the written examination for one course (only), subject to prior formal approval of their thesis topic.

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the LLM programme students can be expected to have greatly enhanced knowledge of their chosen subject areas, an increased ability to apply sophisticated and rigorous analytical techniques to primary and secondary legal materials, and a better facility in advancing robust evaluations of doctrinal, theoretical and policy arguments in the fields of their studies and more generally.