Hi
@johnjohn1997 I think in practical terms, an LLM from any of these institutions is very prestigious and the potential slight differences that may exist between the three will not have a significant impact on your recruitment prospects. I will also preface my take here by noting that (i) this is a subjective opinion - there's no way to objectively rank the three courses; (ii) I am a current UCL student, so there is a potential for bias in my assessment. My most important piece of advice would be to speak to professional careers advisors as they will have more informed opinions.
That said, my general view of law school prestige rankings in the UK is that Oxbridge is in a tier of their own (but neither Cambridge nor Oxford is definitely first or second) followed by UCL and LSE (but neither is definitely third or fourth). I think based on most national school rankings, admission statistics, and general VS/TC representation at top firms (based on my personal experience and anecdotal evidence), while obviously still very reputable, KCL is slightly less well-regarded.
Between LSE and UCL I think the choice is more difficult. I believe LSE edges UCL in terms of clout in the City generally because of its reputation as a super target for Investment Banking and other top finance careers. As such, the general LSE brand name may be slightly better. I also believe UCL edges LSE in the quality of its Laws department, as it has consistently been beating LSE in the vast majority of national and international law rankings in the past few years. This applies not only for general undergraduate law courses, but also for research quality and output rankings as well, where UCL significantly edges LSE. As such, I would argue that while the LSE is the general better university brand name for the City, UCL has the better reputation for Laws specifically. Whether UCL's edge in academic reputation for law is great enough to trump LSE's edge in general brand name is hard to say.
Having quickly taken a look on the internet as to the different offerings of the two LLM courses, I think LSE might be better if you want to maximize chances of going to a finance-focused practice. This is because LSE image is particularly well regarded in all finance matters. However, if you are more interested in corporate or other commercial law practice areas, I think UCL may be the better choice, as it allows for more tailored electives which you can then leverage in applications and interviews.
To summarize, my personal opinion is:
- LSE and UCL trump KCL for general reputation in Laws.
- LSE trumps UCL for general City reputation, UCL slightly trumps LSE for Laws reputation.
- An LSE LLM would be a better fit for a finance focus, and UCL LLM would be a better fit for a corporate focus.
