LLM in Competition Law

Takahiro Yamada, Japan

LLM in Competition Law, 2011-12

Creating and ensuring effective competition is essential in every market. After working in government for seven years,supervising several markets, I have become keenly aware of the necessity to have a deep understanding of competition law to further my career in government.

Queen Mary's competition law courses are excellent. Whilst I had already decided to study EU Competition Law before coming to Queen Mary, International and Comparative Competition Law, which takes a unique approach to competition law from the international perspective, and UK Competition Law strongly attracted my interest from the very first classes and assured me that I had made the correct decision. In addition to comprehensively covering a broad area of the law, including current issues, the interactive classes allow students not only to confirm their understanding but also to develop their analysis of the law (thought is sometimes very demanding!). Furthermore, the lecturers offer great help in tackling dissertations from the initial stage of considering a thesis.

Studying in London with friends from various backgrounds adds cultural depth to student life. Every week after classes, we head to a restaurant offering food from each of our home countries, in turn, and then move on to a pub.

Hugo Chanez, USA

LLM in Competition Law 2009-2010

“I applied to Queen Mary’s LLM program because I wanted to focus on competition issues and acquire an international perspective to my American legal education. Both goals have been accomplished. In my opinion Dr Dabbah, has been the key to my positive experience. Despite his busy schedule, he is always approachable and takes time to guide his students. Having spent a year studying under him, it is evident he truly cares about his student’s development. The LLM program combines both practical and theoretical courses. Dr Dabbah’s command of the subject creates a synergy between the two. In class every theory is reinforced with examples from private practice. Students are taught more than the legal rules and jurisprudence. Dr Dabbah teaches his students to look beyond the law into the politics and economics of the issues at hand. Further, the vast diversity of jurisdictions represented in the student body allows for lively discussion of competition issues.”

Florian Leib, Germany

LLM Competition Law

"Since I am doing a PhD in Competition Law at the Free University in Berlin, I chose to combine it with the Queen Mary LLM programme.

Queen Mary, University of London offers a choice of different competition law courses, which I could not find anywhere else. I attended International and Comparative Competition Law as well as International Merger Control. Both courses widened my personal scope of the field and gave me a multinational interlink, which is in this area more required than anywhere else.

Whilst International and Comparative Competition Law was in my opinion mainly orientated on competition law and policy issues on an international level, International Merger Control was mostly dedicated to issues of practical importance. Both courses complement one another perfectly.

Now I will complete my PhD after I finished an internship at the Brussels Office of an international law firm which is active in this field."

Ricardo Bayão Horta, Portugal

LLM Competition Law and Intellectual Property

Ricardo Bayão Horta, Portuguese Competition Authority, Portugal

When I first applied for the LLM course, I had already chosen to focus on the areas of Competition Law and Intellectual Property. Queen Mary offered an excellent combination of the two in terms of variety of subjects and quality of teachers. Five years passed since it began, the knowledge, expertise and academic experience acquired during that one-year, in particular, in the field of Competition Law at Queen Mary opened a whole new world of possibilities, not only professional, but also academic. A good example was my admittance to the – at the time, newly created – Portuguese Competition Authority just a few weeks after I obtained my LLM Master’s Degree, and where I've been working ever since. I do fully realize that the academic experience gained while at Queen Mary were indispensable for me to be where I am today, to achieve what I have achieved, and represent an incentive to foster future projects and ambitions in the fields I so enthusiastically develop on.

Felipe Garcia-Pineda, Colombia

LLM Competition Law

“After practising law for five years in Colombia, I decided to look for an educational experience that combined academic excellence, life experience and the possibility to build a strong network of fellow students.

Studying the LLM at Queen Mary exceeded my expectations. I attended International and Comparative Competition Law, International Merger Control and EC Competition Law. These three courses were a perfect combination of theory and practice.

Since I came back to Colombia I have been working for the Colombian Competition Authority. Having completed my LLM at Queen Mary, it has given me the necessary academic and practical skills to meet the requirements for the job, and more importantly, to be up to challenge that such type of work demands. I had probably one of the best academic formations you can get, had a wonderful experience in London and built a strong network of friends from all over the world.”

Claudia Arnautu, Romania

LLM in Competition Law

"Competition law is one of the fast growing fields in the Romanian legal environment and it is a “must know” for any ambitious young lawyer wishing to practice in the filed of commercial law. Working with the Romanian Government increased my awareness of the legislative and practical issues Romania was facing while knocking at the EU’s doors.

I chose to study competition law at Queen Mary University of London due to the ranking of the University and its ongoing involvement in the field of competition law. The first class I attended did nothing but to reinforce my decision to study competition law with one of the best teachers and practitioners in the field.

It was a very rewarding academic experience that opened the doors of many international law firms upon my return home. It is due to the practical skills and legal knowledge acquired during my LLM studies that I now have the chance not only to observe the legislative developments in the field of competition law but also to enthusiastically participate in them as a practitioner."