Hi,

I’m from India and I’ve received acceptance letter from GWU law school in national security and cybersecurity LLM program. Are there chances of getting campus placements or securing a job at law firms in USA after pursuing LLM from GWU?

[Edited by Devesh Dhiman on Nov 04, 2023]

I’ll just be honest, as I think false optimism does a disservice to applicants.

No, you will not get a placement or a job at law firm in the US based on this degree. The chances are very low. These sorts of degrees are cash cows for the law schools. Domestic students are always warned to avoid them. Imagine how much worse your prospects would be as an international student from India.

I will qualify the above slightly. If you have expertise in the field already (e.g. CS/IT/cybersecurity), and are looking to gain a legal/policy perspective, then this may make you as an already attractive candidate even more so. There are a number of LLMs and even MS programs (Ga Tech has a good one), that focus more or less in this area. GWU might be another one, although I don’t have any particular knowledge about their program.

But if you are simply an Indian lawyer/solicitor trying to break into cybersecurity law in the US with an LLM, your prospects will likely be very bleak indeed.

I know this may sound harsh and I’m sorry. I think it is better to give you the straight goods though, as opposed to telling you it will all be sunshine and rainbows and firms will be eager to recruit you.