While it may be widely known that law schools train people to become a lawyer by putting them through three years of rigorous study leading to a J.D. degree, people interested in a legal career may be unaware of another law degree offered by most U.S. law schools: the LL.M., or Master of Laws degree.
The LL.M. typically takes one year to earn and allows students to tailor a specialized legal education. It’s meant for two types of students, experts say. One is those with a J.D, degree who want additional training in a chosen area such as tax law or health-care law. This gives them a boost in their career in a particular direction, or may allow them to change fields of law after some practice.
For the other type of student, one who obtained a law degree outside the U.S., earning an LL.M is a common way to break into the U.S. legal market – sometimes tripling and quadrupling the salary the recipient would earn back in their home country – or to expand their knowledge in American and international jurisprudence.
