After a Master of International Tax, I wanted to do a LL.M but not in Europe. Considering that most LL.M in US start in August and that the French bar exam is from September to December, I searched for an alternative that would allow me to do a LL.M and take the bar exam without having to “lose” a year. This is how I found the LL.M at the University of Melbourne (Australia). It was perfect considering that you can start the program either in February or July. In addition, it was in Australia, a truly multicultural country in which I always wanted to live.
I joined the LL.M of Melbourne Uni, an experience I can only recommend for all those who want to do an LL.M somewhere else than in the US or the UK, somewhere different, where you will be with people from all over the world! Studying at Melbourne Uni was an amazing experience, very enriching both from an academic and a personal standpoint.
From an academic standpoint, the Melbourne Law School is amongst the best in the world. It has notably been ranked in the global top five for law by the QS 2013 World University Rankings by subject, just after Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and Yale. Thanks to this international recognition, studying at Melbourne Uni gives you the chance to learn from a broad range of distinguished international scholars coming from universities in Europe (e.g. LSE, Oxford, King’s college), North America (e.g. NYU, Harvard, Yale, UCLA, Georgetown), South America, Asia and Africa.
I also especially appreciated the very broad choice of courses offered (almost 165 subjects for 2014) and the fact that the class size usually range from 20 to 30 students. You can hence have a really interactive discussion with the teachers and your classmates who come from all over the world with very different backgrounds. One other very good thing about Melbourne Uni is that 90% of the subjects are offered on an intensive basis which means that tuition takes place within a week with around five hours of classes per day. Although very intense, it is a very flexible and convenient for those who would like to travel in Australia or work while doing their LL.M.
From a personal standpoint, living a year in Melbourne was also amazing. Melbourne Uni has a great campus in which there are plenty of activities, student associations, sport courts etc. You have hence a lot of opportunities to meet people from everywhere, especially from Asia and South-America. It really gave me the chance to discover various cultures in a very limited timeframe.
The fact that the most courses only last a week also gives you plenty of time to travel around Australia which is probably one of the most beautiful areas in the world and certainly one of the last in which you can really feel on the edge of the world, far from civilization. Melbourne is also a very nice city to live. It has notably been crowned the globe’s most liveable city for the third time in a row! You’ll find there all you need to spend a wonderful year: amazing people, amazing foods and amazing pubs.
In summary, doing an LL.M at Melbourne Uni is a great experience that I would definitely recommend to anyone seeking to do something a bit different from other LL.M students! You can be sure that it would retain people’s attention on your CV and differentiate your application from those of your competitors.
Thibaud Boucharlat
For further information on the LL.M. of Melbourne Univerisity, click here.
