For a variety of reasons, many students and professionals are eager to obtain an LLM in the United States. Given that full-time LLMs are generally one-year programs, many choose the US as their destination in order to experience American life.
Given the wide variety of states to choose from in the US, this experience can consist of living and skiing in the Rocky Mountains, enjoying the beaches in sunny California, strolling along Park Avenue in New York or frolicking among the swamps of Florida.
In the US, legal training is a professional doctorate program. For foreign lawyers, admittance to an LLM in the United States program normally requires a law degree of some sort which corresponds to the American JD (“Juris Doctor”) degree.
In general there are two types of LLM programs in the US. Some universities in the United States have LLM programs in a specialized area of law (i.e. tax, air and space, admiralty) and have specific, separate classes for their LLM students. However, these types of programs are not that common. Instead, most American universities have programs designed to expose foreign legal graduates to the American Common Law and provide an integrated university experience by having the LLM students participate in classes directly with the other JD students.
If you are planning (or hoping) to work as a lawyer in the United States, an LLM is the quickest means of achieving your goal. Provided you have had a legal education in your home country which is deemed equivalent to an American JD degree, a one-year LLM program may be enough to allow you to work as a lawyer in the US. Various states have different rules relating to the admittance of foreign-educated lawyers to state bar associations. Many states, including California and New York, generally allow foreign students who have obtained their LLM in the United States to sit for the Bar exam (i.e. become legally qualified to practice law within that state).
Of course, part of the appeal of taking an LLM in the United States is enjoying the benefits of living and studying in an English-speaking jurisdiction. For most universities at which you can obtain an LLM in the United States, if you have not carried out your prior academic work in English, you will need to take a language proficiency test to show you have the necessary command of the language to get the most out of your course.
As with other degrees, an LLM in the United States can be studied on a part-time basis at many institutions and, in some instances, by distance learning. TransLegal’s LLM guide is the best place to begin your quest for an LLM in the United States. Our guide allows you to sort and search by city and region, as well as by the type of course or program. This guarantees that you will find the LLM program in the United States which best suits you.
| Syracuse University | Syracuse University (sometimes referred to as SU, Syracuse, or ‘Cuse) is an American university located in Syracuse, New York. The campus is loc ... |
 Syracuse |
| Texas Tech University | Texas Tech University prides itself on being a major comprehensive research university that retains the sense of a smaller liberal arts institution. A ... |
Lubbock |
| St. John’s University | St. John’s is one of America’s leading Catholic universities – recognized for its superb academic programs, diverse student life and N ... |
New York |
| University of Georgia | The University of Georgia (“UGA”) is a public university located in Athens, Georgia in the United States. Founded in 1785, the university ... |
Athens |
| Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School | Located in one of America’s most vibrant cities, Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School is dedicated to providing a high quality legal educati ... |
Atlanta |
| Florida Coastal School of Law | Florida Coastal School of Law is a private law school located in Jacksonville, Florida. Established in 1996, the school is owned by the for-profit edu ... |
Jacksonville |
| Emory University | Emory University, recognized internationally for its outstanding liberal arts college, superb professional schools and one of the Southeast’s le ... |
Atlanta |
| University of North Carolina | The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (“UNC”) is the oldest state university in the United States, with a rich history of more t ... |
Chapel Hill |
| Suffolk University | Suffolk University is a private university located in the United States in Boston, Massachusetts and with over 16,000 students it is the third largest ... |
Boston |
| University of New Hampshire | Established in 1866 as the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, the University of New Hampshire (“UNH”) was one of ... |
Concord |
| Louisiana State University (“LSU”) | Louisiana State University, or “LSU”, is a university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana which was originally founded in 1853. LSU is the f ... |
Baton Rouge |
| University of Oregon | Founded in 1876, the University of Oregon is the leading institution in Oregon, a state located int he northwest United States. Located in Eugene, a l ... |
Eugene |
| Catholic University of America | Located near the heart of Washington, DC, The Catholic University of America is the national university of the Catholic Church and the only higher edu ... |
Washington, DC |
| University of Maryland | As the flagship university of the state of Maryland, USA, the University of Maryland educates the most talented students from Maryland and beyond. The ... |
Baltimore |
| Brooklyn Law School | Brooklyn Law School is a leader in teaching excellence, cutting-edge scholarship, and real-world legal preparation located in New York City. Not affil ... |
New York |
| Temple University | Temple University was originally founded in 1884 as “Temple College”. The school was re-named Temple University in 1907 and has evolved in ... |
Philadelphia |
| University of Oklahoma | Created by the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature in 1890, the University of Oklahoma (“OU”) is a doctoral degree-granting research universi ... |
Norman |
| Ohio Northern University | Ohio Northern University, originally founded in 1871, is a selective, private, comprehensive university, comprising five colleges (Arts & Sciences ... |
Ada |
| Loyola University of New Orleans | Loyola University New Orleans, a Jesuit and Catholic institution of higher education, welcomes students of diverse backgrounds and prepares them to le ... |
New Orleans |
| St. John's University | St. John's University is a private Roman Catholic university which was founded in 1870 by the Vincentian community. The university is located in o ... |
Queens |
| Lewis & Clark College | Lewis & Clark began its history as a collaboration between the Presbytery in Oregon and the town of Albany. The school then established was offici ... |
Portland |
| Ohio State University | The Ohio State University is located in Columbus Ohio on what is the second largest university campus in the United States. More commonly referred to ... |
Columbus |
| University of San Diego | The University of San Diego (USD) is a Catholic university which provides academic excellence and professional knowledge and also aims to inspire stud ... |
San Diego |
| Tulane University | ... |
New Orleans |
| Stetson University | Stetson University was founded in 1883 and is primarily located on its DeLand campus, just 25 miles from Daytona Beach and 35 miles from Orlando. Stet ... |
Gulfport |
| Washington University in Saint Louis | Washington University in Saint Louis (commonly referred to simply as “Wash U”) is a highly-regarded US university with students from all o ... |
Saint Louis |
| Vanderbilt University | Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in the southern part of the United States in Nashville, Tennessee. The university was f ... |
Nashville |
| Wake Forest University | Wake Forest University is a private university located in the United States in the state of North Carolina. The school was originally founded in 1834. ... |
Winston-Salem |
| University of Florida | The University of Florida (UF) is a public research university located in the southeastern part of the United States. The school is Florida's olde ... |
Gainesville |
| University of Minnesota | The University of Minnesota was founded in 1851 and is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota in the United State ... |
Minneapolis |
| University of Illinois | The University of Illinois is a public American university which comprises 17 different colleges that offer more than 150 programs of study. The campu ... |
Champaign |
| University of Texas at Austin (“UT Law”) | The University of Texas at Austin is one of the largest and best public universities in the U.S. It was founded in 1883 and now has 17 colleges and sc ... |
Austin |
| Indiana University | Indiana University is a public research university with multiple campuses. The school focuses on liberal arts and sciences, and is considered to be a ... |
Indianapolis |
| Southwestern Law School | Southwestern Law School is a private, non-profit, non-sectarian law school located in Los Angeles, CA. Founded in 1911, Southwestern is fully accredit ... |
Los Angeles |
| Hofstra University | Hofstra University is New York’s largest private college. The university is located approximately 25 miles east of New York City, less than an h ... |
Hempstead |
| Case Western Reserve University | Case Western Reserve University (also known as either Case Western, Case, or CWRU) is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio in the ... |
Cleveland |
| Chapman University | Chapman University was founded in 1861 and is one of the oldest private universities in California. Chapman’s picturesque campus is located in t ... |
Orange |
| New York Law School | Given that it is an independent, stand-alone law school, New York Law School is not a department or a division of any individual university. Instead, ... |
New York |
| University of Virginia | The University of Virginia (often abbreviated as U.Va. or UVA) is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia which was founded ... |
Charlottesville |
| University of Southern California (USC) | The University of Southern California is one of the world’s leading private research universities. An anchor institution in Los Angeles, a global ce ... |
Los Angeles |
| University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | A public research university founded in 1919, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has more applicants than any other university in the Un ... |
Los Angeles |
| Duke University | Duke University is a private American university located in Durham, North Carolina. The University is divided into two undergraduate and ten graduate ... |
Durham |
| Northwestern University | Northwestern University (“NU”) is a private American university located primarily in Evanston, Illinois. Through the years, the school is ... |
Chicago |
| Boston College (“BC”) | Boston College (“BC”) is a private Catholic Jesuit research university located in the beautiful village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts in ... |
Boston |
| Cardozo School of Law – Yeshiva University | Located on four campuses in New York City, Yeshiva University, which was founded in 1886, is a major national research university with the mission of ... |
New York |
| Columbia University | Columbia University was founded in 1754 by royal charter of King George II of England (before the US was independent from England). It is the oldest i ... |
New York |
| Tufts University | Tufts University, with several campuses in and around Boston, Massachusetts was established in 1852. This is a great location for a university since B ... |
Boston |
| University of Pennsylvania | Founded by Ben Franklin in 1751, the University of Pennsylvania, recognized as America's first university and a world leader in research, is an Iv ... |
Philadelphia |
| University of Miami | Located in beautiful, tropical, multi-cultural southern Florida, the gateway between the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia, University of Miami was ... |
Coral Gables |
| George Washington University | The George Washington University (“GW”) was created in 1821 through an Act of the Congress. Today, GW is the largest institution of higher ... |
Washington, DC |
| Cornell University | Cornell University is a private university located in Ithaca, New York in the United States. The school is a member of the prestigious Ivy League coll ... |
Ithaca |
| Yale University | Founded in 1701, Yale University is a private university located in New Haven, Connecticut, and is one of the schools which makes up the prestigious I ... |
New Haven |
| University of Chicago | Located in the community of Hyde Park on Chicago’s South Side, just 15 minutes from the city center, the University of Chicago is one of the most pr ... |
Chicago |
| University of Michigan | The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor is a public research university located in the state of Michigan in the United States. It is the state's old ... |
Ann Arbor |
| NYU School of Law | New York University (“NYU”), founded in 1831, is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of only 60 member in ... |
New York |
| Harvard University | Founded in 1636, Harvard University is the oldest establishment of higher learning in the United States. The University, founded 16 years after the ar ... |
Boston |
| Stanford University | Established in 1891, Stanford University is recognized as one of the world’s leading universities. Stanford was designed to prepare students “for ... |
Stanford |
| Fordham University | Founded in 1841, Fordham University is a private Jesuit university in the United States, with three campuses located in and around New York City. Ford ... |
New York |
| Georgetown University | Established in 1789, Georgetown University is the nation's oldest Catholic and Jesuit University. It is, today, a major international research uni ... |
Washington, DC |
| Boston University | Boston University was founded in 1869 and is one of the world’s leading institutions for higher education and research. BU is one of the largest ind ... |
Boston |
| American University | Established by the US Congress in 1893, American University has an international outlook with an emphasis on public service. American University (R ... |
Washington, DC |
| Penn State University | Penn State was established as an agricultural college in 1855. By 1882 the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania had become the Pennsylvania State Coll ... |
University Park |
| University of Cal-Berkeley | The University of California was founded in the wake of the gold rush by leaders of the newly established 31st state. Chartered in 1868, the flagship ... |
Berkeley |
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