I am a US lawyer looking into UK LL.M. programs. Several LL.M. programs are "by research." As I am US educated, I have no idea what "by research" means. Can anyone explain?

LL.M by research are examined by the submission of a thesis of prescribed length. You may be required to attend some programme related classes and seminars, but largely it's all about preparing and presenting the results from a significant peice of research. In comparison to "taught" LL.Ms you have to demonstrate a similar level of comprehension of your chosen field as per the various credit frameworks used in the UK (such as Scotland's SCQF.org).

If you think that this is for you, I'd contact a university that you think has the academic staff that cover your area of expertise.

For example The University of Edinburgh can offer supervision for postgraduate qualifications via research in most aspects of private law, as well as comparative law; commercial law; financial law and taxation; criminal law; legal history; intellectual property and information technology law; medical law; most aspects of general international law, as well as law of the sea, international economic law, international environmental law, law of armed conflict, and international criminal law; most public law subjects, including human rights, environmental law and media law; the law and institutions of the European Union; legal theory, jurisprudence, criminology, socio-legal studies and the sociology of law.

Some universities will offer research degrees via distance learning, but not all. At the moment, The University of Edinburgh does not offer distance learning for research degrees, only the taught LL.M Innovation, Technology and the Law .

Hope this helps to go some way in explaining the research degree. If you have any further questions I'll be happy to answer, but contacting your prefered university is probably the best route.