Last night, Adithya Reddy posted on LinkedIn suggesting foreign lawyers practicing in the U.S. consider hiring immigration lawyers. You can read the full story here. Having worked with Adithya in my Pre-LL.M. Program for incoming UF Law international LL.M. students and regularly while he was an LL.M. student as the advisor for international LL.M. students, the post came as no surprise. I’ve highlighted for years the focus on pathways outside H-1Bs for international residential LL.M. students, and I even set up a workshop my first year at UF on the topic for LL.M. students right before the pandemic.

Adithya has long exemplified the “Informed LL.M.” model that I strive for in my Beyond Non-JD and International Jurist writings. Give prospective LL.M. students the information they need to make an informed choice and let them decide (1) whether the LL.M. or J.D. makes more sense; (2) whether studying law in the U.S. makes sense at this specific moment in time; and (3) whether studying law in the U.S. makes sense over other options.

After he posted, I reshared with the following comment:

“If every F-1 LLM did as much due diligence before choosing a program, networking before and alongside the LLM, and planning for best, average, and worst case scenarios, the IRL landscape would look quite different.”

Beyond Non-JD

How would it change? As I highlighted in my January International Jurist piece, schools should focus on the people for whom an LL.M. is a better choice than a J.D. and for people who are great or even good fits for LL.M. programs. When LL.M. programs meet the goals of their students, it’s a win-win (see my Beyond Non-JD post on programs for maximizing post-LL.M. positions in the United States). And schools should carefully consider students who may not be great fits for LL.M. degrees (see my Beyond Non-JD post on three challenging fits). If every prospective student did what Adithya did, I think we would enter the Informed LL.M. Era!

As more people talk more openly about LL.M. experiences on LinkedIn, the asymmetrical information barrier I highlighted in my National Jurist profile narrows each day. And the timing of Adithya’s piece was great! My February piece in the International Jurist should be coming out soon (it was already submitted before his post), highlighting why I think this is a pivotal moment for the fully residential LL.M. programs for foreign-educated lawyers.

Over the last decade, a relatively small number of U.S. law schools have closed, merged, or pursued state accreditation over ABA accreditation. As more information came out and as the market changed, those law schools faced challenges. Some law schools had to make some changes (including expanding Non-J.D. programs). While plenty of others were not really affected in ways that required major existential changes.

My sense has been for a while that something similar is coming for the the fully residential LL.M. programs for foreign-educated lawyers. Just like the vast majority of law schools continue on (with varying degrees of changes), I don’t see these LL.M. programs going anywhere on the whole. From what I see around the U.S., plenty are doing quite well! This is not a doom and gloom post. I get to chat with happy LL.M. students across the U.S. and LL.M. alumni who are maximizing or who have maximized their LL.M. experiences.

But I think the Informed LL.M. Era may lead a couple schools on the margins to question whether they should be in the business of fully residential LL.M. programs for foreign-educated lawyers. And if that’s the price for the Informed LL.M. Era to begin, that seems fair to me. Thanks Adithya!