Congratulations to everyone who got accepted to NYU LLM. I'm trying to gather some information on the standards for admission at NYU as I'm considering applying next year. Please kindly answer as many of the following questions as you wish:
1) Did you apply as a US graduate or international?
2) If international, what country?
3) If US, in what states are you admitted to practice?
4) Why do you seek an LLM? To enhance your skills? Change of career track? Prestige?
5) GPA/Rank in your first law degree?
6) How many years of experience?
Thanks and good luck on your endeavors

Happy to oblige. For starters, I applied as a domestic student to the international legal studies program. I graduated magna cum laude and just barely outside the top 10% of my class at the University of Mississippi (class of 2005), am admitted to practice in both Mississippi and Tennessee, and am currently serving as a judicial clerk at the Misssissippi Court of Appeals.

I'm seeking my LL.M. for several reasons: First and foremost, I have a deep interest in international law, and am particularly interested in the intersection of international law and intellectual property protection (I considered the trade regulation LL.M., but wanted a bit more freedom; thus, I chose to pursue the international legal studies degree). Secondly, I believe holding an LL.M. will make me a more attractive candidate for a teaching position one day, should I attempt to go that route.

Lastly, I am of the sincere hope that possessing an LL.M. from one of the top schools in the country will strengthen and validate my résumé. While I believe that I received a first-rate legal education, I doubt that employers in the northeast (where I would like to practice, ideally) are familiar with my alma mater; furthermore, my law school is consistently ranked in the bottom quarter of the first tier of US News's yearly rankings, which doesn't help. I hope that earning an LL.M. at NYU will give me an added boost, allowing me to take advantage of opportunities that simply would not have been available otherwise. My hopes may be naive, but I am certain that the additional education can only help me in my pursuit of bigger and better things.

That's my insight for the day. I'd love to hear about others' motivations for entering the various LL.M. programs.
-Doug J.

I was just rejected from NYU's Tax LLM yesterday. I was one of the last applicants to receive a decision, as I was on the bubble of the applicant pool. So I can probably give you a good idea of the threshold for getting in or not.

1. I'm a US Graduate of a second tier law school. I just graduated this May (2006). I'm in the top 1/3 of my class. I had good grades in my tax courses (A average). I had two summer internships doing tax transactional work and estate planning.

2. I decided to get my LLM in tax for 2 reasons: (1) I have been told several times that an LLM is absolutely necessary for a career in tax law, and related to that, (2) for marketability. I'm hoping and I have been told that an LLM in Tax will open up a lot of doors for employment that would have been closed without the LLM. However, I have also been told that this is true only if you get the LLM from a top program.

My rejection letter from NYU basically said that I was qualified for admission, but that they had alot of very qualified applicants accept. So, there weren't enough spots in the program for people on the bubble like myself.

So, credentials similar to mine will land you on the bubble for NYU, and depending on the applicant pool that particular year, you may or may not get in. However, though I did not get into the #1 tax program, I did get into the #2 (Florida), #3 (Georgetown), and #4 (Northwestern) tax programs.

I remember wanting this information from people when I was applying, so hopefully this will be helpful to future applicants.

1) International student
2) Canada, went to a French Common Law law school
3) Not admitted to practice anywhere in Canada yet as I haven't commenced articling yet. But, should be qualified by 2008.
4) Pursuing the LLM: a) for personal interest; b) these days it's unheard of to teach law in Canada without an LLM, teaching is the ultimate goal; c) increase my employability in the Toronto market (for a lateral transfer after I article in the Prairies)
5) abour 3.3/4.3 (a B+) ranked in the Top 10%
6) I'm a straight from law school applicant, so I don't have much experience save for moot competitions in law school and a summer job with legal non-profit organization.

I'm stll astounded that I was accepted to NYU. While I did okay in law school, I'm far the best candidate. I can only assume that coming from a French common law background gave me a different perspective.

So, I guess my advice is... if you've got anything going for you that really separates you from other candidates, be sure and highlight that as best as you can.

Congratulations to everyone who got accepted to NYU LLM. I'm trying to gather some information on the standards for admission at NYU as I'm considering applying next year. Please kindly answer as many of the following questions as you wish:
1) Did you apply as a US graduate or international? International
2) If international, what country? Thailand
3) If US, in what states are you admitted to practice?
4) Why do you seek an LLM? To enhance your skills? To enhance my skills and to satisfy a requirement to apply for some work in my country.
5) GPA/Rank in your first law degree? 3.5
6) How many years of experience? zero

Thanks and good luck on your endeavors

Hey all, congrats on landing NYU LLM. I would be most obliged to anyone of you who could gimme a contact (email) at NYU Law. Had applied well in time, but no reply :-(, the wait is killing me....till when can I accept a reply? Does it come in via email or snail mail too???

Pls help...SOS

Hey, I just found these threads. I have a question pose for domestic LLM tax applicants/students. I just got accepted to both northwestern and georgtown and I'm looking for some guidance on where to go. Basically, I would only go to georgtown if it were 'that much better', b/c i have a kid and one on the way and my wife would be extremely upset to have to move - but of course if it's worth it, it's worth it. ??
Thanks.

1) Did you apply as a US graduate or international? I just graduated from a top 30 US law school and I have an IP background. But, I'm changing career paths, thus the Tax LLM.
2) If international, what country? NA
3) If US, in what states are you admitted to practice? Haven't taken a bar yet.
4) Why do you seek an LLM? To enhance your skills? Change of career track? Prestige? Like I said this is sort of necessary for a career change from IP to Tax. Employers wouldn't even give me a look before for a tax position. So hopefully with the top tax llm in my pocket now some doors should open up. Plus I'll be doing work at a private equity firm this summer so that should help in the job market too.
5) GPA/Rank in your first law degree? I finished just in the top third of my class and had very good tax grades in five tax classes.
6) How many years of experience? 0

Good luck to you. I wish I had thought of posting this questions when I was thinking of applying. There's a dearth of information out there.

to hello -
I'd say that georgetown is the best option between the two. NW is still pretty new and I have not heard encouraging things about getting a law firm job out of there. Although I don't know if you're ultimate goal is a firm job. I did hear that there are a fair amount of jobs at Big 4's though. Hope that helps.