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.
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.
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.
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.
A related difference is the sense of confusion in which many students (both foreign and American!) find themselves when studying here. Civil law education tends to impart a sense of legal certainty – there are rules, and there are right answers. There are also rules and right answers in U.S. law, but U.S. legal education spends relatively little energy focusing on them. Rather, we focus on questions and uncertainty, which enhances one’s ability to deal with the inevitable uncertainties of legal practice.
Teaching methods. A second major feature is U.S. teaching methods, which tend to be highly interactive. In the archetypal “Socratic method,” the professor asks questions about assigned reading materials, and the students answer. Underlying this method is the idea that students learn best when forced to think for themselves. Professors who use the method in its purest form never lecture at all; rather, their classes are devoted entirely to asking questions. Very few professors use this approach, however; most professors lecture to some extent as well. On the other hand, almost no professors rely entirely on lecture. Thus in order to understand class discussion, students must have read and considered the assigned materials before class begins.
The Socratic method typically is used in connection with records of decided cases, and is sometimes confused with the “case method.” However, the two are not identical. The Socratic method is well suited to the task of extracting the basic principles from a case, then applying those principles to another case – activities at the core of the case method. However, the Socratic method also can be used in connection with other source materials of American law (constitutions, statutes, etc.).
The Socratic method normally is associated with larger classes (those of 40 students or more). Most schools also offer “seminars”, which typically involve 25 or fewer students sitting around a table. Seminars involve a more free-flowing discussion of the assigned materials, led by the professor. In addition, most schools offer skills-oriented classes such as moot courts, negotiation workshops, and clinical programs (in which students represent actual clients).
Most foreign-student LL.M. programs share a number of common features. The degree typically requires a single academic year of full-time study, primarily in classroom courses and seminars. Most schools also require a writing project, varying in length from 15 pages to 75 pages or more.
Otherwise, programs fall into two basic categories. First, some schools offer specialized programs in such fields as taxation, international law, human rights, etc. These programs typically combine required “core” courses with electives in the particular area. Some courses may be designed specifically for the LL.M. program; others are within the school’s regular curriculum. Specialized programs offer two basic advantages: in-depth exposure to the particular field, and recognition of the specialization on the student’s diploma. Their disadvantage is that they restrict the student’s flexibility, particularly outside the area of specialization.
The second major category is the “general” LL.M. program. In these programs, students create their own programs of study based on courses in the regular J.D. curriculum. If the school’s curriculum is sufficiently broad, a student in a “general” program can effectively pursue a specialized LL.M.; the only thing lacking is formal recognition of the field of study. However, students are not required to specialize, and indeed the flexibility of the general program is its great advantage. My own school, Boston College Law School, offers a general LL.M. degree.
Otherwise, what factors should a prospective LL.M. student consider in selecting a school? One obvious factor is the school’s academic reputation. Certain schools may be better known in your country than others, but do not allow this to limit your inquiry: a high-quality education is available at a surprisingly broad range of schools. The infamous U.S. News and World Report rankings offer a very rough picture of what the “better” schools are, but use the rankings with extreme caution. The criteria on which they are based are controversial, and ultimately bear little relationship to your educational experience at a given school.
What will have a more direct relationship to your educational experience? One important factor is the school’s ethos – the values that underlie the school’s curriculum and teaching methods. Another is the school’s strength in fields that interest you: how many courses are offered in those areas? Another factor is the size of the LL.M. program. In a larger program (50 students or more), your primary community is your LL.M. colleagues. That can be a wonderful experience, but it may come at the price of integration with the rest of the school. In a smaller program, you also get to know your LL.M. colleagues, but you are more likely to get to know J.D. students and faculty as well. Other obvious factors are the school’s geographic location, the extracurricular activities it offers, the cost of the program, the availability of financial aid, and so forth.
This has important implications for the application process: you should do some homework before applying. Consider the kind of educational experience you want to have, and look for schools that seem to offer that experience. Then, when you apply, make clear on your application that you’ve done your homework. That makes your application stand out among the many each school receives, and helps convince its admissions officers that you would be a good “fit” for the school.