Hello all, I am glad I found this board (by accident) and maybe I can solicit some good advice from some of you. First a little background:

I graduated in 97 with a JD from ST. Johns University in New York. Around my 2nd year in law school I founded a computer company and for the most part was involved with that till recently.

I did take time out to take the 2000 bar exam and was admitted in NY back in 2001. By the end of 2002 I gave up the business for the most part due to the impossibility of competing with companies like Emachines, etc. I worked for the first 6 months of 2003 at a small manhattan firm till I fell and shattered my ankle. Two operations and a painful rehab later I was back looking for work but for whatever reason it has been almost impossible to find anything. I started up a small computer biz in the meanwhile but I want to get back into law.

I love IP but I do not have an "official" (self-taught computer geek here) science degree so I can not sit for the Patent bar. I was thinking that an LLM with a specialty in IP or something related would help my chances in finding something in IP though. Do you think its a good idea? I was thinking of doing it also because my grades in law school were average and its been so long that I really feel sort of out of the swing of things. Sorry for the long post but I could really use some advice.

First off sorry about the problems you had with your foot. I hope thats all behind you :)

As to your LLM questions I think i can offer some advice. I am an attorney but not in NY. My brother in law though is an attorney in NY and like you was heavily involved in another field then wanted to go back into law.

He did not go to a tier one school like you did so maybe the LLM helped him more? I dont know but he went to NYU LLM and did well and got a job right after. He was not the greatest student in the JD but did much better in the LLM (maturity lol)

You do not have much legal experience overall and so without things like honors or law review I would say that the LLM could not hurt you but it may not help either. You sure do not want to be done with it and then be right back here a year later with another degree and no job prospects.

I will ask my brother in law for guidance and see what he comes up with. If you do decide to do it make sure you do NOT get average grades this time and do it from a school ranked higher then ST. Johns (Columbia, NYU) also do not get the LLM thats "general"-goto one where you can get a specialization. I would imagine that might help you the most. Maybe others here can also point you in the right direction

good luck!

If you got into a really good LLM that has an area of specialization then it would be neutral imo. It would not hurt nor help too much. If it does not help though then in the end its a waste of time and money .

With a J.D. and your computer skills I am sure you will be picked up sooner or later.

The LLM is mostly for foreigners so I would imagine it would be mostly useless