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From what I understand it's typical for first year tax associates to complete their tax LLM part-time over two years while working. Do firms ever offer someone after a 2L summer and upon graduation put them through a full time program instead? If not, does this mean DC and NYC offices are the only ones to hire first years in tax?

The part-time LLM is not uncommon but certainly not "typical", and most definitely not mandatory. FWIW, my firm interviews at the local LLM program among other places if it's looking for a junior tax associate; if hired, the student is basically expected to abandon the LLM. I think the rationale is 1) what you learn is very useful and would give you an edge over a JD who hadn't taken advanced tax classes, but you are going to learn faster in practice, and 2) at bottom, the full-time LLM is to get a job, and hey, you got one! Some firms like it for the credential on your bio, I guess. I think a firm would be unwilling to put you through a full-time program, because most tax groups are small, so they're hiring who they need now, not a year from now. Perhaps a firm with a comparatively huge tax group would look more kindly on the idea, but I don't know what advantages it offers the firm beyond the already dubious advantages of the part-time degree.

As mentioned above, it's not "typical" for tax associates to get LLMs. If you spend some time on firm websites, you'll see it varies a lot between different firms and offices. At some firms, almost no associates have them (e.g., the NY V20); at others, most do.

I interviewed with half a dozen NY biglaw offices, and when I asked the partners about tax LLMs, most seemed discouraging. They generally seemed to think they weren't worth the time. A small number of the tax associates at those offices had LLMs, but my impression was that they got the LLMS in spite of their firm's preferences, not because of.