Hi
I am an American with a JD from a top5 US law school, mid-90s, been away from the law, raising my children. I'm going to go for LLM to reenter the labor force. I have no interest in returning to a firm but would love an academic or policy position.
Does an LLM (alone) for an American lead anywhere (besides tax LLMs to tax practice)?
Or is it really just a warmup for the SJD/PhD?
For academic and/or policy fields any opinions of law PhD
programs like NYU's Law & Society or Berkeley's Jurisprudence & Social Policy (http://www.law.berkeley.edu/160.htm)

You might want to consider the European Doctorate of Law and Economics http://www.edle-phd.eu as an option. It is highly regarded, and you will learn at some of the top universities in continental Europe. With a US JD you will not need an LLM to get into this or other top doctorate programs. I would only recommend an LLM program if you are interested in a particular specialization of law which is taught in the program.

If you are interested in teaching in Europe, take a look at the U.S. universities on military bases. I do not know of any law programs that are offered, but there are law classes in other undergrad and graduate degrees (i.e. business law, aviation law, etc.) which you would be qualified to teach with a JD. Many of the universities will pay you a decent expatriate package. Some of the universities you might check out are the University of Maryland University College - Europe, Embry-Riddle Worldwide, and Oklahoma University.