Apologies if this is the wrong forum to ask but I’m trying to decide if I should chase the LLM, given the costs.

I got my JD in ‘16, had a tentative offer contingent on bar passage, and...failed the first time. Got it on the second attempt after I took a slot with the federal government as a contract specialist. I got the slot because my wife worked on the base there as an engineer and since Bar round two was not a guarantee, it was better than nothing. But I digress.

So now I’m a federal employee in a position I really dislike. I’m looking to break out. The cool thing is it is similar to transactional work, with a heavy side of IP involvement due to the particular nature of where I was assigned.

So now I’m looking at: go for a IP LLM to make a good faith argument that I have more than the three IP classes I took in law school, thereby giving me some legitimacy? Just accept the wasted three years, 80k debt, and let my license go?

Is it worth it to have a JD from a tier one school in the US and go for the LLM? Thoughts?