Expected Academic Standard

Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK First class Honours Degree.

If your degree is not from the UK, please check International Qualifications to find the equivalent in your country.

The minimum academic entry requirement for the Cambridge LLM programme is a First Class bachelor's degree in law from a UK university or the equivalent from an overseas institution.  This means that applicants will typically be placed well within the top 10% of law students in their jurisdiction.  Due to the large number of very strong applications received for the LLM programme each year, a First Class degree in law (or the overseas equivalent) is a minimum requirement rather than a guarantee of admission. 

Students may apply during the final year of their first degree in law.  Successful applicants who are studying towards a law degree, other degree, or similar relevant qualification at the time their application is assessed are likely to have an academic condition attached to the LLM offer.

A first degree in law (meeting the requirements outlined above) is the preferred preparation for the Cambridge LLM programme.  However, in exceptional and rare circumstances, applicants without such a degree may be considered, provided they can demonstrate that academically they are within the top 10% of lawyers in their jurisdiction.  Applicants will typically demonstrate this through substantial relevant professional legal experience or having obtained a professional legal qualification with the equivalent of a First Class result.

If an offer is subject to academic conditions, to join the LLM programme in October 2024 the University's Postgraduate Admissions Office must receive final evidence of the applicant having met the academic condition by 31 July 2024.  If potentially relevant academic results only become available after that date, unfortunately it will not be possible for the applicant to be admitted to the LLM programme.

Applications are assessed as a gathered field after the application deadline of 5 December 2023.  Candidates are selected for an offer from those meeting the minimum academic requirement, in order of assessed strength of application, but overall offer numbers are limited to the University-allocated LLM quota.

English Language Requirements

All applicants to the LLM programme who are not nationals of a country on the Postgraduate Admissions Office's ‘List A’ are required to take either the Academic IELTS English language proficiency test or the TOEFL English language proficiency test.  The only exception is if an applicant has successfully completed a three-year full-time bachelor's degree within the last two years in a country on List A, or is in the final year of study for a three-year full-time bachelor's degree in a country on List A.

All LLM applicants who need to take an English language proficiency test must submit their test results with their course application by the application deadline of 5 December 2023.  Therefore, applicants must allow enough time to take and pass a language test before the LLM application deadline.  

Applicants must obtain all of the required IELTS or TOEFL scores in the same test sitting; multiple test results cannot be combined to meet the language requirement.  Please note that we do not accept TOEFL MyBest™ scores.

Language test scores must be less than two years old by the start of the LLM course in October 2024 in order to be valid.

Please note that referrals to the University of Cambridge’s Language Centre for assessment are not permitted for the LLM course, and it is not possible to obtain a waiver of the language requirement.

University Minimum Academic Requirements

Language Requirement

Visa Information

No ATAS required

What Is An ATAS?