Georgetown Law is committed to helping our graduate students meet their short and long term career goals.
Graduate Professional Development
The Professional Development team holds programs for LL.M. students throughout the year, including alumni panels, firm receptions, workshops and brown bag lunches with practitioners. They meet with students regularly in small groups, where students can pose their own questions as well as benefit from hearing the answers to questions posed by other students. For more information about the Professional Development team click here.
Bar Examinations
Many of our LL.M. students who received their first degree in law in a foreign country choose to take a U.S. bar exam, usually the New York bar exam, upon completion of their LL.M. at Georgetown Law. Our academic advisors work with students to help select the courses needed to qualify for the bar exam, as part of designing a student’s overall course of study.
Note: While bar membership can be a useful credential for many international lawyers, Georgetown encourages its LL.M. students to view their year of study at Georgetown, not merely as preparation for the bar exam, but as an opportunity to choose from an array of courses which will contribute to the student's long-term professional growth.
As is evident from the extensive list of courses which have in the past satisfied the eligibility requirement for the New York bar (see www.law.georgetown.edu/graduate/documents/NYBarList06.pdf), accomplishing both of these goals is not a problem. However, the Graduate Program cannot guarantee enrollment in any graduate or JD course which bar authorities may require as a condition of eligibility to sit for a bar examination. Students should check with bar organizations or authorities in the jurisdiction of desired practice to determine such state or local requirements, if any.
Additionally, some students may wonder whether completion of the LL.M. program and admission to the New York bar will qualify them to practice law in the U.S. For students whose primary goal is to become a U.S. lawyer, Georgetown Law advises them to consider earning a JD, as that is the basic credential most sought after by U.S. law firms and other legal employers.
