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Hi guys,

I know this may be a little of topic. I just want to know your insights on this. I know LLM's are seen as useless degrees but I am a foreign lawyer moving to the US during this year. If I take Minnesota I will likely move to NY but with Texas I could potentially say in the Houston area.

Minnesota offered substantial funding and Texas award an in state tuition award.

What are your views on each?

Many thanks.

An LLM in what?

Do you prefer frostbite or fire ants?

haus wrote:Do you prefer frostbite or fire ants?

Lol.. neither really but I can adapt I think!

cavalier1138 wrote:An LLM in what?

I will not specialize, instead will take classes that are relevant to my practice/future roles

So, you want an advance degree in... stuff.

No recommendations, but I wish you luck.

haus wrote:So, you want an advance degree in... stuff.

No recommendations, but I wish you luck.

I know what I need to study. An advanced degree is not to be studied in stuff! I will likely study subjects such as contracts, arbitration, admiralty, etc. I am a shipping lawyer but also have some compliance experience.

I asked for an opinion on both schools. How respected are they generally? How are they viewed by employers? I thought the purpose of these forums would be to assist in decisions not to come out with things like " a degree in stuff "or patronizing attitudes. Thank you very much! If you can't assist then don't reply.

flyhigh_ wrote:

haus wrote:So, you want an advance degree in... stuff.

No recommendations, but I wish you luck.

I know what I need to study. An advanced degree is not to be studied in stuff! I will likely study subjects such as contracts, arbitration, admiralty, etc. I am a shipping lawyer but also have some compliance experience.

I asked for an opinion on both schools. How respected are they generally? How are they viewed by employers? I thought the purpose of these forums would be to assist in decisions not to come out with things like " a degree in stuff "or patronizing attitudes. Thank you very much! If you can't assist then don't reply.

The answer is, and I suspect you might already know, is that getting an LLM from either school is unlikely to make much if any difference in your employability. Yes there may be minor exceptions, but you have not provided any reason to believe that you would be in a position to benefit from any exception should they actually exist.

See the article with helpful diagram from above the law.

http://abovethelaw.com/2012/01/the-valu ... still-low/

So given what you have provided it appears that you would be on a path to rack up another year of school debt, while not expanding your employability, if that is what you are in for it really does boil down to... do you prefer frostbite or fire ants?

haus wrote:

flyhigh_ wrote:

haus wrote:So, you want an advance degree in... stuff.

No recommendations, but I wish you luck.

I know what I need to study. An advanced degree is not to be studied in stuff! I will likely study subjects such as contracts, arbitration, admiralty, etc. I am a shipping lawyer but also have some compliance experience.

I asked for an opinion on both schools. How respected are they generally? How are they viewed by employers? I thought the purpose of these forums would be to assist in decisions not to come out with things like " a degree in stuff "or patronizing attitudes. Thank you very much! If you can't assist then don't reply.

The answer is, and I suspect you might already know, is that getting an LLM from either school is unlikely to make much if any difference in your employability. Yes there may be minor exceptions, but you have not provided any reason to believe that you would be in a position to benefit from any exception should they actually exist.

See the article with helpful diagram from above the law.

http://abovethelaw.com/2012/01/the-valu ... still-low/

So given what you have provided it appears that you would be on a path to rack up another year of school debt, while not expanding your employability, if that is what you are in for it really does boil down to... do you prefer frostbite or fire ants?

Ok thanks for this post! Now this is helpful. I am a foreign lawyer (resident in the US) and will move to the US to work (not necessarily in law). I don't have any qualifications in the US and I would add the LLM to appeal to employers. I don't have intention of taking a bar (that may change). I just wanted to get a degree so employers can relate to it in any other industry and employers can say, "Ok he studied here"! Are these legitimate reasons?

flyhigh_ wrote:
Ok thanks for this post! Now this is helpful. I am a foreign lawyer (resident in the US) and will move to the US to work (not necessarily in law). I don't have any qualifications in the US and I would add the LLM to appeal to employers. I don't have intention of taking a bar (that may change). I just wanted to get a degree so employers can relate to it in any other industry and employers can say, "Ok he studied here"! Are these legitimate reasons?

See, this is why it's important to be specific in your OP.

If you're a foreign lawyer, that changes things. An LLM is very worthwhile for foreign lawyers, but I believe it's still recommended that you specialize, since you already have a generalized legal degree.

As to the relative benefits of UT vs. Minnesota, you'd probably want to talk to lawyers in areas that you may work (companies and regions) to get an idea of what these schools' reputations are abroad.

cavalier1138 wrote:

flyhigh_ wrote:
Ok thanks for this post! Now this is helpful. I am a foreign lawyer (resident in the US) and will move to the US to work (not necessarily in law). I don't have any qualifications in the US and I would add the LLM to appeal to employers. I don't have intention of taking a bar (that may change). I just wanted to get a degree so employers can relate to it in any other industry and employers can say, "Ok he studied here"! Are these legitimate reasons?

See, this is why it's important to be specific in your OP.

If you're a foreign lawyer, that changes things. An LLM is very worthwhile for foreign lawyers, but I believe it's still recommended that you specialize, since you already have a generalized legal degree.

As to the relative benefits of UT vs. Minnesota, you'd probably want to talk to lawyers in areas that you may work (companies and regions) to get an idea of what these schools' reputations are abroad.

Thanks so much! Yes maybe I needed to be more specific. UT is particularly strong for admiralty but both schools do have a wide range of modules that I could focus. This is what I am concerned. I don't know lawyers in neither schools but any views are much appreciated. Are they both solid respected schools?

I changed the initial post to say that I am a foreign lawyer

Texas.