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WEEKLY RECRUITER SPEAK
LL.M.s: Do they enhance your marketability with firms? Having some trouble finding a job? Is more education the answer? This week’s Recruiter Speak takes a look at what it means for your career to get that extra degree.
Question
instance, an experienced civil and white-col-
sory work. Very few corporate transactional
How valuable is earning an LL.M. in a par-
lar criminal trial lawyer without a technical
lawyers can say the same for being able to
ticular field (such as international business
undergraduate degree may not benefit from
also do the quite complicated tax aspects of
and trade law, or intellectual property law
obtaining an LL.M. in intellectual property
a business deal. In the areas of ERISA and
just to cite two examples) in improving an
law. Intellectual property law in the areas of
employee benefits law, so few lawyers have
entry level lawyer’s marketability?
copyright and trademark, as well as technol-
this expertise, that the added cache of an
ogy and licensing have recently been badly
LL.M. makes them an attractive candidate to
hit by the collapse of the tech sector, and
virtually any quality law firm, even if the at-
Answer
consequently, many attorneys in this area
torney did not originally graduate from a top
There is no question that an LL.M. degree in
have been hard pressed to find work, despite
tier law school.
a particular discipline can be quite presti-
their strong credentials and expertise in
gious, but let’s tackle the issue of whether
this practice area. For recent law school
The same cannot necessarily be said of other
obtaining one will meaningfully increase your
graduates, particularly those with little to no
practice areas. While there is no question
chances of obtaining a better position.
practical hands-on work experience in the
that an extra year of specialized law studies
area of intellectual property law, obtaining
in a particular practice area, whether it be
LL.M. degrees are not for everyone. But
an LL.M. may not be a suitable choice at this
international law or intellectual property, or
they can be beneficial to some attorneys.
juncture in their career.
health care law, will certainly enhance one’s resume, it is unlikely that an LL.M. will in
For foreign lawyers who have obtained their law degrees in other countries, obtaining an
Not all LL.M. degrees are created equal.
and of itself make the difference in your job
LL.M. degree may be the only way that they
One of the most respected LL.M. degrees to
search.
will be able to get licensed in certain states.
receive is in the area of tax law. Indeed, many
We have seen a marked increase in the
firms make it almost a prerequisite that their
Not all LL.M. programs are created equal.
number of foreign attorneys who have come
tax attorneys have also gone on at some
U.S. News and World Report publishes a
to the United States hoping to find meaning-
point in their career to obtain an LL.M. in tax,
yearly report on the best law schools in the
ful work opportunities here once they have
regardless of whether their practice area is
United States. Resources such as these
received their LL.M. and passed the bar in
corporate and partnership tax, international
are available to help you research what law
a particular state. Sadly, not all of these
tax, or even ERISA and employee benefits.
school excels both across the board, and with
attorneys have fared well in the job market
Consequently, many graduating law students,
respect to certain specialties. In consider-
here. However, without question, if they are
particularly in this market and especially if
ing an LL.M. program, do your due diligence
interested in returning to their native country
they are not graduating from a top tier law
and speak with the school’s placement office
with their U.S. LL.M. in hand, these attorneys
school, may find it useful to go right on for an
and find out the number of recent graduates
are likely to be highly regarded and may even
extra year of study in order to have the added
who received job offers upon completion of
have a strong shot at being hired by a U.S.
cache and prestige of an LL.M. in tax.
their studies. Find out which law firms came on campus to the school to actually recruit
firm doing business with an office in their Tax law is obviously not for everyone. But it is
for attorneys from the program. Lastly, and
a specialty that will always be in demand and
perhaps most importantly, bear in mind that,
For attorneys in this country, an LL.M.
many tax lawyers are capable of handling a
with the exception of a few truly top ranked
degree may or may not be a suitable choice,
number of transactional business matters in
law schools such as Columbia or N.Y.U.
depending upon the practice area. For
addition to their tax counseling and advi-
which probably have a number of law firms
own country.
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