General LL.M. program / specialized LL.M. program (Pauline Pierre, Georgetown Law)

The advice provided below is meant as a general guideline for prospective LL.M. students. One of the most important things to keep in mind in the U.S. law school context is that schools can greatly differ from one another. It is a good idea to try and contact former LL.M. students from schools you are thinking of applying to in order to get their impression on certain elements which should be taken into consideration when choosing between a general LL.M. program and a specialized LL.M. program. The most important thing is to know which questions to ask. I hope this article provides some helpful insight for that purpose.

I am currently enrolled in the General Studies LL.M. program at Georgetown University Law Center. In the wake of the exam period, now appears to be a good time to address the grading methods used by most ABA-approved law schools. In order to graduate from the General Studies LL.M. program at Georgetown, one needs to obtain a minimum of 20 credits and at least a 2.0 GPA. Some classes are "pass/fail classes," which means that they do not count toward your GPA. If you pass such a class, you will get the credits for the class but no grade. What this means is that pass/fail courses do not impact your average. This is quite important to bear in mind, as a number of New York Bar required courses are pass/fail courses.

One frequent reason why foreign-trained law students choose to do a general LL.M. program rather than a specialized one is that they are planning on taking the New York Bar Exam. A general LL.M. program usually provides the flexibility needed in order to complete the requirements for the bar exam, while choosing from a variety of other law courses for the remaining credits you are required to complete.

As highlighted in previous articles on this blog, in order to take the New York Bar exam, one needs to graduate from his or her LL.M. program with 24 credits and at least a 2.0 GPA. The New York Board of Law Examiners’ website provides a list of courses one must complete in order to be eligible to sit for the bar exam. Out of the 24 credits which you much complete, 12 credits must be on certain subjects that are required in order to be eligible to sit for the bar exam.

This means that when you intend to take the New York Bar Exam, half of the credits you will take during your LL.M. will be on mandatory subjects. This can make the general LL.M. less flexible than one might think. It is important to keep in mind certain time constraints which, for instance, might prevent you from taking a course you really wanted to take because this course overlaps with one required for the bar. With the New York Bar Exam requirements, a general LL.M. program may likely end up being slightly less flexible than it may initially appear.

Choosing between a general vs. a specialized program will therefore depend on several factors. One important aspect to be taken into consideration is the range of courses offered by the law school you are applying to. How many courses are offered ? Is there a list of courses available on the school’s website ? Is there at least a basic syllabus available for each course ? Do courses look interesting ? Which ones are offered to LL.M. students versus only J.D. students ? Are there a lot of cross-listed courses, which are J.D. courses that have a certain number of seats open to LL.M. students and vice-versa. 

Another element to look at when choosing between doing a general LL.M. program and a specialized one is the type of law school one is applying to. When it comes to top-ranked schools, it might be easier to get into the general LL.M. program and one thing to know is that there is sometimes a possibility to transfer to a specialized LL.M. once you are admitted to that school -- provided you meet the graduation requirements of a given specialized program.

Conversely, in law schools that are not the most highly ranked, a good strategy may be to apply to a specialized program, as people – potential employers, for instance -- may tend to focus more on the title of the program you completed rather than on the name of the law school you attended. A specialized program might also be more valuable in terms of networking.

Again, all of this may vary from one law school to another. The idea is to try and gather as much information as possible on schools which you are interested in applying to. This will greatly help in making an informed decision regarding the type of LL.M. you wish to apply to.