Tulane University - Tulane Law School

Among the things that set Tulane Law School apart are the breadth and depth of its curriculum. Its curricular strengths include international and comparative law, maritime law, and environmental law.

Tulane offers five LL.M. programs. Each of the LL.M. programs requires two full-time semesters in residence and satisfactory completion of 24 semester hours. Although there is no thesis requirement, degree candidates are required to write at least one paper in connection with a seminar in their field of interest or in fulfillment of a directed research project.

The five LLM programs include: LL.M. in Admiralty Law, LL.M. in American Law, LL.M. in Energy & Environment, General LL.M., and LL.M. in International & Comparative Law. For more information about the programs available, please visit this link: https://law-dev.tulane.edu/academics/llm

Those who hold a law degree from a law school outside of the United States may be interested in Tulane's JD program and may be eligible for advanced standing by virtue of coursework you have completed at their first law school. For additional information about advanced standing and the JD advanced standing application process, contact Maria Landry, Director of Admission, at mgusmaop@tulane.edu or call 504.865.5930.

Tulane also offers the S.J.D. program which is a very selective program, encompassing a small number of students who have completed an LL.M. program with distinguished records. For more information about the S.J.D. program, please visit this link: https://law-dev.tulane.edu/academics/sjd

International students who already hold an LL.M. degree may be interested in the 14 Credit Hour Program. Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that foreign lawyers may take the Louisiana bar exam so long as they: (1) are authorized to work lawfully in the United States, (2) have completed legal training recognized as equivalent to the JD, and (3) have successfully completed a minimum of 14 credits from a US law school in core legal subjects. For more information about the program, please follow this link:
https://law.tulane.edu/students/graduate-international

Tulane University

Located in the heart of Uptown New Orleans, the University campus faces historic St. Charles Avenue, directly across from Audubon Park. St. Charles Avenue is lined with the beautiful architecture for which New Orleans is renowned. The oldest operating streetcar line in the nation passes directly in front of Gibson Hall, the main administration building, linking the campus with downtown New Orleans. The neighborhood surrounding campus, while residential, contains enough commercial activity to make it lively--coffee houses, grocery stores and drugstores, laundries, restaurants and bookstores are located a few blocks from campus in the charming Maple Street and Riverbend areas.

Across St. Charles Avenue lies Audubon Park, a 480-acre public park with jogging and bike paths, lagoons, an exercise course, horseback riding, a golf course, and one of the nation's finest zoos. Just a few blocks farther is the Mississippi River.

Tulane's campus is sized and situated so that students never feel hemmed in by the concrete of a major city. A walk from one end to the other takes 15 minutes. The University is also small enough to encourage an important sense of community. Off-campus housing opportunities surround the campus, enabling students to become a part of the larger New Orleans community as well.

The campus itself offers its own share of coffee houses and eating places. The gem of the uptown campus is the new Lavin-Bernick Center for Student Life, which opened in late 2006, bringing back to campus light-filled meeting and conference spaces for both formal and informal meetings, a food court, and the University bookstore. A Kinko's copy shop, full-service Whitney Bank, and an Apple Store are available as well.

Tulane Law School

Located on the main campus of Tulane University in uptown New Orleans, Tulane Law School is the 12th oldest law school in the United States and has been accredited by the American Bar Association since May 1925.

The Tulane Law School student body comprises approximately 600 J.D. students, 50 LL.M. students, and 10 S.J.D. students. At least 45 states are represented in the student body as well as 25 countries.

Over 40 full-time professors teach at the Law School. The faculty members of Tulane Law School have unusually rich and diverse academic backgrounds, enabling them to offer a curriculum that encompasses the broadest range of subject matter. As important as their commitment to teaching is their commitment to ongoing scholarship. Members of the faculty regularly publish books (including edited volumes), law review articles, and countless chapters in books, reports, essays, and book reviews.

To learn more about the faculty at Tulane Law School, please visit this link: https://law-dev.tulane.edu/faculty-and-scholarship

Through its admission process, Tulane Law School looks for students who demonstrate the potential to succeed as law students and as lawyers, and who will contribute in significant ways to the Tulane educational community and to the legal community at large.

Applicants to our LL.M. should hold their first law degree (JD or LLB or equivalent) and should complete the application process by May 1, although early applications (by February, if possible) are encouraged.

Applicants to our SJD program should hold their first law degree (JD or LLB or equivalent) and their LL.M. SJD Applicants must arrange for all application materials to be received by the Office of Admission by April 1.

Applicants who have completed their first law degree outside of the United States or applicants who are in the process of completing their first law degree outside of the United States who are interested in applying to Tulane's JD program with advanced standing should contact Maria Landry, Director, at mgusmaop@tulane.edu or call 504.865.5930.

Applications for the LL.M. programs are considered complete only when we have received the following:

1. the completed graduate studies application form

2. the $60 application fee (we accept personal checks, money orders, and credit card payments). NOTE: The Tulane application fee is automatically waived for applicants who apply electronically through the LSAC. We offer the waiver to help offset the costs associated with the LSAC's Credential Assembly Service. We regret that we are unable to offer refunds for any reason.

3. credential evaluation and analysis of all university work completed.

Use of the LLM Credential Assembly Service is strongly preferred. However, Tulane Law School will consider transcript evaluation or analysis provided by World Education Services (WES). The evaluation or analysis should be sent directly to Tulane Law School by WES.

If you earned a JD from a law school in the US, purchase only the LSAC Document Assembly Service. LSAC will include copies of your transcripts and letters of recommendation in your law school report - no transcript analysis is necessary.

If you earned your first degree in law from an institution outside of the US, you should purchase the Document Assembly Service to have your letters of recommendation, English proficiency score(s), and electronic applications forwarded to Tulane Law School. In addition to the Document Assembly Service, you will need to purchase the International Transcript Authentication and Evaluation Service, which is offered in cooperation with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO). This includes the authentication and evaluation of transcripts/mark sheets, copies of degrees/diplomas, degree and graduation certificates, and rank statements so that US law schools better understand your academic credentials.

Transcript analysis or evaluation completed by a grant program such as Fulbright will also be accepted provided the documents are sent directly from the program administrator to Tulane Law School.

If, due to extenuating circumstances, you believe that you would be unable to have your transcripts sent via one of these channels, please contact the Office of Admission to discuss your individual circumstances.

4. letters of recommendation from two of the candidate's current or former law professors; these may be written on the forms provided or on the recommender's own letterhead

5. English proficiency testing is NOT required if the applicant's native language is English or if English was the language of instruction during the applicant's first law degree. All other applicants should arrange for Tulane Law to receive an official test score report.

Applicants who must complete English proficiency testing should take:
-The TOEFL internet-based test , or
-The International English Language Testing System (IELTS), or
-The TOEFL paper-based test , along with the Test of Written English (TWE)

The vast majority of our admissible applicants achieve a score of 575 or higher on the TOEFL paper test or 90 or higher on the TOEFL Internet-based test. Successful applicants who take the TWE typically receive a score of 3.5 or higher. The vast majority of our admissible applicants who take the IELTS achieve a band score of 7 or higher.

Tulane Law School accepts TOEFL and IELTS scores for up to three years after the test administration. Please request that ETS forward TOEFL scores to Tulane Law School (Institution #6832, Department 3). Please request that IELTS test scores be sent to Tulane Law School, Office of Admission - Graduate Programs, 6329 Freret Street, New Orleans, LA 70118

To review the application instructions, please visit this link: https://law-dev.tulane.edu/admissions/graduate/apply

To apply, please visit this link: https://law-dev.tulane.edu/content/llm-application-instructions

Applicants who have completed their first law degree outside of the United States or applicants who are in the process of completing their first law degree outside of the United States who are interested in applying to Tulane's JD program with advanced standing should contact Maria Landry, Director, at mgusmaop@tulane.edu or call 504.865.5930.

Tuition and fees for the 2018-19 academic year, including the summer course totals $58,572. The tuition and fees for the 2019-20 year will be set and released in March 2019.

LLM candidates are eligible for the award of partial tuition waivers and scholarships to Tulane Law School. Most of these awards are made to international candidates. These awards are generally made at the same time the offer of admission is extended, or shortly thereafter.

Students who are US citizens or who have permanent resident status in the United States may be eligible to borrow through the major loan programs available to law students--Stafford Student Loans (subsidized and unsubsidized), Law Access Loans, and Law Student Loans. Eligible candidates interested in these programs must file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

International candidates who have a U.S. citizen co-signer may be eligible for a private educational loan. Sources of financial aid available to international candidates might include Tulane Law School partial scholarships or partial tuition waivers and numerous sources of outside funding, for example, the Fulbright Foundation, IIE, foreign governments, and other foundations.

To learn more about Graduate Financial Aid, please visit this link: https://law-dev.tulane.edu/financial-aid/graduate

New Orleans is the largest city in Louisiana and is the state's banking, judicial, medical, and cultural center. Located on the Mississippi River 50 miles above the Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans is one of the world's largest ports. The shipping industry has been the greatest contributor to the prominence of New Orleans as a center of admiralty law and international trade. As the South's port of call for 200 years, New Orleans has developed as a city of rich ethnic traditions.

There is a hint of the history and culture of New Orleans in the food at almost any local restaurant. And students are delighted to find how affordable the internationally acclaimed Creole and Cajun cooking is. New Orleans plays host to some of the best music in the world, yet entertainment in the city is astonishingly affordable as well.

New Orleans is still a popular destination for tourists and is regularly the site of Super Bowls and Final Four basketball tournaments. Major conventions and other events are held here almost every day, including meetings of law-related entities--our Career Development Office regularly sets up meetings for students with potential employers who are visiting the city to attend professional meetings.

The Law School assists incoming students in finding housing in a number of ways. The Office of Admission maintains lists of students who have apartments but need roommates, students who need both apartments and roommates, and other individuals who have apartments available. The School also provides general information about apartment-hunting in New Orleans. During the summer months, a staff member is available to provide more specific information. In addition, the University offers a web-based roommate- and apartment-finding tool.

Limited University-owned off-campus housing is available to graduate-level students at Tulane University. Law students may apply to live in the the Deming Pavilion in the downtown medical center area.

International students who attend the summer English as a Second Language (ESL) course or the Intro course prior to the start of the fall semester may live in temporary, on-campus housing. Detailed information is made available to students during the spring months.

More than 11,000 students are enrolled in Tulane's 10 academic divisions, including Newcomb-Tulane College, A.B. Freeman School of Business, Law School, School of Architecture, School of Continuing Studies, School of Liberal Arts, School of Medicine, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, School of Science and Engineering, and School of Social Work.

The blending of such a variety of disciplines creates an unusually rich academic atmosphere. Tulane's many speaker programs, film series, stage productions, art shows and music programs make the University a major cultural center. At the same time, the relatively small size of each individual college preserves an identity and intimacy for students far more typical of a liberal arts college than of a large university.

Each of the LL.M. programs requires two full-time semesters in residence and satisfactory completion of 24 credits, 3 of which may be completed in a Tulane Summer Abroad Program. Admitted full-time Tulane Law School LL.M. students may begin the LL.M. program in the summer by attending one of Tulane’s summer abroad programs in France, Italy, Germany, Greece, or Brazil. LL.M. students may take up to 3 credits of coursework in one of Tulane's Summer Abroad Programs; tuition is included in the academic year costs. International students must be in New Orleans by the start of the Introduction to U.S. Law course in late July.

For more information about our Summer Programs, please visit this link: https://law-ektron.tulane.edu/tlsAbroad/

Admitted graduate students who received the first law degree from a law school outside of the United States are required to participate in and complete the graduate orientation course, An Introduction to the Law of the United States, scheduled in advance of the fall semester.

An Introduction to the Law of the United States is designed to familiarize students with the methods and structure of US law and legal education. The course includes almost 50 instructional hours in U.S. substantive law topics and introductory training in legal research and writing and law examination skills. The course also includes organized extra-curricular activities that help introduce students to each other, to Tulane University, and to the city and culture of New Orleans. This course is a fundamental part of the law school's graduate curriculum and is required for all incoming law students who hold a law degree awarded outside of the United States, including those from common-law jurisdictions (for example, the United Kingdom, India, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada). Students with law degrees awarded in Puerto Rico are strongly urged to take this course.

The course meets prior to the start of the fall semester while the campus and School are still relatively quiet and unpopulated. Our new LL.M. students are therefore able to use the relaxed atmosphere to their advantage to meet with faculty and administration, become familiar with the campus and its services, find housing, and build relationships with each other. Further, the faculty have the opportunity to provide necessary academic counseling and advising to our new graduate students.

Some admitted Tulane Law School LL.M. students will be required to take the ESL course during the summer prior to the start of fall classes. The English as a Second Language course is designed to improve students' abilities to communicate effectively in English at a professional level. Special emphasis will be placed on improving listening comprehension and oral presentation skills. The course will be taught for international LL.M. students at Tulane Law School and international MBA students at Tulane's A.B. Freeman School of Business.