63 replies to this topic

[mink]

Hey ~~~ anyone received offer from UBC LLM CL? I applied before Dec 1 deadline but just find out they extend the deadline to March 15 My status says "underview by graduate committee" since Jan but no result yet. I am also going through NCA

[johnalm]

wow, this thread is incredible- tracking since 2008 till 2012: I think it should be preserved in some archive for years down the road. And then while I was reading, I saw that I had commented saying "you should try bond?"- I don't know if I was high or something-but clearly I was being stupid having not read the thread and seeing how far you had gone: I apologize.

Edited by johnalm, 19 March 2012 - 03:40 PM.

[kcraigsejong]

Time from start to finish for me is 42 months and 17 days (Sept 29, 2009 to April 15, 2013- with an 11 month break after the UK during which I did one NCA exam back in Vancouver. Total time spent enrolled is 32 months. ); tuition costs 58.5K (L1 Leicester 16.5K, L2 17K, UBC 25K after 3K Tuition award.). Don't forget 400 bucks to the NCA for the assessment. I also earned 30K CDN while working in the UK in the summers, and have been working since arriving back in Canada. The University of Leicester paid me as much money as I paid them. It was copasetic.My stats were about as bad as can be before I went to England, I wasn't accepted due to my Canadian academic record. On top of that, I don't have to move to Winnipeg or Moncton to go to law school. (Sorry, Moncton.)

Not to mention, living in the UK was a blast. I got to spend some time with a side of my family that I had never met before and I really miss it. I travelled to Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the Peak District, London, Bristol, Manchester, Sheffield, Cambridge, Oxford, Nottingham, Birmingham, Bath, Stonehenge, the Valley of the White Horse and North Devon. If I could go back to stay, I would but I am not a dual-citizen. Criminal law at Leicester with Christopher Clarkson and Contract Law with Christopher Bisping were fantastic classes- I don't regret them at all. Aw shucks, now you've got me all nostalgic.

Due to my Canadian record, I had to do a second undergrad- I am glad that this was a UK LLB. If people actually can get into a Canadian law school, perhaps they should but it's hard to say that it is the correct choice for every single one of them. The woman I knew best at Leicester is bright as a whip and now doing a Maitrise in Law at Strasbourg and interning at the European Court of Justice- she is from Etobicoke and isn't hurrying back. Three of my classmates are in the JD at U of T, a fourth taking courses there to satisfy NCA requirements. At least three people from the class of 2010 are now articling in Ontario.

I am certainly glad that I didn't spend this time doing Arts courses and studying for the LSAT at Kaplan. If U of T, say, had let me in to do 7 classes they would have charged me 7 times 3.5K to do so, but I would have to move to Toronto for two years and I wouldn't get an LLM CL out of it. I only use Toronto as an example of what my other options are because they are one of the few schools that let people in to do classes as NCA Category students. By the way, three years at U of T Law is almost 90K CDN, isn't it?

Thank you for the compliment, but against all the orthodoxy of this board, I think the UK was a good option. I wasn't trying to fool anyone with regard to the name of the program of study I am in; if you look at the classes you will see they are all JD or Graduate level classes. I think that good grades from the UK, a successful NCA exam in January (I hope, still waiting for results) and 6 good grades (hopefully) from UBC plus an NCA Certificate of Qualification for 58K in 3.5 years will put me in good stead.The LLM CL is a rebranding of the M. Jur. which was a program that had always existed, but has only been open to Canadians for a year now. I have to pass all my classes at UBC with a B average, and do written work on top of the requirements for the JD students- they also reserve the right to give me an oral exam at the end of the program. It's a good program, and fits my needs exactly. I probably should have applied to do a Canadian JD last spring, but I was pretty dead-set on doing the NCAs at the time. I know that 60 credits and a JD from UBC would be better, but I am still happy to be starting. I won't lie to you and tell you that moving around so much and spending so much money has been a lot of fun, but as you said I am persistent. I also know that you can go to Saskatchewan for a lot less than 25K but I want to stay in Vancouver and I just ain't gonna do two more years starting in Sept. 2012. Cheers.

Link is below:

http://www.law.ubc.c...uate/LLMCL.html

[Diplock]

Thanks for the regular updates, and I do admire your persistence. I'll be interested to know what your job search is like. I'm not as entirely opposed to the U.K. route as soon here on the boards are, but I'm against anyone who makes it sound easy. If nothing else, your full explanation of what you went through to get there should deter people from imagining as much, and I'm fine with that.