Maybe this is common knowledge to most of you, but I cant seem to find an answer so I figured this is the best place to ask. Do most of the people who earned JD's here in the US sit for a bar exam before starting their LLM program ro do most wait? I have to imagine you forget some of the relevant stuff after a year of concentrating on one type of law, then again I think I would be burnt out if I went law school -> bar study/exam -> LLM all in a row.

Maybe this is common knowledge to most of you, but I cant seem to find an answer so I figured this is the best place to ask. Do most of the people who earned JD's here in the US sit for a bar exam before starting their LLM program ro do most wait? I have to imagine you forget some of the relevant stuff after a year of concentrating on one type of law, then again I think I would be burnt out if I went law school -> bar study/exam -> LLM all in a row.

Tax is what I'm interested in. But thank you for the response.

Hello. I'm an American attorney, and I'll be enrolled in an LL.M. program (UVA) this fall. The previous poster is correct, most American attorneys do not pursue LL.M. degrees. The LL.M. degree is an extra credential which most of my colleagues never need to attain.

Generally speaking, American attorneys seek an LL.M. for either one of two purposes: (1) to achieve advanced training in a very specialized area of law like intellectual property or tax law, or (2) because the candidate wishes to become a full-time professor at a leading American law school. The latter explanation applies in my case.

As for the bar exam, I recommend that you only sit for the exam after you've become well acquainted with American "common law" principles. No matter the jurisdiction, every bar exam in the U.S. will test your ability with regard to certain fundamental areas of "procedural" and "substantive" law.

Accordingly, I recommend that you supplement your intended LL.M. course schedule with as many of these courses as possible: Constitutional Law, Real Property, Torts, Criminal Law, Contracts, Evidence, Civil Procedure and Criminal Procedure. These courses provide the intellectual foundation for American law students, and are most commonly taken during the first year of any J.D. curriculum at an American law school (many schools require J.D. candidates to take Evidence during the second year of law school).

Additionally, taking a reputable bar review course (e.g., BarBri, PMBR, etc.) following graduation from your LL.M. program will prove very useful. American bar review courses typically last for around five weeks, and provide a comprehensive review of American law. As such, nearly all J.D. graduates register for a bar review course prior to attempting any bar exam.

I go to Tulane Law in New Orleans, and will have taken all those classes you mentioned when I graduate next spring. I do want to better acquaint myself with Tax Law and Tax Planning since it is such a complicated field. I guess I could have better directed my question to Tax LLM students to see what they did.

I go to Tulane Law in New Orleans, and will have taken all those classes you mentioned when I graduate next spring. I do want to better acquaint myself with Tax Law and Tax Planning since it is such a complicated field. I guess I could have better directed my question to Tax LLM students to see what they did.