Llm (master of laws) in the United States

This article was written by David A. Levy, former Kronstein Research Fellow at the International Law Institute. It is intended as an overview of graduate legal study in the U.S. and is based solely on the opinion of the author.

The study of law in the United States is unlike that in most other countries. First of all, the basic law degree, the Jurist Doctor ("JD"), is considered a graduate level professional degree and students enter the program already possessing a college diploma. With the exception of a mandatory introduction course covering the basics of U.S. law, LL.M. students generally take classes alongside their J.D. counterparts. Depending on the policies of the school, special LL.M. seminars may also be offered, but may be open to J.D. students as well.

Secondly, American legal education is far more participatory than the traditional lecture method used in civil law education. Rather than relying on scholarly treatises, American law schools use the "case method" -- studying casebooks containing actual court decisions to derive legal rules. Moreover, professors have traditionally used the "Socratic" method of teaching in which the professor asks a series of questions thereby guiding the student toward the correct responses. All students are expected to read the assignments and take part in discussions. Many professors consider class participation to be an integral component of the final class grade.

A word about assigned readings. The necessity of reading English quickly and with good comprehension cannot be over-stressed in order to succeed in graduate study in the United States. Typical reading assignments may range between fifteen and sixty pages per class. I have had international friends who tell me that the most difficult part of their LL.M. experience was trying to complete all the reading assignments.

American law school classes are taught either as lecture courses, or smaller seminar courses. Lecture courses may range in size from approximately fifteen people for a specialized course such as Admiralty or Conflict of Laws to perhaps sixty or more for a class such as Secured Transactions or Corporations. Lecture courses, particularly those which have a large number of J.D. students, generally are taught using the Socratic Method and have a single examination at the end of the course which determines the grade. The larger the course, the more likely it is that it will be taught by a full-time faculty member, rather than by a practicing lawyer who teaches as an adjunct professor.

Seminar courses, on the other hand, have fewer students, and treat a specialized topic in greater depth, consequently the reading assignments may be somewhat longer and students are expected to participate more often. Seminars are graded either on the basis of final exams or through the preparation and presentation of original research papers, as well as classroom participation. Some professors will also agree to sponsor directed research projects.

Research and writing is an essential component of graduate legal education in the United States. In addition to shorter papers which are written for seminars, most law schools require some sort of graduate thesis of substantial length. This is the single most time-consuming part of the LL.M. and it is wise to have a topic in mind and work consistently on the paper throughout the semester or semesters in which it is assigned. Students prepare their graduate thesis for a supervising professor who is available to offer advice. Because the graduate thesis is so central to the LL.M. program, students with a particular research interest would do well to determine if the school has the resources available to facilitate their research. There is perhaps nothing more frustrating than conducting research and discovering the library has either very little material on the subject, or what it has is far out of date. Thankfully, the Internet has simplified international legal research to a significant degree, however, a well-stocked law library with knowledgeable staff makes your job easier. Many LL.M. students revise their thesis and submit them for publication to American law journals.

Final examinations are a necessary evil. In law schools, examinations are generally presented as essay questions, rather than multiple choice tests. A typical law school exam consists of three one-hour questions, each of which sets out a fact pattern and asks specific questions that are to be addressed in an essay. These exams are comprehensive and generally test all the areas covered in the lectures. Some professors permit the students to bring written materials into the examination room and others require the exams to be "closed book", that is, taken without the benefit of any reference materials. The professors will make their policies clear, and failure to abide by the examination rules is considered a violation of the school's honor code -- a very serious infraction. Examinations are timed, and while some schools permit additional time for international students whose native language is not English, others do not. Again, the ability to read and write legal English is key to success in American law schools. For representative examples of American law school examinations, take a look at the International Business Transactions exams posted by Professor Peter Winship of the S.M.U. Law School.

LAWYER, ATTORNEY AND LEGAL JOB EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES Due to the high volume of business activity and population growth, opportunities for lawyers are expected to grow at an average rate through 2012. Specific areas of law—such as intellectual-property, environmental, and antitrust—are expected to create additional employment opportunities. People in the middle-income bracket will make more use of legal services due to prepaid legal service plans and cheaper, more available law clinics. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) may help mitigate this job growth as more and more businesses and private parties seek to avoid costly court litigation. Likewise, in an effort to cut costs, businesses are shifting their use of lawyers to accounting firms and paralegals, employing their services in areas typically handled by lawyers. For example, accounting firms might counsel businesses about benefits programs or process business documentation. Due to the increasing number of law school graduates, job openings are becoming increasingly competitive. Students who graduate near the top of their class from schools with solid reputations will likely find the most opportunities. Attorneys are increasingly working in peripheral areas to the law where their legal expertise is not essential, but helpful. Banks, State and Federal agencies, insurance companies, and other businesses employ lawyers in administrative and managerial positions. Nontraditional positions for lawyers in fields like those just mentioned are expected to increase in the future. Also because of the number of law school graduates, some beginning lawyers find themselves in jobs for which they are overqualified or practicing in areas that are not their primary interest. Temporary staffing firms are increasingly placing lawyers in temporary jobs where they may practice and hone their skills while continuing to look for full-time employment. Companies benefit from these temporary staffing solutions because they can hire lawyers only when needed. Work experience and an ability to relocate are gaining importance in legal job hunting. Geographic mobility can be an asset in securing a job, though it is important to remember that to practice law in a different state, one must usually pass that State’s bar examination. Graduates with advanced degrees or work experience in legal specialties, such as intellectual-property or tax law, are increasingly being sought after by employers. Most of the job growth for lawyers will be in salaried jobs with law firms, businesses, and government agencies. These groups will continue to increase their size and number of staff attorneys. The majority of the growth will occur in urban areas because of the concentration of large businesses, law firms, and governmental agencies located in those areas. Just as the number of attorneys employed with large law firms is expected to increase, self-employed attorneys or lawyers in private practice are expected to decrease in numbers. This is due to both the difficulty of creating a new private practice that can compete with larger firms and the increasing need for specialization, something that a private practice finds logistically difficult. Those wishing to start their own practice will find it easier to do away from urban centers in small towns and suburban areas. Away from the larger firms located in the city, a new lawyer will find less competition and an increased ability to attract new clients. Swings in the national economy can affect some attorneys negatively. Demand for non-essential legal services like estate planning and will drafting decrease during recessions. Just as individuals avoid discretionary legal aid, so do corporations avoid expensive litigation when profits and budgets are shrinking. Companies may cut existing attorneys or decline to hire new staff to curb costs and wait until the economic outlook is brighter. Other areas of legal practice may actually increase during economic recessions, namely individual and corporate bankruptcy, divorce and family cases, and foreclosures. Historical Earnings Information $90,290 was the median annual earnings of all attorneys in 2002. The highest paid 10 percent made more than $145,600 while the lowest 10 percent earned less than $44,490. The middle quartiles earned from $61,060 to $136,810. The following table presents the median dollars earned in the types of practice that employed the most lawyers in 2002.

• Management of companies and enterprises – $131,970
• Federal government – $98,790
• Legal services – $93,970
• Local government – $69,710
• State government – $67,910

Employer type, group size, and location all influenced the salaries of practiced attorneys. Partners in law firms typically earn more than their peers who own their own practice. Often lawyers who begin their own firms must work part time in other industries until their practice is more stable and successful. Independent lawyers must typically pay for their own health and life insurance if they wish to obtain such coverage. Attorneys employed full time by agencies or law firms usually are provided such insurance.

http://www.careeroverview.com/lawyer-and-legal-careers.html

IS JUSTICE GREEDY?

It's hardly news that lawyers' fees are high! As the system's gatekeepers, lawyers place a charge on access to justice which is beyond the reach of many. Critics accuse lawyers of making legal services an expensive luxury, and they challenge lawyers to re-think the way their services are provided and priced. In particular, there is an idea to stop billing by the hour and start charging by the case. Another initiative is that there is a need for ceilings, instead of an open-sky practice.

Criticism of lawyers' fees is almost as old as the profession itself and the present situation are no worse than before. But public tolerance has changed. Imagine if airlines charged on the same basis as lawyers: an hourly fee, with no guarantees of any limit and the price escalating as delays, bad weather and mechanical failures occurred.

What is to be done? Can the profession set its own house in order? The problem is not so much high fees in themselves; there's nothing wrong with charging a rich tariff to those who can afford it. After all, it is said, lawyers are selling a valuable commodity and are entitled to expect top-dollar remuneration.

But lawyers, unlike bankers, are not just another sector of the business world. They have great sway over a legal system supposedly committed to social justice. And it is one of that system's virtues that justice is not for sale to the highest bidder. As long as lawyers are beyond the pocket of most citizens, it means social injustice!!!

Sadly, the legal profession too easily mistakes its own interests for those of the public. Allowing paralegals and others to offer more legal services might be a good start. A more practical, effective solution would be to let lawyers retain their monopoly, but only on the condition that they truly serve the public. This means that there must be more citizens and clients involved in running the profession, that lawyers must be answerable to someone other than themselves, that they should pay for their monopolistic privilege by contributing a share of their fees to funding legal services for poorer litigants, and that fees should be regulated for price as well as quality.

As long as access to justice depends on access to lawyers, society must oblige the legal profession to meet its public responsibilities – the leading one being that legal services must be genuinely available to all.

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