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Hi guys,

I was admitted to the University of Florida, LLM in tax. I have a JD degree and is graduating in this May.

My law school is ranking at 39th this year, and my GPA is about 3.3 (not journal, not moot court).

I don't know which legal area I am interested in, but I know that I don't want to do criminal, immigration, and family law.

The only legal area that I am really interested in is the transaction law (specifically, M & A). However, my GPA would not bring me to a big law which mostly like to have M & A cases.

The dilemma is I can probably end up with a small law firm, and doing, I don't know, any basic legal issues. That's is not I am looking for in my career.

My question is base on this background, can a Tax LLM at the university of Florida bring me a higher start point for my career? In other words, would the outcome of finishing the LLM degree in Tax would be greatly different with my current situation?

I am grateful for your suggestions.

Thank you in advance.

Don't do a Tax LL.M. unless you want to be a tax lawyer. A Tax LL.M. will not get you a BigLaw M&A job.

A Tax LL.M., especially from a non-NYU Tax LL.M. program, is not even likely to land you a BigLaw Tax job. Even from NYU, the strongest Tax LL.M. program in the country, the "typical good" outcome is a Big4 Tax job (and even Big4 Tax isn't guaranteed).

Also, don't go to UF unless you're comfortable working in Florida after graduation.

Did you get into NYU or Georgetown?

I did not apply for other tax programs because they are so expensive.

I do not mind to work in Florida as long as I can get a decent law firm.

I am thinking to learn something that my peers might don't want to. Tax might open some doors that would not available for me otherwise. That's the reason.

I appreciate your advice.

If Big4 tax is your goal you can get that without getting a tax LLM; did you take any tax classes/internships during law school?

wuwanlu wrote:I am thinking to learn something that my peers might don't want to. Tax might open some doors that would not available for me otherwise. That's the reason.

Yes, it will open doors to tax work. That's it.

If you're interested in M&A, a tax LLM isn't going to make you more marketable for that job. If anything, it's going to prevent you from being considered for anything except tax work. So if you're not in love with tax (and you should know by now if you are), don't do it.

cavalier1138 wrote:

wuwanlu wrote:I am thinking to learn something that my peers might don't want to. Tax might open some doors that would not available for me otherwise. That's the reason.

Yes, it will open doors to tax work. That's it.

If you're interested in M&A, a tax LLM isn't going to make you more marketable for that job. If anything, it's going to prevent you from being considered for anything except tax work. So if you're not in love with tax (and you should know by now if you are), don't do it.

And if OP is in love with tax, then they should reapply next cycle and see if they can get into NYU or Georgetown. Those programs are significantly stronger than UF. But again, as both you and I noted, cavalier, OP should not do a Tax LL.M. unless they want to become a tax lawyer and are willing to work at the Big4.