Lawyers who are trained abroad but want to practice in the U.S. typically have a direct path for continuing their career here: Enroll in a yearlong LL.M. program, a degree option for lawyers trained in the U.S. or elsewhere to advance their legal education.
These degree programs can help students interested in specializing in a specific aspect of the law — and for international students, also provide a pathway for eligibility to take state bar exams.
But a quick search on the website for the American Bar Association, which approves law schools and provides resources for lawyers and law students, reveals hundreds of these programs in every region of the country. Some are for lawyers who want to specialize in criminal law or another subfield, while dozens cover the U.S. legal system more generally. With so many options in the District of Columbia, California and states in between, it’s easy for prospective LL.M. students to be overwhelmed, especially if they have little or no familiarity with the U.S.
Below, law school experts share what international students should consider as they weigh LL.M. programs.
[Consider an online LL.M. as an international student.]
— Bar preparation: A little more than two dozen states allow internationally trained lawyers to sit for a state bar exam, but state rules vary about whether these lawyers must complete additional education at a school approved by the American Bar Association, according to the2014 Bar Admission Requirements from the National Conference of Bar Examiners and American Bar Association. A general LL.M. program can be the first step for an international student to be eligible for a state bar exam. Through these programs, you are more easily able to qualify for a bar exam, says John Riccardi, assistant dean for graduate and international programs at the School of Law at Boston University.
Certain schools will design the LL.M. curriculum to prepare students for certain state bar exams.
“We provide them with tracks, a track system, so that they can meet the requirements for either the New York bar, the California bar or the Washington, D.C. bar,” says Deborah Call, associate dean of graduate and international programs at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
Specialized LL.M. programs, though, may not always help with bar preparation.
“It’s hard sometimes if somebody attends a specialized program where you’re only allowed to take tax classes, for example, or only allowed to take intellectual property classes, for example, or health care classes, for example,” says Riccardi, whose school offers a more general program as well as opportunities to specialize in topics like taxation or banking and financial law. “State bars and what’s called the multistate bar exam don’t test you on those topics.”
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— Program type and classmates: Students who pursue a general program may have a curriculum that’s similar to a first-year J.D. student’s. LL.M. students who choose a general option may have a broader idea of how U.S. lawyers view the law and make decisions.
“You can see how they’re trained to think,” he says. In some instances, LL.M. students may even sit side by side with first-year J.D. students in class. The American Law Program at Boston University, for example, allows students to take classes with their J.D. counterparts.
In these settings, foreign lawyers may learn a whole new way of approaching legal problem-solving. If they want to work in a setting where they interact with U.S. lawyers, that kind of awareness is key, Riccardi says. A specialized program, he says, may be filled with foreign lawyers and may not focus on how American lawyers think.
[Find out how to get into law school as an international applicant.]
Some schools also create settings for students to interact with J.D. students outside of class. At the University of Southern California, for example, the international relations student organization pairs J.D. students with LL.M. students based on a common interest, such as golf or swimming, says Call. The student pairs attend events together, such as a movie night, and sometimes the J.D. student may invite the international LL.M. student home for the holidays.
— Support: David Dye, an adjunct professor and the director of graduate and international programs at University of Oklahoma’s school of law, says he receives a lot of questions about how his school can support students after graduation and encourages students to ask about networking opportunities for LL.M. students. Some students may vie for the same jobs as J.D. candidates, while others use an LL.M. to leverage career options in their home country.
The University of Oklahoma, which offers an energy and natural resources specialization in its LL.M. program, takes international LL.M. students to a geological business conference each year to give them a chance to network and develop contacts.
It’s also important to find out what kind of support an international LL.M. student will receive with their academics and bar preparation, says Call, from University of Southern California.
One of the best ways for students to find out this information is to speak with current or former students from the LL.M. program. Prospective students should ask, she says: Do you feel that you’re in a great learning environment? Are the faculty available during office hours? What’s your in-class experience and your outside of class experience?
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Decide as an International Lawyer Which LL.M. Program is the Best Fit originally appeared on usnews.com
