Well, I guess the answer to the first question, in most situations, would depend on what one’s goals, both on the professional and personal level, are.
For many LLM students, these could mean academic “maturation”, a pathway to specialization into a particular field of law that they found interesting during undergraduate courses, or, why not, while practicing a certain profession, or even a new beginning in a whole new realm, or opening up one’s mind and soul to new opportunities. When I used to read about all the things listed above, before starting the LLM here at Kent and while working as a lawyer (working almost 60 hours of week, because, you know, this is what lawyers do), I have to admit that it all seemed like empty words or even cheap philosophy. The flaw in my reasoning was that I was very superficial in judging such an experience, I was reaching conclusions without actually experimenting the LLM life, just because I was thinking that “good things” or “good outcomes” are not possible and don’t just happen to people.
Fortunately, seven months after the first LLM thought had passed through my mind, life happened, whatever that means, and I have found myself in the Canterbury campus, living a dream which I was initially afraid to even “dream”.
So, why did I a choose Kent? The teaching methods that the KLS proposed for the subjects that I was interested in and the critical and cutting-edge approaches were indeed essential for my decision to come to Kent. However, there was another thing that somehow steered me to Kent. I have to recognize that I had applied for two other LLM programs based in London. However, after I had written the application letters for each of these three schools offering LLM programs (the one for Kent and the other two for the London-based law schools) I noticed that the one which reflected my personality, my true self and professional goals was the one for Kent.
Maybe, at a subconscious level, I was fascinated by the paradisiac location of the campus in Canterbury, and I found it very easy to get informed about the KLS through the friendly web site of the University and thanks to the courtesy and efficiency of the KLS staff. Now, I know for sure that all of the above are accurate and I have discovered additional advantages of being a KLS LLM student.
The most enchanting feature of the LLM program is its flexibility which allows you to choose three modules per semester from a wide variety of law subjects pertaining to different areas of law.
For example, you may choose to study Contemporary Topics in Intellectual Property pertaining to the Intellectual Property pathway – which I think is a one of a kind module which I could not find on the list of other LLM programs, focused on the very latest trends and developments in this area and Labour Rights in a Global Economy which pertains to the International Law pathway. So basically, the sky is the limit in terms of what to study J
Then there are a lot of FREE non-mandatory workshops and lectures available almost on a daily basis which aim at developing and/or improving, including but not limited to ones writing skills and soft skills (such as the Global Skills Award Program or the events organised by the Student Learning Advisory Service)(additional details will be available in a future post). I have registered for most of them to be honest because I know that such sessions are not only effective but are also a good training for a future job. Not to mention that when you have a real job you don’t have the time and the peace of mind necessary to assimilate properly all the information and tips which such training offer.
I am now living on campus (which is a first for me – I never experienced living in a dorm before) with other postgraduate students studying different master programs and I can say that this is truly amazing. Besides the fact that students here have such a diverse cultural background, I constantly learn about new subjects from different disciplines, which, invariably are connected to my desired LLM specialization which is Intellectual Property. Most of my flat mates are studying Computer Sciences, and this eventually led to discussions about the insights of the architecture of applications which we use on our smartphones and, eventually, discussions about how these are protected by copyright.
So, I am pretty sure that other universities offer similar LLM programs, similar campus conditions (of course I don’t think they offer landscapes like the one below, but anyways J) however KLS promises and so far has offered to me a life experience which will hopefully remain embedded in me for a lifetime.
Lumi Olteanu,Kent LLM (Intellectual Property)