Hi everyone,

I was wondering if I could get your opinion on a comparative LLM at USD. I already hold a British LLM and would like to ultimately work in the US. I'm not wanting to work for one of the 'big' firms, more a small to medium size firm which pays less but will allow me to have a life outside it. If I liked San Diego I'd quite like to work there most likely.

Does anyone know what my chances are of gaining employment if I undertook the Comparative LLM at USD?

I understand USD is mainly known for it's tax LLM, which I think looks interesting, however, I fear that I lack the necessary US legal knowledge to undertake something like this and maybe sticking with the foreign trained lawyer LLM would be best. What do you guys think?

Does anyone know what the campus is like at USD/what it's like living in SD? Additionally, is decent accomodation difficult to come by/expensive?

Lauren x

Sorry, I mean I hold a British LLB, not LLM.

I don't live in San Diego, but I often visit the city as I live only 2 hours away. It is a great city, but it has a very tight legal market. The first question to answer is what do you need to take the California bar exam in order to become a California attorney. Unlike some states, California does not require US citizenship or permanent residency (i.e., green card holder) to be an attorney. I assume you are a UK citizen. For non US citizens who did not obtain a US JD degree, in order to take the bar exam, California requires that the applicant be licensed in his or her home country (no further legal education is necessary), or have the equivalent of 4 years common law legal education (the US LL.M counts as 1 year) and 2 years of undergraduate education. See www.calbar.org. I would suggest that you get licensed in the UK as a soliciter or barrister, which will allow you to just take the bar exam without having to get an LL.M, although you can still get an LL.M if you really want to.

Another thing to consider is your legal right to work in the US. If you are not a US citizen or green card holder, you will need to get a work visa. Although I have heard that some law firms will sponser certain foreign candidates, this is not very common given the glut of lawyers in the US. If you graduate with an LL.M you can automatically get a 1 year work visa. Beyond that who knows. This is something you should consider and research.

USD is the best law school in San Diego. It is on a hill not to far from downtown with a nice campus. It is a private law school and is such is very expensive, unless you can get a good scholarship. It has a very good tax LL.M program, but you would probably be better off in the US law program unless you have a desire to practice tax law. San Diego is very expensive. Check out Craigslist for an idea on how much you can expect to pay in rent.

If you really want to become a US green card holder I would suggest nursing. There is a severe shortage of nurses in California and the US, and as a result it is very easy for foreign nurses to get a work visa in the US. You could get your nursing degree in the UK or here in the US at a community college on a student visa. Of course, some people do not want to be nurses. Good luck.

San Diego is a wonderful city--the weather is terrific and you couldn't ask for a more beautiful area. USD's campus is one of the prettiest university campuses I've ever seen.

You asked if San Diego was expensive--I suppose that depends on what you are comparing it to. When I considered moving down there, I thought it was very expensive; now that I am looking at living in NY, San Diego looks quite cheap. In general, California has a pretty high cost of living--and San Diego is one of the more expensive area in California (yes, there are some places in CA that cost MUCH more than SD, but generally speaking it is one of the more expensive counties). Also, consider that USD is in a very expensive part of SD, so if you wanted to live near campus it would cost you an arm and a leg.

USD does have a pretty decent tax program, but I don't really see that as one of their key strengths--what I mean is that their other fields are strong enough that tax doesn't really outshine them. Of all the San Diego law schools, USD is definitely the best (frankly, they have little competition in San Diego). Good schools in Los Angeles such as UCLA, USC, Loyola, and Pepperdine do provide some competition for jobs--a lot of students from Stanford, Hastings, and Davis also want to find jobs in San Diego.