I have a question that I'm hoping members of this site can shed some light on. I've read a few posts and articles on whether having an LLM will help a US attorney find and secure a job during this economic crisis. I have definitely seen mixed thoughts on this.
I am a US attorney, who graduated from a Tier 3 school in the northeast. I have been practicing in NYC for the past 4 years and decided to move to the South. However, it has been extremely difficult finding employment given the fact that my school is not widely known in this area. Therefore, I was thinking of obtaining an LLM from a top regional school to help me stand out more.
Is this a good idea? I dont have a particular program to specialize in as yet, but will be exploring the idea in the months to come before I start applying.
I've heard that pursuing an LLM simply to be more marketable or because you cannot find a job may not always be the right move. Given my school ranking and mediocre grades in law school, I feel that an LLM cannot hurt, but I also don't want to waste my time, as well as money, if it really wont make that much of a difference.
I would appreciate anyone's thoughts on this.

Hi mz,

Domestic attorney here. You probably know from the articles you've read that the majority view on LLMs for domestic attorneys is that 1) they are only valuable if done in the tax specialty; and 2) even then, only if you do it at NYU, Georgetown, or perhaps one or two others. There was a post on this recently at abovethelaw.com, if you are familiar with that website.

I certainly respect that view, but I don't entirely agree with it. I think there are a couple of other reasons to do it, one being an attempted transition from practice to academia (my reason); another, perhaps, being a geographic dislocation (yours). Here are the questions I'd ask you:

1) How hard have you job-searched in your new locale? Are you at your wit's end?
2) Have you contacted career services at the school and asked about LLM employment prospects/statistics?
3) Is the school offering you any grants/scholarships - i.e. what is the financial commitment?
4) What is the opportunity cost - what is the salary at the job you're giving up, moving costs, etc. Of course if you have already relocated, and are unable to find a job, this is less pertinent.

Does this help at all?

Thanks for your response Engineer.
I appreciate your recommendations. I have thought about those points, and I still need to do a bit more research for myself in order to determine if an LLM is right for me.
I thought about contacting the school that I am interested in, as you recommended, to get a sense on what the market is like and what I can expect after graduation in terms of employment. I will contact the school to inquire about this as well as the requirements to gain admission.
Any thoughts on generally how competative it is to get into a program compared to JD programs?
Thanks again.

I think the general consensus is that at most schools, LLM admissions are less competitive than JD admissions.

I agree with Engineer's thoughts. As a practical matter, in this economic environment, any advantage is valuable. At minimum, you will make many good contacts in the LLM program, and a professor or two might be able to send you in the direction of a friend who is a partner at a local firm. In my opinion, politics and connections (including geographical connections) trump academics 80+ percent of the time in the American private legal market. However, personal drive and "people skills" often trump politics and connections within the same market.