Foreign-educated lawyers and law school graduates enroll in LL.M. programs for different reasons. Some are looking for an immersive and educational experience in the U.S. before returning home. Examples include Fulbright, government scholarships, and employer-sponsored program. Others hope to use the U.S. credential for better positions or better pay in their home jurisdictions. Others want to “study abroad,” especially popular for 3+1 LL.B.-LL.M. partner school programs. LL.M. enrollment does not always signal a focus on the U.S. job market. But in my experience, many LL.M. students are looking to secure post-LL.M. employment in the United States.

The ABA does not require law schools to provide employment outcomes for their LL.M. students (you can review the J.D. ones here). Which on balance, makes sense to me. LL.M. employment outcomes would provide partial and potentially misleading pictures of programs, would be harder to track than J.D. outcomes, and would be complicated if schools did not have to break down the employment outcomes by specific LL.M. degree program.

Without published employment outcomes, how can you choose LL.M. programs to maximize job outcomes? Unfortunately, it means you will need to be a lot more proactive and speak with schools about the types of employment outcomes for their foreign-educated LL.M. students. More on that in the next installment! It also means realistically assessing your pre-LL.M. work experience and credentials and how that will translate to employer interest in the United States. And finally, it may mean that employment opportunities are a more important factor than tuition cost as you decide which schools and programs provide paths to U.S. legal hiring and you weigh the cost-benefit and risk tolerance for overall tuition.

Generally speaking, I advise my students to focus on three categories of LL.M. programs for maximizing U.S. job outcomes. They are:

• (1) internationally and nationally renowned schools with the very best J.D. employment outcomes and smaller LL.M. classes;
• (2) specialty LL.M. programs in in-demand practice areas at the types of employers that have no issue hiring and sponsorship; and
• (3) schools with a strong commitment to LL.M. employment outcomes and the resources and personnel to assist in making those dreams realities.

The connection between all three is the path for post-LL.M. hiring, especially for foreign-educated LL.M. students on F-1 visas. In category (1), there are more than enough large firm jobs for the J.D. class, and you are not competing with large LL.M. classes for remaining positions. In category (2), firms that sponsor are regularly hiring specifically from the LL.M. class at your school. Leading Tax LL.M. programs fall into this category. In category (3), the school has an overall commitment to LL.M. hiring that ensures that jobs are shared and that employers, including alumni, have an interest in hiring from that school.

Rank plays a crucial role in category (1) and an important role in category (2). But category (3) is an example where rank really does not matter. If a school has 15-25 LL.M. students each year and 100% of the ones who want to work in the U.S. get hired through a committed alumni base and a focus on LL.M. career and professional development, I would argue that this is far more important than the rank of the J.D. program. And even if it is a bit more expensive than “lower ranked” schools, you know you’re in good hands with people who are committed to you successfully landing a post-LL.M. job in the United States.

Next, I’ll focus on the questions to ask before you deposit, if your goal is to maximize post-LL.M. employment opportunities in the United States.