North American LLMs preparing internationals for global prosperity

There are many reasons to get a Master of Laws degree. You may want an intellectual challenge or a different academic perspective. You’re thinking about changing careers, moving from practice to academia, government, arbitration, or corporations. You want to grow your network or seize that salary raise or promotion to partner. You’re seeking the competence and confidence to start your own venture or to make a difference. These are all good goals – and with the right LLM, the degree could turn over multifaceted returns that will make the costs and efforts worthwhile. 

Below is a selection of law schools in North America that have consistently demonstrated a commitment to helping students reach multiple career goals.

The University of Windsor’s Faculty of Law focuses all scholarship on two themes: access to justice and transnational law. Source: University of Windsor

University of Windsor

Since its founding more than 50 years ago, the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Law has been home to some of Canada’s most impactful research on topics such as data and privacy, decolonisation, class actions, Indigenous legal orders, banking law, injunctions, immigration, migrant workers, Third World approaches to international law, entrepreneurship, and more.

Uniting them all is a shared commitment to access to justice, one of the university’s institutional themes alongside transnational law. Windsor Law researchers are empowering people with disabilities to fully achieve their rights, assisting Indigenous peoples with the revitalisation and dissemination of ​their respective Indigenous legal orders, and gleaning lessons from the Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” case, to name just three examples of a long, vibrant list of work.

Focusing all scholarship on these two themes is a source of pride for faculty members and a key reason why graduates have gone on to carve international careers. Those who aspire to draw on the faculty’s strengths in these themes to rise to greater heights in their career whilst advancing access to justice in their fields should join Windsor Law’s Master of Laws programme.

The LLM has two streams: a one-year (12 month) regular LLM or a two-year (24 month) LLM with Certificate in University Teaching and Learning. The latter is a first-of-its-kind programme in Canada where students start with the University of Windsor’s University Teaching Certificate in the first year, before becoming Teaching Fellows with the opportunity to complete a teaching practicum at the Faculty of Law in the second year.

Whichever you choose, you must complete a major written piece of original research or thesis that addresses a single question that falls within the two broad envelopes of access to justice or transnational law. Thesis titles of current LLM students include “The Exercise of Enforcement Actions in North America: A Legal Examination of US-Canada Practices”, “Towards a Prison Abolitionist Approach in India”, “Deconstructing Caste-based Private Discrimination: Comparative Examination of India and Canada,” and “Neo-Colonialism”.

Every year, the faculty accepts four to six students with high academic standing in law school studies to its LLM programme. With such small class sizes, you’ll never be just a number here. Every student admitted is assigned a supervisor and warmly welcomed to this scholarly community of leading experts in their fields. Apply to the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Law today.

University of California, Davis

Established in 1962, the University of California, Davis’s (UC Davis) School of Law has grown into a leading institution for legal education. Its American Bar Association (ABA) and Association of American Law Schools (AALS) accreditations and multicultural environment (48% students of colour) make the school a top choice for those seeking an exceptionally well-rounded legal education.

The School of Law runs a range of LLM programmes. There is the General LLM and the customised option, where you will study private or public international law, public interest law, human rights and social justice law, or work with your programme director to develop a tailored curriculum.

If you want an interdisciplinary education, you can pick the LLM with a Concentration. With specialisations in business, intellectual property, environmental, crime law and policy, immigration and tax law, graduates will earn a Masters of Laws degree along with a Concentration Certificate.

To further prepare LLM students for today’s globalised world, the school offers exchange programmes with partner law schools in Adelaide, Beijing and Copenhagen. Closer to home, its summer programmes provide classes, interactive activities, social events and more to attorneys, judges, pre-LLM students and legal professionals who want to enrich their academic journey and global network.

On campus, you’ll learn just as much from a vibrant community with more than 50 student organisations, six law journals and a packed calendar of law school events. There are faculty-directed intellectual centres that host expert talks on urgent issues related to labour, the environment, technology, international law and race and the law as well.

Since its establishment, over 23,000 students from 95 countries have graduated from the University of Miami School of Law. Source: University of Miami

University of Miami

If you’re an aspiring law student or legal professional looking to improve your skills and earn practical experience, the University of Miami’s School of Law is a great place to start. Home to one of the oldest LLM programmes in the US, you will learn what to expect on the job through hands-on learning opportunities, like practicums, moot courts, and clinics.

A top-ranked US law school with world-leading scholars and faculty in international law, human rights, business, and more, students learn in a vibrant city with many networking, internship, and externship opportunities.

Its unique experiential teaching and innovative curriculum are what sets the University of Miami’s legal graduates apart. For instance, you can structure your studies according to your professional goals in the General LLM programme, where you will study the US’s legal system. If you do not meet the English requirements, you can join the three-semester Intensive Legal English programme to improve your proficiency before starting your studies.

But suppose you have more precise career goals. In that case, you can opt for one of the school’s specialised programmes in entertainment, arts and sports law, estate planning, international arbitration, international law, maritime law, real estate or property development and tax.

Whichever you choose, you’ll be part of a community where students support and look out for each other, so you’ll develop your legal area of interest with ease and excel in your work experience – especially as Miami is home to the headquarters of multinational corporations such as Disney, Sony and FedEx. With many student success stories emerging from the Miami School of Law, you too are set to join the school’s growing global alumni network.

With access to one of the world’s largest legal markets and multiple Fortune 500 companies, Houston is a great place to launch a career in law. Source: University of Houston

University of Houston

Houston, the fourth-largest and most diverse city in the US, has a law school that offers the best value in legal education today: the University of Houston Law Centre. Established in 1947, the centre offers the broadest law curriculum in the Southwest. Its LLM programmes are ranked in the top 50 nationwide, and affordable tuition and fees attract students from all over the world, with 35% to 45% coming from diverse backgrounds.

The faculty is made up of leaders in their respective fields, with 18 members of the American Law Institute and 15 professors published in the top 30 law reviews. With their expertise and love for teaching, they’ve made the law centre the #23 go-to law school in the US, with 19% of graduates securing jobs at the nation’s 100 largest law firms. Such outcomes and countless opportunities are typical of graduates of UHLC’s six LLM programmes, including Health Law, Environmental Law, Intellectual Property, Energy Law, Tax Law, and Global Law.

But that’s not all. International LLM students can access several speciality programmes designed to help them succeed. In the Legal English Certificate Programme, for example, foreign-trained lawyers and law students learn the legal English used in studying and practising law in the US.

*Some of the institutions featured in this article are commercial partners of Study International