Share this article on...
Contact Us
- Report errors or inaccuracies topmba@qsnetwork.com
- Contribute articles contribute@qsnetwork.com
- Advertise advertise@qsnetwork.com
LL.M. study in the U.S.: Why, what and how?
This article offers a brief overview of the reasons for doing an LL.M. in the U.S., discusses the core of the educational experience, and offers guidance on deciding which U.S. LL.M. program to attend.
Why do a U.S. LL.M. degree?
The world of LL.M. programs is a dizzying one: more and more schools in more and more countries offer the degree, and the process of deciding where to study can be bewildering. There are many reasons to do an advanced degree in another country. We live in an increasingly globalized world, and study in another country enhances one’s ability to be a “player” in that world. Learning about another legal system helps one work with people from that system, and the experience of immersing oneself in another language and culture can be enormously enriching.
These considerations, of course, apply to study in many countries. Why might one want to do a U.S. LL.M. in particular?
Business lawyers. The reasons are particularly compelling for lawyers engaged in business law practice, because the globalization of commercial activity has a distinctly U.S. legal “flavor.” First, the U.S. is a major player in international commerce. If one’s practice involves contact with U.S.-based institutions, it is useful to have some exposure to U.S. law. Second, U.S. legal models emphasizing flexibility, transparency, and efficient markets are enormously influential, particularly in fields like corporate, securities, bankruptcy and antitrust law. Third, U.S. models influence legal practice. Many international contracts, for example, are governed by New York law, even if the parties’ contacts with New York are minimal.
Fourth, U.S. legal education is particularly suited to the international stage. The common law method – the core of the educational experience -- is highly adaptable. This has obvious parallels in the evolving international order. The U.S. legal system is also highly pluralistic, and studying such a system helps one work in an even more pluralistic international order. U.S. legal education also emphasizes independent thought, problem solving, and an awareness of actual business practices – all useful for the legal advisor.
Finally, a U.S. LL.M. is increasingly a required credential for lawyers seeking professional advancement. In many countries, law firms and corporations are particularly interested in hiring and promoting lawyers who have studied in the U.S. That interest is not limited to firms in students’ home countries: U.S.-based law firms, tax advisory firms, and corporations are hiring increasing numbers of foreign lawyers who hold U.S. LL.M. degrees. A U.S. LL.M. also enables graduates to take the bar exam in New York and one or two other states. This can be valuable even if one never practices that state’s law.
People in other fields. Many of the same considerations apply to people working in other fields. In constitutional law, for example, U.S. practices have helped fuel the spread of judicial review and rights jurisprudence around the world. Several countries are experimenting with U.S. criminal procedural models, such as the jury system and plea bargaining. And for legal academics, exposure to U.S. can be particularly useful. Ours is a highly “articulated” legal system: many volumes of doctrine, commentary, and theory are worthy of study, even if one ultimately rejects their approaches. We also offer an enormous range of theoretical perspectives, many of them interdisciplinary.
The educational experience - what is the LL.M. experience like at an academic level?
For many students, the most immediate challenge is studying entirely in English. But LL.M. study also stretches students academically in other ways.
The common law system. One important feature of U.S. legal education is the experience of the common law system. In the civil law system, the starting point is a code and the basic principles underlying it. Students learn the code and those principles, then reason deductively from them to particular fact situations. In the common law system, the starting point is a fact situation. The first step of common law reasoning is therefore more inductive: the student identifies the basic principles for which a case stands. In determining how a second case should be resolved, the student first identifies the differences between the first and the second case, then applies the principles underlying the first case to the second case.
