Hi there,

I am at the early stages of trying to decide whether to apply for LLM courses in the U.S. I am a qualified Irish lawyer with a top law firm and am trying to get an idea of the entry requirements for the top U.S. schools. For example, is a first class honours law degree a basic prerequisite? Any thoughts/responses would be most appreciated! Thanks.

Do you have a first clas honours law degree? If yes, that will definately give you an edge over other applicants. If you don't, you would need to have at least graduated with a second class degree. As it is very competitive to get into law school's in the U.S and most esp if you want to get into a top school.

Your job experience is also necessary as the law school wants to see that you have had some post graduation legal work. I remember when i went for my admissions interview in Northwestern i was asked questions about contributions i'd made to my local legal community as well as pro bono work i'd done
Good luck!

"Your job experience is also necessary as the law school wants to see that you have had some post graduation legal work."

i beg to differ. job experience and/or post graduation legal work is not necessary at all. the admission committee will look at the overall picture...such as grades (of course), community involvement, extra-cirricular activities and the like.

Hello,

To get admitted into the top law schools, you need a mixture of several elements:

1) Your CV. If you want to enter the best ones, you surely need good grades. However, you don't need to be "the best" of your promotion. The level of the grades also depend upon your country (for instance in France, if you have 14/20, it's already very good, while you would need around 90/100 in Brazil). Others factors come into account: publications, working experience, i.e. all your background, which should be as consistent as possible and reflect your commitment to try and achieve a particular goal.

2) Personal statements: very important. Show them what you can bring to them. Lots of people want to enter. Try and demonstrate that you can bring something different thanks to your background and that you would be a good alumni for them.

3) Letters of recommendation: if you can, try and get letters from alumni of the law school you apply to, possibly by Professors.

4) A bit of luck always helps...but you don't have any control over that point...

Hope this helps a bit.