Overview
By taking qualifying LLM courses during the second and third years of the JD program, a student earns credit toward both the JD degree and the LLM degree in Banking and Financial Law. Students would obtain all the necessary credits for their JD and LLM degrees in six semesters of study and therefore be eligible to receive the JD degree and LLM degree at the end of three years. The six-semester program is an accelerated variant of BU Law’s current seven-semester JD/LLM program in Banking and Financial Law.
Prerequisite Courses and Financial Regulation Course
To be accepted to the six-semester program, a student completes through the JD curriculum three prerequisite courses comprising a total of eleven (11) credit hours. The prerequisite courses are Corporations (4 credits), Financial Regulation (3 credits), and Secured Transactions (4 credits). Unlike in the seven-semester program, credit will be granted toward the LLM degree for each of these courses.
Ideally, Financial Regulation should be taken prior to admission to the six-semester program, but if it is only offered in the fall semester in a year, with permission of the Director of the Banking and Financial Law LLM program, the course may be taken in the fall of the student’s 3L year. The student would still need to complete seven additional LLM courses in his/her 3L year.
Number of Credit Hours Required
The number of credit hours required for the LLM degree in the six-semester program is 24, the same number as required for the full-year LLM degree. Since the student will be granted eleven (11) credit hours for the courses in Corporations, Secured Transactions, and Financial Regulation, the student will typically need to successfully complete seven 2-credit courses in the LLM program to be eligible for the award of the degree, although six 2-credit, and one 1-credit, courses in the LLM program will suffice. These LLM credits will also count toward the JD degree.
Admission to the Program
A student may apply for admission to the six-semester program at any time during the student’s second year at BU Law, but no later than July 31 in the summer prior to the student’s 3L year. Upon preliminary acceptance, the student will be assigned an LLM advisor who will assist the student in choosing courses.
Final admission to the six-semester program requires that the student has earned a cumulative grade of 2.7 or higher in all prerequisite courses, including the Financial Regulation course.
Completion of the Program
If a student is accepted to the six-semester program, the student must complete seven courses from the Banking and Financial Law LLM curriculum by the end of the student’s 3L year. The same academic regulations that pertain to regular two-semester Banking and Financial Law LLM students will apply to students who earn the LLM through the six-semester option, specifically:
- Students must earn a GPA of at least 2.7; and
- Students cannot obtain more than one grade of ‘D’ or ‘F’.
- If the student has taken Financial Regulation, he/she will be deemed to have satisfied the Banking LLM program requirement to take Bank Structure and Regulation.
Students who complete all degree requirements for the Banking and Financial Law LLM will be awarded that degree in addition to the JD degree upon graduation. Students who fulfill the JD requirements but do not complete the LLM degree requirements will be granted the JD degree only. Students who fulfill the LLM degree requirements but do not complete the JD requirements will not be awarded either degree, notwithstanding the fact that the student has otherwise met the LLM degree requirements, since having a JD degree or foreign equivalent is a prerequisite to the LLM program.
LLM Courses available to JD Students in Six-Semester Program (Revised for the 2023-2024 Academic Year)
| Banking Structure and Regulation (with Director permission and only if student has not taken Financial Regulation). | Bankruptcy (Fall) | Commercial Lending (Fall) |
| Governance, Risk Management and Compliance Programs (Fall) | Consumer Financial Services (Spring) | Cryptocurrency (offered through GTP) (Spring) |
| Financial Crisis to Fintech (Fall) | Financial Derivatives Products and Markets (Fall) | Government Regulation of Insurance (Fall) |
| Hedge Funds (Spring) | Introduction to Project Finance (Spring) | Mergers and Acquisitions (Spring) |
| Payment Systems (Fall) | Pooled Funds and Investor Protection (Spring) | Securities Regulation (Fall) |
| Securitization (Spring) | Tax Aspects of International Business (Fall) | Transnational Lending (Spring) |
| Venture Capital Financing (2 credits) (Spring) |
Up to two comparable courses in the JD program may be substituted with permission of the Director of the Banking LLM program.
The Application Process
To be considered for the six-semester program, the student must submit, no later than July 31 of the summer prior to his/her 3L year, the following:
- Application form
- Resume
- Personal Statement
The LLM program will obtain copies of past transcripts from the records in the Law Registrar’s office. Admission decisions made prior to the receipt of spring semester JD grades would be made contingent upon meeting the admissions requirements noted above.
More Information
Candidates interested in learning more about this opportunity should contact the Graduate Program in Banking and Financial Law (banklaw@bu.edu) and/or visit the program’s offices in Suite 804.