Hi,

I am looking for general advice and hoping you would help. 

Here is the situation: I am close to finishing my Phd with a thesis on the politics of taxation. I seriously thinking applying for law school and specialize in  tax law. A couple of questions to start: (1) do students specialize in anything during their first 3 years of law school? (or is that what an LLM is for?). (2) where would you go if you were starting law school today? (3) Would they look at my Phd when considering me for admission?

Thanks!

CF 

Hey CF. It looks like your post has been here for a little while, so hopefully you've found an answer already, but here goes...

I'm not sure where you are located, so the specific answers might differ based on that. But at least in the US, most law schools will only give you a J.D. in "Law," rather than in any sort of specialty. That said, you usually have a huge amount of room to specialize in your second and third years, and some schools will give you certificates stating that you have taken sufficient courses to specialize in Tax Law, International Law, etc. I'm not sure if the certificates actually help in any way, though.

If you already have a PhD with a focus on taxation, plus you take a bunch of tax electives in law school, you will probably have more than enough knowledge to do just about anything tax related you want. An LLM might help with some more esoteric issues, but I honestly don't think it would add much that the PhD didn't already provide.

That said, things may be a little different outside of the United States.