University of London - DL LLM

Badpenguin (love that name, btw): I will respond on the LLM tutoring part later, but a quick comment on your laminated degrees: On page 44 of the prospectus there is a potential loophole: "If an original certificate is unavailable for any reason you may either submit any other evidence that you have... " and "...we may ask you to contact the appropriate awarding or examining authority and ask them to write to us giving full details of your qualification/s." It sounds like they might (might) let you slide with a certified copy of you transcript, send directly from the school. It might be wise to start early with the process and see what you can do. Alternatively most universities will issue you a second degree certificate, which might be cheaper than sending your laminated ones to Washington and paying for return postage. Bear in mind that you'd save yourself the certifying cost since you could just send the original to UoL. I think my old university charges about $75-$100 for a replacement degree certificate, so that might be your easiest avenue.

 

Good advice. I'll start looking into it. Although I may be afraid of the answer, I'll ask the question anyway: Just how much do they get these days for "certifying" American degrees?

To quote Bill Joel, "you may be right", it might be cheaper to have my University send a duplicate degree directly to UoL!!!

 

Novemberdude,

I have just completed the first three subjects for the LLB. The Law Tutors do provide good notes. I would also suggest that the LLB students ,at least, have a look at the Blackstone Study Pack Series published by Blackstone Press.

They provide indepth reading on subjects and case notes on a CD. After having sat for the exams I would suggest that the student be able to comment on policy issues and inquiry findings for the development of the law. The examiners seem to value this findings almost as much as the actual cases.

The subjects for the Uni of London are actually 30 week duration subjects not 15 week as I expected for some reason. They examine in depth and I found the exams very exacting.

Best of Luck. Welcome aboard.

 

Ebbwvale,

Thanks for your comments, I appreciate the info. I am going to look for a Blackstone Press site, if I get stuck I will come looking for some help.

I assume you studied through Law Tutors? Which exams did you take?

 

Thanks, Ebbwvale.

Do you mind if I ask you a few more questions? You are pretty much the only current student at UoL LLB that I have met and I have to admit that I am very apprehensive about the program.

Thanks for the tip on Blackstone.

 

Some info on LLM Tutors for Badpenguin,

Aplogies in advance, this is not going to be as comprehensive or coherent as I would have liked, but I wanted to get the reply to you.

I started researching online degrees a couple months ago. I spent some time looking into MBA programs and had a few shortlisted when I stumbled upon the UoL Laws degrees. My initial interest (prior to MBA research) had been in the area of Law but I had only looked in the US and could only find State Approved JDs that didn't really fit with what I was looking for. (Note: I am Canadian and do not want to be a lawyer, but I do a lot of contract and claims work governed by English Law).

What really interested me was the UoL LLM in Maritime Law (I work in shipping). The only place that I found that advertised tutoring for those specific courses was SPR. LTO according to their website offered graduate tutoring but not the Maritime subjects.

I corresponded a bit with SPR and although they never came out and said it the impression I had was that they would not offer tutoring for a course with less than 4 students, and they only had one student interested. So basically no go.

Now, it is worth noting that I only discovered UoL late in the game, early September, a couple weeks before the application deadline. So I was pinched, apply to the LLM (no sure thing that I'd be accepted, I do not have a first degree in law) and then possibly not have tutoring? Or go for the LLB? I applied for the LLB with a hopeful future eye on the LLM. Then I was put in touch with Law Tutors Online. I worked out tutoring issues with them, and then mentioned my interest in maritime law. One of the directors told me that they are looking at expanding in this area. The thing with LTO is that they really want to tutor the LLM. In fact they were founded to tutor the LLM, but expanded into the LLB when they saw the demand. Here's the kicker: they sometimes offer LLM tutoring for classes with only one student, and will use the LLB subjects to subsidize the LLM. LTO say that they see a good chance to offer Carriage of Goods by Sea and Commercial Arbitration by fall 2004.

On the other hand, here is what SPR told me, in a nutshell. They are ready to go with the maritime law subjects, if they can get the demand side going. All the material is ready and apparently they have a tutor. But no students. They started by offering LLB tutoring and in the last couple years have started LLM tutoring.

Comparing SPR and LTO I would guess there isn't much to choose between. Both seem very good. SPR strikes me as a bit more commercial, LTO seem to rely more on word of mouth. LTO were very straightforward when I asked them about student results. SPR on the other hand told me that they didn't really have student results handy, but when I asked them why I should choose them over another tutor they said that they stood by their results (that sort of puzzled me). However, I would be extremely comfortable studying with either LTO or SPR.

LTO also told me (after the application deadline) that they feel I would have an excellent chance at admission based on my experience. They have had several students who have studied for the LLM without a law background. They suggested to me to do one year on the LLB and try for the LLM. That would work fine for me, it would give me my basic contract law and English legal system as a foundation.

 

novemberdude,

I purchased the notes from Law Tutors and I submitted some assignments. I didn't undertake the tutes. They were a bit expensive at this end of the world.

I sat for Crim Law, Contract, and English Legal Systems. Fortunately, I passed all of them. The people who I had email contact with didn't pass all of them the first go. The examinations were a shock to the system. I was lucky.

I am now doing Constitutional law(Public Law), Torts,and Land Law. Trusts will then be the only mandatory subject I will have left after that. The rest will be electives. I have purchased the notes / assignments again and I have the Blackstone Study Packs for all three. The website for Blackstone Press is www.blackstonepress.com.

regards,
Ebbwvale

 

Novemberdude: Thanx for the detailed reply on LLM tutors. I think if that we are able to synch up, the two of us alone would be 50% of what SPR desires in order to run a course. If Nosborne joins us for Admiralty, that would be 75%. And we still have almost a year to see if anyone else on the Board is interested. And all this is on our own. Hopefully, either of the tutors "should" be able to find 1 student on their own. They also might want to make a business decision, knowing that at least the 2 of us will (more than likely) be going for the same 4 courses. They may want to run them anyway, to get our business and referrals. I think you mentioned that Law Tutors is more willing than SPR to find an acceptable solution. I have no preferance for either. I just want to prepare for, and pass, the LLM in the most supportive environment possible.

What is the likelyhood that you believe you would consider pursuing the LLM as opposed to the MBA?

If the LLM, which two courses would you be considering for the 1st year, the 2nd year?

Although I haven't used it professionally, I have an Associates degree in Transportation and Logistics Management. So, you probably do in real life what I read about in textbooks.

Lets keep in touch.

 

Thanks for the reply.

Barring any unforeseen career change within the next year I would say the likelyhood of me choosing to pursue an MBA over the LLM are minute. To have a Master of Laws degree on my resume would really set me apart from the MBAs out there. Plus there is no comparison in terms of which would help me do my job better.

I have no real preference as to which subjects I would like to focus on first. I would prefer that one of them be Admiralty Law or Law of Carriage of Goods by Sea, which are the most directly relevant to my job. I know very little about Marine Insurance, and commerical arbitration is a course I could take or leave (but would have to take because if UoL let me in as a special circumstance they'd put a gun to my head and say take it).

With the two of us I am not worried about getting tuition. I can give these guys a marketing plan that will get at least another 2 people signed up.

When time permits I will email you, I think If we coordinate our efforts we can get something done.

Regarding your associates degree, I would have studied transportation if my local university had offered it as an option. No luck there, so I have a degree in management instead.

 

Also, the London LL.M. is MUCH cheaper than the London MBA and has fewer overall requirements.

I think that's because the MBA "starts from scratch" whereas the LL.M. presupposes an extensive legal education.

 

Students in DL London MBA need to submit assignments, papers and dissertation, apart from written examiantions. While students in DL London LLM only need to take written examinations.

 

Are LL.B past exams also available?

 

LLB exams online

Try here:

http://www.londonexternal.ac.uk/studentarea/laws/law_courses/llb.shtml