3 ms·

This is an interesting strategy but, while UT is (in my estimation) an elite law school, I'm not sure a 1 year LLM from UT would get you nearly as far in the U.

This is an interesting strategy but, while UT is (in my estimation) an elite law school, I'm not sure a 1 year LLM from UT would get you nearly as far in the U.S. job market as a J.D. So, while the title may technically be accurate, it misses the fact that not all "elite law degrees" are equally useful. That said, it saves you so much money, that maybe this approach nonetheless has merit. Though if you have the chops to pull this scheme off, you could probably do what many top-tier aspiring law students do today: apply to a variety of schools, and go to the best school that gives you a large scholarship.

anigbrowl 11y ago
I think it would depend a lot on what area of law you wanted to practice, and on where you got your undergraduate law degree. It could be very useful to have a foreign degree if one aimed to work in commercial, shipping, or immigration law, for example. And knowledge of British law, Commonwealth law, or Civil law as well as American law would surely be useful for an academic career.
- pdabbadabba 11y ago
  True enough. But the point is that this would greatly limit your options relative to a JD. If you happen to be interested in a field where a German law degree would be a benefit, then great. But that is probably not true for most people. Having been tangentially involved in legal recruiting, U.S. law firms are very much looking for people who satisfy particular criteria, and these criteria are developed with the assumption that a student went through the conventional American legal education system. (Think, GPA, law journal experience, moot court, judicial clerkships [yes, you can get one with an LLM, but it will be much harder without the faculty connections you build over several years], etc.) In short, they are looking for a "certain kind" of resume. For most, a German law degree with a U.S. LLM will not readily meet that test. I'm not saying, of course, that it will be impossible to get a job. I'm just saying that a person with that sort of resume will be swimming upstream compared to her UT friends with JDs. It might be tempting to say that you would not want to work someplace that takes this approach to hiring. But, for better or worse, most people probably would.
  - steven2012 11y ago
    Having a challenging interview process with $30k in debt vs being $250k in the hole after graduating sounds like a pretty good trade off to me. I'd rather take the harder interview and little debt rather than a slightly easier interview and a crushing $250k debt before starting a day of work. And given the current unemployment rate of lawyers, it would make even more sense to do it the way the blog post describes.
    - pdabbadabba 11y ago
      > Having a challenging interview process with $30k in debt vs being $250k in the hole after graduating sounds like a pretty good trade off to me. I'd rather take the harder interview and little debt rather than a slightly easier interview and a crushing $250k debt before starting a day of work. Maybe so, and I've said as much. This depends on your specific career goals. But note that "challenge interview process" here is really a euphemism for "will get a significantly smaller range of job offers."
    - URSpider94 11y ago
      I think you underestimate how focused the major law firms are on pedigree rather than on straight merit. Bypassing the standard process will indeed get you a law degree and a chance to take the Bar, but it won't necessarily even get you an interview at a top firm.
  - ma2rten 11y ago
    Except in this example the student has some work experience already. Doesn't that count for something?
    - URSpider94 11y ago
      Almost all students do internships in the two summers in between the three years of law school. These internships at top firms are themselves highly competitive, as they result in job offers for the best of the interns.
ozgune 11y ago
My sister, who is a foreigner, studied law in Turkey, did 1 year LLM at Harvard, passed the NY bar, and she's been working at a top US law firm. She initially had a hard time in her interviews, since her resume was "different". After she received her first offer though, other offers started flooding in. Two other notes: Work visa for her was an issue. Most US firms have offices abroad, and you can build a working relationship by first working abroad.
- pdabbadabba 11y ago
  > She initially had a harder time in her interviews, since her resume was "different". After she received her first offer though, other offers started flooding in. Exactly. It's not that the LLM is worthless, but it will through up some (surmountable) roadblocks. Glad it worked out for your sister.

anigbrowl 11y ago

I think it would depend a lot on what area of law you wanted to practice, and on where you got your undergraduate law degree. It could be very useful to have a foreign degree if one aimed to work in commercial, shipping, or immigration law, for example. And knowledge of British law, Commonwealth law, or Civil law as well as American law would surely be useful for an academic career.

pdabbadabba 11y ago
True enough. But the point is that this would greatly limit your options relative to a JD. If you happen to be interested in a field where a German law degree would be a benefit, then great. But that is probably not true for most people. Having been tangentially involved in legal recruiting, U.S. law firms are very much looking for people who satisfy particular criteria, and these criteria are developed with the assumption that a student went through the conventional American legal education system. (Think, GPA, law journal experience, moot court, judicial clerkships [yes, you can get one with an LLM, but it will be much harder without the faculty connections you build over several years], etc.) In short, they are looking for a "certain kind" of resume. For most, a German law degree with a U.S. LLM will not readily meet that test. I'm not saying, of course, that it will be impossible to get a job. I'm just saying that a person with that sort of resume will be swimming upstream compared to her UT friends with JDs. It might be tempting to say that you would not want to work someplace that takes this approach to hiring. But, for better or worse, most people probably would.
- steven2012 11y ago
  Having a challenging interview process with $30k in debt vs being $250k in the hole after graduating sounds like a pretty good trade off to me. I'd rather take the harder interview and little debt rather than a slightly easier interview and a crushing $250k debt before starting a day of work. And given the current unemployment rate of lawyers, it would make even more sense to do it the way the blog post describes.
  - pdabbadabba 11y ago
    > Having a challenging interview process with $30k in debt vs being $250k in the hole after graduating sounds like a pretty good trade off to me. I'd rather take the harder interview and little debt rather than a slightly easier interview and a crushing $250k debt before starting a day of work. Maybe so, and I've said as much. This depends on your specific career goals. But note that "challenge interview process" here is really a euphemism for "will get a significantly smaller range of job offers."
  - URSpider94 11y ago
    I think you underestimate how focused the major law firms are on pedigree rather than on straight merit. Bypassing the standard process will indeed get you a law degree and a chance to take the Bar, but it won't necessarily even get you an interview at a top firm.
- ma2rten 11y ago
  Except in this example the student has some work experience already. Doesn't that count for something?
  - URSpider94 11y ago
    Almost all students do internships in the two summers in between the three years of law school. These internships at top firms are themselves highly competitive, as they result in job offers for the best of the interns.

ozgune 11y ago

My sister, who is a foreigner, studied law in Turkey, did 1 year LLM at Harvard, passed the NY bar, and she's been working at a top US law firm. She initially had a hard time in her interviews, since her resume was "different". After she received her first offer though, other offers started flooding in. Two other notes: Work visa for her was an issue. Most US firms have offices abroad, and you can build a working relationship by first working abroad.

pdabbadabba 11y ago
> She initially had a harder time in her interviews, since her resume was "different". After she received her first offer though, other offers started flooding in. Exactly. It's not that the LLM is worthless, but it will through up some (surmountable) roadblocks. Glad it worked out for your sister.