Master of Laws (LL.M.) Academic Requirements
General Requirements
Candidates for the LL.M./M.J.
Program must successfully complete 24 credit hours of coursework,
which will be distributed as follows:
Basic Course Requirement (BCR)
Six credit hours
of basic courses in two of the primary areas of intellectual
property and communications law (Communications Law, Copyright
Law, Patent Law and Trademark and Unfair Competition Law) are
required. The BCR may be fully or partially waived if the student
obtained a grade of B (3.0) or above in an equivalent course
(or courses) in law school within five years of enrolling at
the Law College.
Elective Course Requirement (ECR)
Fourteen
additional credit hours of courses chosen from the LL.M./M.J.
curriculum are required. To fulfill the ECR, students who have
obtained a one-course (or two-course) waiver of the BCR must
complete 17 (or 20) credit hours of courses chosen from the
LL.M./M.J. curriculum.
Thesis Requirement
Four credit hours of
the LL.M./M.J. seminar and thesis complete the program. The
LL.M./M.J. seminar is a year-long course offered in two semesters.
Held on Tuesday evenings, the seminar features eminent scholars
and distinguished practitioners as guest speakers. Students
are required to write response papers, make presentations and
complete an LL.M./M.J. thesis. The thesis must be at least
30 pages in length and satisfy the standards of the Upper-level
Writing Requirement (ULWR).
All candidates must achieve a grade of PASS or above in all courses taken for credit toward the LL.M./M.J. degrees.
Subject to waiver by the Associate Dean, full-time students must complete the requirements for the LL.M./M.J. program within two academic years, and part-time students must complete the requirements within five academic years.
Additional Requirements for Foreign LL.M. and M.J.
Students
Unless the program director grants a waiver,
LL.M. candidates who do not have a basic or an advanced law
degree in a common law jurisdiction and M.J. candidates must
complete four credit hours of the following, which will count
toward the ECR:
- a two-credit course in American Jurisprudence, which will familiarize the student with the structure of the American legal system and with the requisite research techniques to support continued study; and
- a two-credit course in Legal Research & Writing taught in the fall term. This course will provide a special focus on the research and writing needs of international scholars and non-lawyers.
Directed Study Option for Part-time Students
Although
all students in the LL.M./M.J. program are strongly encouraged
to take the LL.M./M.J. seminar, part-time students may elect
not to attend the seminar. Students who elect not to take the
LL.M./M.J. seminar must complete a two-credit directed study
to fulfill the thesis requirement and two additional credit
hours of courses chosen from the LL.M./M.J. curriculum in addition
to the 14 credit hours required to fulfill the ECR.