A lot happens during the LL.M. year. Foreign-educated lawyers enrolled in these programs balance academic coursework and extracurricular activities. They focus on networking opportunities and bar exam preparation as they seek enhanced post-LL.M. opportunities. They adjust to a new legal system and a new legal education system while creating friendships with classmates across degree programs. And they balance personal and professional demands in the U.S. and in their home jurisdictions.
LL.M. students and graduates are doing inspiring things to make the most of their experiences. I spoke with Edna Hurtado, Jorge Arturo Gonzalez, and the Texas International Lawyers Society through Paulina Rudnicka to hear their stories about building communities and supporting other LL.M. students.
Bringing together the next generation of lawyers and creating community
Edna Hurtado is pursuing her LL.M. at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. A lawyer with Mayer Brown’s Paris office, Hurtado saw a great opportunity to combine the Chicago launch of Mayer Brown’s global NextGen Initiative with an opportunity to bring together her Northwestern Pritzker classmates to network with Mayer Brown’s leading lawyers.
Hurtado shared: “NextGen is a global Mayer Brown initiative which fosters opportunities for our emerging leaders to network, build connections, and strengthen relationships with clients and contacts, primarily through social and professional events—an initiative which has seen considerable worldwide success. As NextGen’s global co-chair, I have helped launch the initiative in Paris, Washington DC, and Chicago. As I pursue the LL.M. program at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, I am grateful for the opportunities I have had to involve the Northwestern LL.M. community. Each of the LL.M. candidates have a distinct and remarkable background, allowing for mutual growth as they share their unique experiences with Mayer Brown lawyers and other professionals.”
Mayer Brown’s website references their global strength, noting that they “operate on a global basis and build teams composed of the best lawyers to respond to each client’s unique needs.” With lawyers from Los Angeles to Dubai to Tokyo, the event also allowed Hurtado’s colleagues from her LL.M. program to learn more about Mayer Brown’s global strength.
Hurtado shared: “The LL.M. candidates were able to meet and talk with Mayer Brown lawyers, including Joanna Horsnail, managing partner of the Chicago office, and Paul Theiss, the former chair of Mayer Brown. I hope they were able to appreciate the magnitude of Mayer Brown’s global presence and the quality of Mayer Brown’s work. I hope the launch event and the message from our keynote speaker—Dr. Wendy Borlabi—encouraged them to persevere and pursue their legal careers with confidence and enthusiasm.” Daniel Rottenberg, the Chicago NextGen Committee Co-chair, also shared: “Mayer Brown is a leading global law firm, and the LL.M. students that attended our NextGen Chicago launch contributed invaluable insights and perspectives to the event—itself a product of a uniquely global initiative at Mayer Brown. It was wonderful having them there.”
I tell my own students that the LL.M. is not a competition the way some 1Ls feel at schools with intensive curves. Rather, the LL.M. is best viewed as a year-long opportunity to build an extensive network in the U.S. and around the world. Building deep connections with your LL.M. classmates is an important part of the experience, and leads to great friendships and important law and business opportunities.
Congratulations to Hurtado and her NextGen colleagues on this transformative initiative!
Friendships & Camaraderie
Community is important among LL.M. students, and I focus my own LEALS course on building community across the class and across classes from before. Jorge Arturo Gonzalez (Costa Rica) understands that well, and along with colleagues Jerred Kiss (Canada) and Deep Mukhopadhyay (India), created a group at Harvard Law School that continues to engage with new students.
Gonzalez, Kiss, and Mukhopadhyay created LL.M. Rum Wednesdays. They received a T.J. Duane Community Development Grant, described on its website as designed for “students who have demonstrated a commitment to improving student life at Harvard Law School.”
On the inspiration for the group, Gonzalez notes: “the idea of sharing something that was representative of each of our cultures and we also personally enjoyed. We thought by making it a regular occurrence, an event like Rum Wednesdays could catch on, and it really did. After those initial weeks, we tasted rum from many different countries, and hosted a lecture on Venezuelan rum and a theory of rum’s importance in the independence of the United States, which one of the students currently running the organization delivered.”
A hallmark of a good program is that it lives on and thrives after its founders have graduated or departed. Although Gonzalez and his co-founders have since graduated, Jorge notes that the group continues to live on, and he planned a return to campus to meet the new students in the group in the Fall.
On the legacy of the program, Gonzalez shared: “we hope that the group continues to be an open space where everyone feels welcome, and especially recognizes the role of LLMs in student life. As you know, this is sometimes difficult in law student organizations because LLM classes come and go each year. This year, Rum Wednesdays has become known as the best LLM-JD mixer on campus, and we love that perspective too!”
LL.M. students in the U.S. benefit from the advice and guidance of the students who come before them. Congratulations to Gonzalez and his colleagues on bringing together their community.
Organizing Through the Texas International Lawyers Society
Finally, one of my favorite LL.M. stories is the Texas International Lawyers Society. From their LinkedIn page: “Recognizing the growing number of international lawyers in Texas, in 2021, a group of foreign lawyers from both the University of Texas and the University of Houston, founded the Texas International Lawyers Society (TILS), seeking to build a community of aspiring international practitioners, law students, and individuals practicing law in Texas.”
Paulina Rudnicka, a University of Houston Law Center LL.M. graduate, and a civil litigation attorney at Bain and Barkley Law Firm, has served as the Chairman of the Board since 2022. Rudnicka has been a valuable source of information for foreign lawyers and LL.M. students in Texas and across the United States, and the TILS has provided a blueprint for other LL.M. graduates and students for effective ways to come together as a community.
According to Rudnicka, “this non-profit organization has rapidly grown, now boasting nearly 300 members – international lawyers connected to Texas either through their studies, work, or other affiliations. TILS’s mission is multifaceted, focusing on fostering both business and personal relationships, promoting cross-cultural understanding, and enhancing career opportunities for international lawyers in the region. This is achieved through various initiatives like organizing business and social events, offering mentorship, counseling, and disseminating relevant information. The organization places a strong emphasis on networking and community building, which forms the core of its philosophy.”
In addition to all her work with TILS and in her own practice, Rudnicka continues to share information and give back to the LL.M. community. She joined me in November for a discussion about foreign-educated LL.M. graduates and the State Bar Exam process. Having successfully navigated law studies in the U.S., a State Bar Exam, and practicing law in the United States, her insights and guidance inspired the next group of LL.M. students to follow in her footsteps.
State Bar Exams and post-LL.M. outcomes are an important part of studying law in the U.S. for many foreign lawyers. For those aiming to practice in Texas, organizations like TILS and people like Rudnicka offer a significant support system. They not only provide practical guidance and mentorship but also foster a sense of community and belonging, which is crucial for international lawyers navigating the complexities of the legal landscape in a new country.
