The 300-plus LL.M. programs cover more than 80 practice areas. We profile several law school LL.M. programs for the most popular specialties for graduate law.
See the full honor roll here.
Business Law
University of Denver
Located in one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation, University of Denver Sturm College of Law has become a training hub for corporate and commercial law jobs and has seen a rise in tech startups.
University of Denver’s International Business Transactions LL.M. program allows students to tailor the degree to their specific interest and career goals.
Students in the program graduate with a strong grasp of international business and transactional law gained through an extensive curriculum in the areas of trade, commercial arbitration and dispute resolution, international intellectual property, banking, investment and finance.
The school’s new Experiential Advantage Curriculum includes live-client clinics, high-quality externships — including a new Semester in Practice Externship — and legal simulation courses.
Cybersecurity Law
University of Texas
Students looking to maximize their LL.M. experience might want to focus on programs with smaller class sizes.
The class size for University of Texas School of Law’s LL.M. in Cybersecurity Law is limited to allow the program to stay very much in tune with student needs, said Mauricio Pajón, director of graduate and international admissions.
“We want students to get what they came for and succeed academically and professionally,” he said.
One strength of the program is that LL.M. students can participate in all facets of the law school, from clinics to journals to student organizations, Pajón said. Experiential learning and extracurricular opportunities abound.
The students are also given considerable support, including alumni mentors. The school has an LL.M. career services advisor as well.
Environmental Law
Florida State University
James Parker-Flynn earned his environmental law LL.M. from Florida State University in Tallahassee and spent eight years in private practice before returning to the school last year as director of its Center for Environmental, Energy & Land Use Law.
He hopes his experience can be an asset to students in the program.
“One of the tougher things about law school is you learn a lot of substantive areas of the law, but it’s hard in those classes to give the … practical elements of it,” he said. “Being able to integrate that into a class — to work through a case or issue while discussing how these cases are actually developing in real life — has been really useful for a lot of students.”
The environmental law LL.M. at Florida State University requires students to complete 24 credit hours, either as full-time students for one year or as part-time students over the course of three years. The program is designed to accommodate students who are working and attending classes remotely.
“The LL.M. will allow students to focus more specifically on environmental law, land use, energy law and natural resources law, which they can then use to hone their career,” Parker-Flynn said.
Students take required courses that expose them to the breadth of environmental laws and the framework upon which they are developed, as well as how they are applied.
“A huge amount of environmental law takes place in the administrative arena, whether it be notice and comment rulemaking or administrative litigation,” Parker-Flynn said.
Students are encouraged to take elective courses to flesh out their understanding of environmental law and how it relates to other areas of practice. Electives include courses in land use, admiralty law, animal law, coastal and ocean law, and oil and gas law. There is also a new seminar on environmental justice which Parker-Flynn teaches.
In his classes, particularly in Land Use & Energy Law, Parker-Flynn will frequently stop to talk about what is happening below the surface of the case law being studied. He will explain what the process looks like in administrative tribunals and in the courts and what it’s like working with clients on these issues.
“Frankly, the connections with that world, having that ability to help students connect with people in practice, having the opportunity to point them to places they may not have thought of for potential careers in environmental law, that’s something that’s been really beneficial for them,” he said.
Health Law
Indiana McKinney
“Health lawyers have to be nimble,” said Nicolas Terry, executive director of the Hall Center for Law & Health at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. “New issues come up all the time.”
IU McKinney is located in the heart of Indianapolis, just steps away from the courthouse, hospitals, medical research facilities, health care companies and nonprofits. It offers more than 30 health-related law courses at the Hall Center for Law & Health.
The law school’s Health Law Policy & Bioethics LL.M. is one of the top programs in the country in the area of health law.
Students can participate in the Health Law Society or establish research credentials with the Indiana Health Law Review. Students in the Health and Human Rights Clinic advocate for domestic human rights and help represent low-income clients in the Indianapolis community.
Intellectual Property Law
Cardozo Law
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University — based in New York — recognized the potential of intellectual property, acted on it and is now a leader in the specialty. The school’s core program dates back to the early 1990s, prior to the dot-com bubble and before the internet came of age.
Getting that jump turned out to be extremely beneficial. Because the school began developing IP talent early on, there is now an extensive alumni network to assist students in securing internships, externships and full-time positions, Cardozo Law School Dean Melanie Leslie said.
Its Fashion, Arts, Media & Entertainment Law Center provides students with the chance to take a number of industry-related courses. It also offers externships, clinics and symposiums featuring industry leaders and practitioners.
International Law
Loyola University Chicago School of Law’s International LL.M. program support structure and opportunities allow each student to make the most of their time during the program. Students are encouraged to participate in all extracurricular activities the school offers — from visiting law firms, court houses and legal institutions to attending career services, conferences and participating in public interest projects. Students can also serve as members of the International Law Journal, and as judges in the international competitions hosted at the law school.
Stetson University College of Law offers J.D. and LL.M. students more than 350 clinic and externship opportunities annually. With approximately 28 clinic and externship courses at 60 hosting organizations, Stetson guarantees that every student can participate in a clinic or externship course. LL.M. students can also participate in 40 diverse student organizations, interscholastic activities and competitions.
University of Colorado School of Law International Law LL.M. students can benefit from an established relationship with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), including a post-graduate internship opportunity at the IACHR. LL.M. students are highly encouraged to engage with the Doman Society of International Law, which offers a J.D.-LL.M. peer program, networking events with the Colorado Bar Association’s International Law section, an externship with the International Red Cross, public service opportunities locally and internationally, colloquiums, symposiums and other international law and/or human rights related programming.
University of Miami School of Law’s LL.M. students can participate in various International Moot Court competitions, the International Law Society, as well as other student organizations and extra-curricular activities. Students can also obtain practical experience in the field of international law with law firms and corporations in Miami and beyond for academic credit through the International Law LL.M. Practicum Program.
Tax Law
LMU Loyola Law
The tax law program at LMU Loyola Law School in Los Angeles was founded in 2000, and there has been almost no turnover in professors.
Jennifer Kowal, director of the program since 2003, said the relationships between students and the long-tenured professors are key to the program’s success.
The professors are a mix of full-time faculty and adjunct professors who work in the various disciplines that students are learning about.
“It’s very important to have a balance and a mix of both full-time faculty, who might have more time to devote to giving career advice and teaching our required courses, and the adjuncts, who bring something that we couldn’t bring because they’re in full-time practice,” Kowal said.
The program’s required classes are designed to provide a strong foundation in tax law so graduates will be well-versed no matter their area of expertise. Students can fulfill the remaining credits with a number of elective courses. Examples include tax planning and consulting work, international tax mergers and acquisitions tax, state and local tax, and tax planning for high net worth, such as estate planning and succession planning.
The pandemic forced most schools to move to an online model, but LMU Loyola was ahead of the trend. It implemented an online version of its program starting in 2019.
“We really wanted working people to continue to have access for our program, as well as students who might not be able to attend the program full time,” Kowal said.
Another benefit of the online program is that it allows students from anywhere in world to participate.
The school worked with professional learning designers to create a mix of synchronous and asynchronous classes so students could stay as engaged as possible, receiving the benefit of attending class and the flexibility of working on assignments at their own pace.
Indian Gaming
Arizona State University
The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University launched several degree programs focused on Indian gaming and tribal self-governance a couple of years ago, something no law school had offered before.
The Indian Gaming and Tribal Self-Governance LL.M. program equips professionals with a background in federal Indian law and comprehensive courses designed to help graduates seamlessly integrate into the job of their choice.
Graduates may serve as in-house counsel, senior or mid-level executives for tribes or tribal entities, tribal elected officials responsible for overseeing these aspects of their tribal operations and other professionals with careers that intersect with these areas, such as congressional staff and federal, state and local employees.
Critical Race Studies
UCLA School of Law
Some schools focus on the strengths of their existing curriculums when they create their LL.M. programs.
UCLA School of Law’s racial justice history is rooted in giving students the tools and resources they need to be racial justice advocates. It offers a J.D. and LL.M. specialization in Critical Race Studies, the only law school to do so.
The program has founded two student-led volunteer clinics: the Race & Reentry Legal Clinic and the Race, Work and Economic Justice Clinic. Both have seen over 400 law student volunteers, providing free legal consultation to more than 2,800 individuals.
The law school also has four journals: the Asian Pacific American Law Journal; Chicanx-Latinx Law Review; The Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture and Resistance; and National Black Law Journal.
