LL.M. in Financial and Securities Law

As a current student at the Georgetown University Law Center seeking an LLM in Securities and Financial Regulation, I highly recommend this program to anyone interested in pursuing a career in either securities or financial regulation. Quite frankly, I believe those professionals without an LLM in this area of specialty will be at a disadvantage due to the complexity and comprehensiveness of these fields of law.

In the current market, lawyers need every advantage they can find and they need to avoid any gaps on their resume. Hence, this LLM may be very helpful. Further, law firms now do not want to pay for the training of their associates and would rather have an associate that can hit the ground running.

In addition to the highly competent and qualified teaching (the best in their fields) and connections with all of the various regulators in DC creating an ideal and cutting edge learning environment, the connections and ability to gain experience at the regulators through the program (e.g., SEC, Treasury, OCC, FDIC, FERC, CFTC, etc.) are excellent. For the reasons stated above, and many others not stated, Georgetown University Law Center's LLM Program in Securities and Financial Regulation is probably the best program of its kind within the United States.
Although there are schools like Harvard, Columbia, etc. these schools, in this area of the law, are not in DC. Why is this important? Washington D.C. is the center of all financial regulation within the US and the center of all legal reforms in the areas of securities and banking law. When your professors walk (or take the Metro) directly from their highest ranking positions in Big Law or at the SEC, OCC, FDIC, CFTC, FERC, Treasury, FINRA etc. (most of whom have also previously worked in Big Law) you become the possible recipient of the best connections possible and are learning the most current and relevant information possible. Although much of the world still says "Wow!" when you say you went to Harvard, at the end of the day it comes down to what you know, who you know, and how well you can utilize these two things in your career.

The current legal market in the United States is probably and hopefully the worst those reading this will ever experience. Also, we should be out of this mess within a few years. Hereafter, things will get better for us all. Now is a good time to be obtaining an LLM in an area of the law that interests you and that will serve to connect you to many future employers. My recommendation is if you have a job then keep it and do the LLM part-time. If you dont have a job and cant find one, then seriously consider getting your LLM (full-time or part-time) from the best school possible in that particular area of the law because in the future this may be a new unspoken requirement in many fields of law such as securities and banking law. Please do not forget some important facts: 1) the law and the legal profession are both becoming more specialized and more complex; and 2) most employers today would rather hire someone that already has a strong foundation in their chosen field than to have to pay for and take valuable time to train that lawyer. Also, the proliferation of LLM programs is changing the landscape of the legal profession and upping the ante as they say in poker.