Established in 1945, the Graduate Tax Program (GTP) at NYU is the oldest and most highly regarded program of its kind in the United States.  Over 40 NYU faculty members, many of whom are important academic figures and practitioners in the field of taxation, lead the program and teach the courses.  The GTP has approximately 115 students in the full-time program and 180-200 students in the part-time evening program.

Students in the GTP construct their program from the fifty courses offered by NYU in the area of tax law.  Both full-time and part-time students are required to take a tax procedure course, and full-time students must take a tax policy course. LL.M. students may waive these requirements if they have previously taken either of these courses in their J.D. or equivalent studies.

Apart from these requirements, students design their own curricula within the field of taxation, and may opt to focus on general taxation, business taxation, international taxation, estate planning or tax policy.  GTP students do not have an independent writing requirement, although they may gain up to two credits through working on a Directed Research project supervised by a faculty member.

For more information on NYU’s LL.M. in Tax or the other LL.M. programs offered NYU, be sure to check out the Clear Admit Law School Guide to NYU School of Law!

Established in 1945, the Graduate Tax Program (GTP) at NYU is the oldest and most highly regarded program of its kind in the United States.  Over 40 NYU faculty members, many of whom are important academic figures and practitioners in the field of taxation, lead the program and teach the courses.  The GTP has approximately 115 students in the full-time program and 200 students in the part-time evening program.

Students in the GTP construct their program from the fifty courses offered by NYU in the area of tax law.  Both full-time and part-time students are required to take a tax procedure course, and full-time students must take a tax policy course. LL.M. students may waive these requirements if they have previously taken either of these courses in their J.D. or equivalent studies.

Apart from these requirements, students design their own curricula within the field of taxation, and may opt to focus on general taxation, business taxation, international taxation, estate planning or tax policy.  GTP students do not have an independent writing requirement, although they may gain up to two credits through working on a Directed Research project supervised by a faculty member.

For more information on NYU’s LL.M. in Tax or the other LL.M. programs offered NYU, be sure to check out the Clear Admit Law School Guide to NYU School of Law!

Says Law Dean William M. Treanor, “Several members of our faculty are nationally and internationally recognized experts in the field, and I can think of no better place to study this area of the law than Washington, D.C.”

Along with the course offerings, Georgetown is also home to the Center on National Security and Law.  The Center provides a variety of services including: working on public policy initiatives with Congress; offering non-partisan advice on security issues; sponsoring lectures and programs; and running a daily blog on security issues. The Center also partners with Georgetown Law’s Human Rights Institute to focus on detention and interrogation issues as well as the legality surrounding unmanned aerial strikes and the boundary between national security and criminal law.

This is the sixth LLM program that Georgetown offers.  Other graduate degrees in law available from the University are: international legal studies, global health, securities and financial regulation, taxation, and international business and economic law.

To learn more about this new LLM, please click here.

INSEAD, which has campuses in Paris and Singapore, will contribute classes in leadership and globalization to the program in both of its locations, INSEAD marketing professor Hubert Gatignon told the FT. The new LLM is part of the Sorbonne University International Law School, a project intended to combine the strengths of France’s top law school and a top global business school, Paris 2-Panthéon-Assas President Louis Vogel told the FT.

According to the FT report, the new program is part of a growing trend of masters-level LLM degrees focused on business, especially as the boundaries between business and law become blurred around issues like competition, negotiation and regulation and intellectual property.

“The LLM is going to be more like the MBA in the global market,” José Maria de Areilza, dean of IE Law School in Spain, told the FT. “Law schools are talking more to business schools.”

Other business-focused LLM degree programs include an LLM in law and entrepreneurship at Duke University and a joint LLM and MBA program at American University’s Washington School of Law and Kogod School of Business, the FT reports.

In France, the trend toward combining legal and business studies is supported by a plan by President Nicolas Sarkozy to encourage universities and business schools to work more closely together. As part of this plan, diverse academic institutions that agree to collaborate become eligible for a share of $10.5 million in funding that will be distributed between five and 10 initiatives d’excellence in 2011.

INSEAD has chosen to participate by becoming part of a center or pôle of research in higher education – les pôles de recherche d’enseignement supérieur – together with Paris II (law), Paris IV (humanities and classical studies) and Paris VI (science and medicine). Meanwhile, the University of Lyon 2 (Lyon Lumière) has joined with EMLyon, an entrepreneurship-focused business school. Bids for the funding must be submitted by the pôles in December, the FT reports.

Patrice Houdayer, EMLyon vice president of graduate programs, told the FTthat there is a huge market for graduates with both legal and business education. “Both law firms and companies are constantly expressing their will to hire lawyers that not only master the legal science but are also able to understand the strategic issues of the business world,” he said.

For the complete Financial Times article, click here.

Professor Andrew Guzman, Director of Graduate Programs at the law school, stated that the creation of this LL.M. certificate “advances our goal of integrating LL.M. students into the law school curriculum,” and “evidences the great strength of our business law curriculum.”

To earn the certificate at graduation, LL.M. students must complete a series of foundational courses, take at least one elective from a list of 14 and write a 20-page research paper on a business or tax law topic.  Students have the option of writing this paper for their elective class, doing it as an independent study or completing it during their Legal Research and Writing course.

For more information about the specific requirements that must be met to earn the LL.M. Business Law Certificate, click here.

The 24-credit degree, which can be completed on either a full-time or part-time basis, is open to lawyers who were trained outside of the U.S. and are looking to hone their lawyering skills and gain a thorough understanding of the U.S. legal system.  Of these 24 credits, only five are associated with required courses resulting in a highly flexible schedule.  Students who attend the full-time program will be guaranteed housing in a new building located a few blocks from the main campus.  Enrolled students, all of whom must hold the equivalent of a J.D., can specialize in one of three areas—intellectual property, business, or refugee and immigration law—or can opt to tailor a personalized study plan.

To accommodate students whose first language is not English, Brooklyn Law has enlisted law and linguistics professors who are trained in ESL to instruct legal writing courses.  In addition, numerous courses and events have been planned to prepare students for the NY State Bar Exam, develop an international legal perspective and develop the toolkit to draft strong legal documents.

The early action deadline for the August start date is December 1, 2010.  Those interested in regular decision have until February 1, 2011 to submit their applications.

If you’d like to learn more about this new advanced legal degree offered at Brooklyn Law, click here.

Penn Law’s partnership with HKU, which is the oldest law school in Hong Kong but has only been accepting JD students since 2009, will prepare students for entering a profession that has become increasingly global. This new double degree program permits up to three students from each institution to study at the partner law school during their 3L year and to complete an LLM degree.

Faculty and administrators at both law schools are pleased to offer this opportunity to their students.  Eric Feldman, deputy dean for International Affairs at Penn Law believes that this program will not only “serve as a model for years to come,” but also “is the culmination of Penn’s steady effort to offer students a global legal education.”

To read the official announcement, click here.

According to Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies, John Riccardi, the development of this specialized curriculum is a result of numerous candidates who sought LL.M. degrees from BU but were unable to enroll due to professional commitments to international clients, companies and firms.  In Riccardi’s words, “this program offers an innovative ‘blended learning’ design to meet their needs. For the busy international practitioner, it’s the best of both worlds.”

The program consists of 20 credits of coursework, part of which will take place in Boston during three two-week segments in March, July and August. Students must complete courses in Corporate Finance, Accounting, Mergers and Acquisitions, Contracts, Corporations, Securities Regulation, and International Business Transactions and Agreements to earn their degree.  Two courses will be taught by BU Law faculty during each two-week session and students are free to choose the order in which they take the sessions.  In addition to six weeks of classroom learning, students must complete a robust online curriculum that covers international business topics from a U.S. viewpoint.

Applications for the new program are scheduled to be released in July 2010.  Prospective students should keep in mind that only graduates of law schools located outside of the U.S. will be evaluated for admission.  The first session will commence in March 2011.

For more information about this new Executive LL.M. opportunity, visit the BU Law website.

In order to be awarded a certificate in environmental law at the end of the LLM program, participating students must complete minimum of nine credits for courses in environmental law. Required courses include Environmental Law and Readings in Environmental Law. Additionally, students are asked to complete a substantial research assignment focused on environmental law or a closely related topic.

The first three recipients to be awarded a certificate in environmental studies from Duke Law – Ismael Barrios, Max Larrain, and Clemens Schmied – are all LLM graduates who plan to practice law in places outside of the U.S. Barrios, who plans to eventually practice environmental law in Peru summarized his interest in the Duke program, explaining that Duke’s interdisciplinary approach to teaching environmental law was especially beneficial to him. He states, “Especially in the seminars, the discussions reflected different types of concerns, and law students could take advantage of a really deep technical view from various areas. It [also] is of great help that the faculty members have both an outstanding academic perspective and past practical experience.”

Jennifer Maher, assistant dean for international studies, believes that the school’s partnerships with a number of other programs also appeals to LLM candidates hoping to gain knowledge about environmental law. Duke Law works closely with the Nicholas School of the Environment, the Sanford School of Public Policy and the Fuqua School of Business.

To learn more about the recent graduates who were the first to receive the certificate, click here. For more information on the Environmental Law Certificate, visit the program’s website.

The Law and Entrepreneurship LLM, however, is unique in that it will focus on “the legal, business, institutional, strategic, and public-policy frameworks that apply to entrepreneurs and innovation,” according to the Duke website. It will also provide its students with the opportunity to pursue externships during their second semester. Duke imagines that LLM students will find positions with a variety of law firms, including venture capital firms, government agencies and general counsels’ offices. As with most LLM programs, students will also be required to work with a faculty members to complete a piece of scholarly research focused on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship research. In addition to the externship and research that will comprise a great deal of the second semester, all students will be asked to complete 23 additional credits in order to graduate from the program and receive their LLM degrees.

A number of Duke University School of Law alumni have expressed a positive opinion with regards to the new LLM program. In fact, alumni support has been so positive that the School of Law has received more than $100,000 in donations from alumni and friends during the past six months. The school has made a point of thanking, in particular, Stanley Star ’61, the principal of private-label juice manufacturer Cliffstar Corporation, Scott Arenare ’89, the managing director and general counsel in the New York office of global private equity investment firm Warburg Pincus, and Glenn Sarno ’92, a partner who focuses on private investment funds at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. The three alumni have indicated that they have chosen to support the new program because it encourages students to enter fields similar to those that they themselves have chosen to pursue. As Star stated, “It’s exciting and important for the Law School to undertake this type of program. We’re giving students a chance to work with entrepreneurs, with real experts in the field. It’s very appropriate. The program goes beyond general coursework to provide specific, useful skills and information.” To read the full article about the Duke University School of Law alumni support, click here.

The inaugural Law and Entrepreneurship class will be comprised of approximately 20 students. For more information about the program, make sure to visit the Duke University School of Law’s website.