Hi,

I would like to know more information on applying to US schools for J.S.D. This information is for my
brother who did his LLB (Bangalore) and LLM (Calicut) in India. After his LLM, he worked as a Public Prosecutor for almost 5
years and is appointed as a Civil Judge now. He wants to pursue a J.S.D in the USA. I would really
appreciate if someone can help me with the following questions. His interests lie in public service and
non-profit organuzations including research and teaching.

1) It looks like LSAT is not offered in India. The closest place anyone from India could take LSAT is
Singapore. Is this the only option.

2) Do American law schools (the good ones) consider and LLM from India when you apply to J.S.D. Some
schools seem to insist that you have an LLM from them for being considered for admission to J.S.D. Is this
the case with all the schools or are there exceptions.

3) How long does it take to get LL.M in the USA and how long does it take to get J.S.D?

4) What is the likelyhood of getting financial assistantship? Are the chances of getting some help better
at public schools compared to private schools or is it the other way around or is there no difference?

5) What are the chances of getting a job (teaching or otherwise) for a foreign national in USA in law
field.

6) Does his work experience help him in securing admission?

I know it is a long list of questions, but please help me with any information you may have.

If you have any other helpful information for candidates from India, please pass it on.

Thank you very much

Dear Kingkong,

Your brother does not need to give his LSAT if he wants to give his J.S.D

Generally the seats for J.S.D programs are very limited.The Universites prefer candidades who had done LL.M in their own Law school.

Genearally LL.M in U.S is 1 year program and J.S.D takes anything between 3-5 years.

The likelihood of getting Financial aid is extremely difficult, unless a person has excellent academic grades in the undergraduate LL.B if applying for LL.M in the U.S.

The LL.M program in U.S is prohibtively expensive even a middle rung University can set u back by $35,000- $45,000, which is beyond the capacity of many students in India.

Public Law Schools generally do not fund Foreign Law Graduates. has he done LL.B from NLSIU????

Thank you very much for the reply. After posting, I browsed other threads and learned that one need not give LSAT to apply for LL.M/J.S.D.

I did some research at Berkeley and Columbia websites and to my surpise found that Berkeley (public school) doesn't give funding for J.S.D students and gives very little funding, if any, to LL.M students. On the contrary, Columbia seems to have more avenues for funding/scholarship to both the programs.

Couple more questions -

1) How easy/difficult is the process of applying to the law schools here? I mean, getting the transcripts, recommendation letters etc.

2) Is it easy to obtain Visa, especially during these times?

Yes, he did his LL.B from NLSIU.

Thank you.

The process is quite cumbersome and actually needs to be planned 1 year in advance. Transcripts needs to be got from all the previous Law Schools attended. He needs to have excellent academic grades, which I presume he has.

He has to get in touch with professors who can give him excellent recommendation letters and from a Senior judege who personally knows about his professional accomplishment.


If you are able to show that u have the capacity to fund ur education and stay in the United States it should not be a problem. There are banks in India which give educational loans, u can approach them for the same.

Work experience is definitely a plus. He should browse websites such as www.USEFI.COM for further information regarding scholarships funding. Rotary scholarship is another excellent source for getting funds.

Most JSD programs require you to have done a LLM at their school. I'm not sure how much weightage an Indian LLM carries. Howeever the fact that your brother has five years of work experience and is a civil judge would weigh heavily in his favour. NYU has a special LLM scholarship which is geared towards those in public service, so you could check that out.