National Jurist - November 2008 - (Page 31) Is an American LL.M. beneficial? It depends, some foreign graduates say. Anne-George Ficot-Kuzuhara said getting her LL.M. degree was one of the best decisions she made career-wise. The 2007 LL.M. graduate from Temple Law School took all the core courses, which include legal writing, civil procedure, contract law and torts, among others. She said she wanted to understand the basic concepts of American law. She was working as an in-house lawyer at a French investment bank in Tokyo, Japan and Paris, France when she decided to apply for the LL.M. program at Temple University. “What really prompted me was that I was dealing with American or English law concepts in my day-to-day job, which made no sense whatsoever to me,” FicotKuzuhara said. But she’d be the first to tell you that she had setbacks. And, an LL.M. degree does not always land you the job you want as a foreign attorney. Wanting to pursue her career in Asia or the United States, preferably in a law firm, she said she mistakenly thought that an LL.M. degree would be sufficient for that purpose. She said it was a mistake because there are very few French law firms abroad and many English and American law firms recruit only American or English trainees. So it’s suffice to say that’s important to do thorough research beforehand. Talk to LL.M. graduates, employers and law school staff for advice. “You will find out that most of the positions available are located in the student’s home jurisdiction,” she said of law school recruitment of foreign students. “For Loyola University New Orleans College of Law LL.M. Program for International Students S t ud y U.S. L aw i n His toric Ne w Orleans! offer an ely situated to We are uniqu r lawyers States Law fo .M. in United LL (LL.B. or degree in law o have a first than wh country other alent) from a equiv t training ates who wan the United St . ion in U.S. law will and certificat . from Loyola LL.M Attaining an u in the for yo reer options open new ca y, and it is al econom growing glob of interests. for a variety exible enough fl ated with is fully integr The program wing . program, allo the existing J.D large number oose from a students to ch ional trade ch as internat llectual of courses su n law, tax, inte ropean Unio law, Eu an rights, and property, hum g others. tal law, amon environmen GO TO: For more information, http://law.loyno.edu/admissions/llm/index.htm Judy Corcoran International Programs corcoran@loyno.edu Phone: (504) 861-5563 Fax: (504) 861-5480 November 2008 THE NATIONAL JURIST 31 http://law.loyno.edu/admissions/llm/index.htm http://law.loyno.edu/admissions/llm/index.htm
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.