St. John’s University - Bankruptcy Program

The Law School

Celebrating over 80 years of excellence in legal education, St. John’s University School of Law has produced lawyers who have distinguished themselves in practice, government, and the judiciary. Among its graduates are former New York governors Mario Cuomo and Hugh Carey, Court of Appeals Judge Carmen Ciparick, and the School’s former Dean and Court of Appeals Judge Joseph W. Bellacosa.

The School currently boasts more than 13,000 living graduates and attracts students from over 200 colleges and universities throughout the country. The current student body of approximately 1,000 represents students from many backgrounds, all of whom have excelled in undergraduate institutions, and many of whom have been employed prior to starting their law studies. Today, the School of Law's original vision has widened to include students from all parts of the nation and the world who share a mutual commitment to the pursuit of excellence. The law school plays a prominent role in the New York City legal community, imbuing all that it does with the University’s Vincentian tradition.

The Program

St. John’s has the nation’s most extensive bankruptcy program. Our highly successful LL.M. in Bankruptcy program offers more than two dozen specialized bankruptcy courses taught by leading practitioners, judges and academics. Our graduates practice with top firms and clerk for leading judges throughout the country. In addition, we publish the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, the nation’s premiere bankruptcy journal with a circulation of approximately 11,000. We also sponsor, jointly with the American Bankruptcy Institute, the annual Conrad B. Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition, which brings teams to New York from law schools throughout the country to argue major current issues in bankruptcy law and culminates in a banquet attended by more than 600 leading practitioners, academics, prominent judges and students. Other bankruptcy activities at St. John’s include an active Bankruptcy Law Society and the St. John’s Institute of Bankruptcy Policy.

This program, which combines academic rigor with a unique multidisciplinary approach, is designed to produce bankruptcy attorneys with the skills, the ambition and the knowledge to become leaders in the insolvency field. We do not attempt to mask the intensity of the program; on the contrary, we want each applicant to understand the commitment that this program requires. We also want leaders of the insolvency community to appreciate the effort that each graduate will have made to successfully master such an enormously comprehensive program, and to understand that each is prepared to accept the responsibility of leadership that will go with the degree.

In return, the administration of St. John's University School of Law pledges hands-on assistance and dedicated understanding to the LL.M. students as they make their way toward their leadership role.

The St. John's LL.M. in Bankruptcy Program is fully accredited. It has been approved by the New York State Department of Education, and has received the acquiescence of the American Bar Association.