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I am a jobless 3L at a T10. I want to end up at a firm doing transactional work but I know that 3L hiring is uncommon.

I am considering going for an LLM to bolster my credentials and to, quite literally, buy another bite at the apple. I will "only" have $110k debt from my JD.

I haven't taken a tax class in law school but I am going to take one in the spring. I have no idea if I will like tax as a practice area or not. In the meantime, I have been looking at non-tax LLMs. The problem is that there is so little information out there about which LLMs are worth it, if any, and which are merely cash cows.

The most promising so far seems to be Duke's Law & Entrepreneurship LLM. Does anyone have any information about outcomes for grads of that program or about any other worthwhile non-tax LLMs?

Don't do it. You're at a well-regarded law school, so you presumably have a competent career services office. Start working with them extensively to polish your resume, writing sample, and interviewing skills.

Even if you feel like you aren't in a position anymore to keep looking for a transactional job, which you are, just don't get an LLM. Browse the resumes of associates at any target firm, and you'll realize that, excepting tax, almost no American law students have an LLM.

Get into LLM program, apply for summer positions, and then either succeed in getting SA and do LLM or fail and don't do LLM?

do the tax llm if you do an llm.

deepseapartners wrote:Don't do it. You're at a well-regarded law school, so you presumably have a competent career services office. Start working with them extensively to polish your resume, writing sample, and interviewing skills.

Even if you feel like you aren't in a position anymore to keep looking for a transactional job, which you are, just don't get an LLM. Browse the resumes of associates at any target firm, and you'll realize that, excepting tax, almost no American law students have an LLM.

This.

Evidence an interest in transactional law and work with your CSO. 3L hiring is uncommon, but it happens, so best thing to do is to pound the pavement and work your connections. Shit happens all the time at firms and there will be first and second years who will be leaving after they get bonuses (or stuff comes up in their lives) so I would go that route before entering a LLM program.