The Master of Laws (LL.M.) Program in American Legal Studies is a one-year degree program of 24 credits for candidates seeking a U.S. law degree. It is designed for attorneys, judges, government officials, prosecutors, corporate legal counsel, bankers, and recent law graduates who have received their basic law degree outside the United States. These LL.M. students will be introduced to the U.S. legal system and, with advice from our faculty advisors and staff, they will be allowed to choose their own course of study from the extensive law course offerings at TJSL.
Foreign law graduates at TJSL will study together with TJSL J.D. students in order to promote a truly international and cultural exchange. Immersion into the rich J.D. curriculum and a low faculty to student ratio at TJSL will prepare the foreign law graduates taking an LL.M. in American Legal Studies to deal effectively with U.S. attorneys in their home countries as well as those serving foreign governments and international organizations. The LL.M. students at TJSL can expect to receive more personal attention than they would normally receive in another U.S. law school.
An LL.M. in American Legal Studies will appeal to foreign law graduates who wish to obtain comprehensive training in American legal practice and eventually use this training to find a job in the many competitive U.S. law firms operating in foreign countries. With an LL.M. in American Legal Studies, foreign law graduates know that they will be more attractive to the high paying U.S. law firms operating and recruiting abroad. In addition, every LL.M. student who has completed a minimum of 20 credits may be eligible for admission to practice law in some states like New York, after passing the New York State Bar examination. Students wishing to take the California bar examination must fulfill certain specific requirements including but not limited to taking four doctrinal courses and Professional Responsibility as well as being subject to the same grading standards as the J.D. students.
To qualify for admission to the TJSL LL.M. Program, students submitting an application must have earned their first law degree (LL.B or equivalent) outside the United States. Admissions will require two letters of recommendation, strong English language skills as demonstrated by a TOEFL score, a writing sample, and a personal statement. An Admissions Committee will carefully evaluate all parts of the application.
Minimum Course Requirements
LL.M. candidates for the American Legal Studies degree must take 24 credits from the extensive TJSL course curriculum. TJSL offers many courses that would be of particular interest to foreign law graduates seeking to pass the bar examination in one of the states in the United States or seeking exposure to American-style litigation theory and practice, alternate dispute resolution techniques, or clinical legal practice. LL.M. foreign law candidates planning to prepare for a bar examination in the United States would be advised to take courses in Contracts, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Torts, Business Associations, Constitutional Law, Evidence, Property, Professional Responsibility, Remedies, Community Property, Wills & Trusts, Advanced Constitutional Law, and Advanced Property Law.
LL.M. foreign law candidates seeking exposure to American-style litigation theory and practice or alternate dispute resolution techniques can choose from the following courses offered: Appellate Advocacy, Trial Practice, Client Interviewing and Counseling, Law Practice Management, Legal Accounting, Civil Motion Practice, Introduction to Mediation, Advanced Mediation Theory and Practice, Federal Courts and Jurisdiction, Arbitration, Administrative Law, Advanced Trial Advocacy, Negotiation Theory and Skills, Pre-trial Preparation, Criminal Motion Practice, and others.
In addition, these students will be required to take a no-credit introductory mini-course in the “U.S. Legal System for Foreign Lawyers” taught by one of the TJSL faculty members and offered just prior to the beginning of the Fall and Spring semesters. This course is a mandatory introduction to the common law system, jurisprudence, and case analysis.
The students will also be required to complete one semester of a legal writing course taken by J.D. students.
They will be required to complete an analytical writing in the form of an independent directed study or a seminar paper that meets the standard for J.D. upper-level writing requirements. The upper-level writing seminar or the directed study should produce the equivalent of an LL.M. thesis of publishable quality. LL.M. students in American Legal Studies may take a maximum of 3 credits per semester of a directed study and a maximum of 4 credits per year of a course-related externship. For visa requirement purposes, a full-time LL.M. student must be taking a minimum of 9 credits per semester, and only 3 of those credits can be non-class related (i.e. directed study).
Students must comply with the one-semester residency requirement requiring all LL.M. students to spend at least one semester taking classes in person at the TJSL campus.
