A lot is happening in the U.S., including a lot of concerning news for international students. In response, my theme for my 2025-26 International Jurist pieces is “Meeting the Moment.” I am excited to tell the stories of LL.M. students and LL.M. programs that are rising to the occasion in uncertain times.

LL.M. Spotlight

LL.M. Spotlight is another such initiative. This one for Beyond Non-JD!

While we hear about LL.M. students being piggy banks or pawns, I think it is important to remember that LL.M. students are people.

Over the last dozen years teaching and working at three law schools, I have met so many incredible international LL.M. students. They arrive with a belief in the power of U.S. legal education. They arrive with goals ranging from bar licenses in U.S. states to jobs that will allow them to combine their dual educations and perspectives. They arrive excited about the opportunity to spend time in this country.

For some it will be a one-year experience (by choice or by circumstances). For others, it will be longer, including those who will remain here permanently. But in contrast to what happens after, the LL.M. experience is one that is primarily focused on the education, the classroom, the credential, the network, and the experience over two (or more) semesters.

And although students rightfully are focused on what happens after the LL.M., it is also important to seize opportunities and internalize those moments in the midst of the immersive legal education.

LL.M. Spotlight is an opportunity to highlight some of the amazing LL.M. students and graduates who reach out to me, as well as those I’ve been fortunate to meet and get to know over the years.

But it is also an opportunity to continue to narrow the gap for foreign-educated LL.M. prospects, admits, and students. To inspire them to follow in the footsteps of LL.M. students who have achieved success. To build networks and life up LL.M. students in such a fraught moment. And to help share more information about bar exams, jobs, schools, support, courses, and much more.

Looking Backwards to Move Forward

I am not a journalist. I am also not a professional storyteller. Over my first two years with the International Jurist, I mostly did what I do best: share information and insights from my time working in three U.S. law schools, teaching LL.B. and LL.M. students, and helping international students. Helping the International Jurist‘s readers the way I have helped LEALSers over the past decade. The title of their interview with me before I started serving as a Contributor? Joshua Alter: A Voice for LL.M. Students.

But somewhere along the way, I shifted into telling the stories through the voices of the amazing LL.M. students in my network. And those who reached out to me and who connected with me over LinkedIn and e-mail.

They put their trust in me to not just share their stories, but to highlight the international LL.M. experience and raise the profile of international LL.M. students around the United States. And in my most recent piece in May 2025, I was even able to share the story of an LL.M. graduate outside the U.S. who passed the California Bar Exam.

So as I prepare for this new series, I want to first look back at the great foreign-educated/international LL.M. students and alumni who inspired me and who shared their stories with me. I welcome you to read about their experiences, their programs, and their advice. Learn about how they built stronger communities between LL.M. students and graduates, and in their law schools. Learn about and learn from their successes (and advice to avoid struggles). From securing career-changing OPTs and passing state bar exams to organizing initiatives in their law schools, working through CPT, and using an exchange to launch their post-LL.B. careers.

• Lara Merjane (Osgoode, Canada), Foreign-educated attorneys share experience with the California bar exam, May 20, 2025.
• Daniela de la Rosa (Stanford), Foreign-educated attorneys share experience with the California bar exam, May 20, 2025.
• Pragya Sharma (Pepperdine), Foreign-educated attorneys share experience with the California bar exam, May 20, 2025.
• Carlos Romero (Chicago), Alter names Romero 2024 International LL.M. of the Year, December 6, 2024.
• Javiera Moraga Valverde (Cornell), Optional practical training boosts LL.M. students after their programs, November 25, 2024.
• Adithya Reddy (Florida), Optional practical training boosts LL.M. students after their programs, November 25, 2024.
• Lucas Degrossi (Northwestern), Optional practical training boosts LL.M. students after their programs, November 25, 2024.
• Felipe Barbosa (Miami), Curricular practical training boosts LL.M. students during their programs, October 25, 2024.
• Juan Felipe Sáenz Dussán (Columbia), Curricular practical training boosts LL.M. students during their programs, October 25, 2024.
• Jack Hennessy (Texas), The student exchange experience from participant to LL.M. graduate, May 31, 2024.
• Edna Hurtado (Northwestern), LL.M. students, graduates building communities and supporting one another, November 28, 2023.
• Jorge Arturo Gonzalez (Harvard), LL.M. students, graduates building communities and supporting one another, November 28, 2023.
• Paulina Rudnicka (Houston), LL.M. students, graduates building communities and supporting one another, November 28, 2023.