What’s the value of an LLM degree? Read below and watch our fun, information-packed webinar to find out! You will hear from an Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Director of Graduate Admissions, and a current LLM student to learn how an LLM can help launch your legal career.
“An LLM degree from any US law school can give you a strong exposure to the American legal system,” says Nabhali Mhatre LLM IP ’22 from India. “This is important because a US education is held in high regard internationally. What’s more, an LLM degree is valuable because it helps you get a job when you return home. It keeps career doors open—and allows you to be promoted sooner than someone without an LLM. Ultimately, a law degree is valuable even in jobs that don’t require it, both in the US and abroad.”
There are countless practical examples of this statement, from students who hail from all over the world. Danielle Soucie, LLM ’20, who came to UNH Franklin Pierce from Israel, speaks of the practicality of earning an LLM, including that graduates leave the program with samples of their work to share with potential employers and with personal connections that can help them in the future.
“As the university is ranked the fourth IP law school in the US, most of our alumni are in the IP area worldwide,” notes Jessica Jie Xu, LLM ’12, of China. “I meet Franklin Pierce alumni from the US and around the world at professional conferences, allowing me to continue to grow my professional network.”
In assessing the value of pursuing an LLM, there are many factors to consider. Adding the degree to one’s list of qualifications can make a résumé stand out among others, since it allows recipients to earn expert credentials in a specific area of the law. LLM graduates also gain the knowledge and experience required for global legal practice, have an opportunity to improve their understanding of American legal conversation skills (in English), and may help students become eligible to take a US Bar Exam. Many employers value attorneys who have gained international educational experience, and an LLM also can be a boost when applying for university teaching positions.
“In the face of globalization,” says Carlos Carvalho, LLM ’00, of Brazil, “if you want to work in a global company, you need to have specific knowledge and fluency in English. Studying abroad gives you the knowledge and fluency in another language.”
Mudassir Husain
When he was weighing the benefits of pursuing an LLM, Mudassir Husain, LLM IP ’22 from India, thought about how the degree might help his career prospects, whether the LLM would be of practical use in his home country of India, and whether benefits of a foreign LLM degree justified the investment in money and time required to complete the program. The salary boost from having earned the LLM, he reasoned, can help to offset the cost of the one-year program almost immediately.
Fellow UNH Franklin Pierce graduate Gustavo Piva de Andrade, LLM IP ’10, is now a partner at Dannemann Siemsen Advogados in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Andrade says his year at the law school has been pivotal in his career progress, providing him with a solid academic understanding of the way the IP system works and how IP rights can be both enforced and monetized.
“This background,” Andrade says, “also helps me to visualize and explain the differences between the US and Brazilian systems, something that is extremely valuable for my everyday practice. I’m proud to be an alumnus of UNH Franklin Pierce and to have had the opportunity to study at one of the world’s best IP schools.”
Associate Dean for Administration and Enrollment Shane Cooper, who earned an LLM from Columbia University after receiving his JD from Cornell University, speaks of how pursuing his LLM mid-career helped him to find a space within an academic setting to focus and reflect on legal issues he already had encountered in his practice.
“This time allowed me to sharpen that focus so that when I returned to my career,” Cooper says, “I was a more thoughtful and effective attorney working on these issues.”
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Rebecca Purdom agrees, citing the advantages of a UNH Franklin Pierce education in particular: “Through our top-ranked IP program, not only do you learn the American legal system, but you learn the unique ways the US intellectual property system fuels business and innovation both here and across the globe.”
UNH Franklin Pierce’s LLM programs prepare students for the next steps in their legal careers. To learn more about how an LLM can add value for you, contact Sarah Dorner, Director of Graduate and International Admissions, at sarah.dorner@law.unh.edu or on WhatsApp at +1-603-513-5300.
