Students who are interested in the Practice Skills Track must speak with Assistant Dean Rice and Director Leo.
Official New York Bar Resources
Practice Skills Track Introduction
The LLM in American Law Program’s Practice Skills Track is a guided curriculum for students who seek to meet the requirements of the New York bar’s new Skills Competency and Professional Values Bar Admission Requirement (“Competency Requirement”) during their two semesters of study in LLM in American Law Program (ALP).
It is designed to satisfy Pathway 2 of the Competency Requirement, which requires the successful completion of “15 credit hours of practice-based experiential coursework designed to foster the development of professional competencies.” As a result, the coursework focuses heavily on practical-skills training and the development of professional competencies that are valued across a range of practice settings and specialized fields.
Students who complete the Practice Skills Track would:
- Satisfy Pathway 2 of NY’s Competency Rule by competing at least 15 credits of qualified “practice-based experiential coursework;”
- Meet the 12-credit requirement of NY’s “cure provisions” pertaining to the eligibility of otherwise qualified foreign-trained lawyers to take the bar exam (22 NYCRR § 520.6 [b] [1] [ii] and 520.6 [b] [2]); and
- Fulfill the LLM in American Law Program’s 24-credit degree requirement.
Practice Skills Track Requirements
The Practice Skills Track requires a minimum of 27 credits distributed as follows:
Twelve (12) credits to satisfy the cure provisions of NY’s foreign lawyer eligibility requirements and complete the ALP’s two required classes. This includes:
- Introduction to American Law (fall, 2 credits) [ALP and NY requirement]
- LLM Legal Research and Writing (fall, 2 credits) [ALP and NY requirement]
- LLM Professional Responsibility (spring or fall, 2 credits) [NY requirement]; plus
- At least six (6) credits of bar-tested topics [NY requirement], which can include the following LLM-only classes (or any other qualifying JD classes on bar-tested topics):
- LLM-only contracts (fall, 4 credits)
- LLM-only corporations (fall, 4 credits)
- LLM Property (spring, 2 credits) [Fundamentals Track]
- LLM Evidence (spring, 2 credits) [Fundamentals Track]
- LLM-Constitutional Law (spring, 2 credits) [Fundamentals Track]
- Other qualifying bar courses through the JD curriculum (such as Contracts, Torts, Criminal Law, Civil Procedure, Property, Evidence, Family Law, Corporations, etc.)
Fifteen (15) credits of “practice-based experiential coursework” to satisfy Pathway 2 of the Competence Rule and complete the ALP’s 24 credit minimum. These credits can be satisfied through such classes as:
- LLM Alternative Dispute Resolution (3 credits, fall)
- LLM Negotiations (3 credits, spring)
- LLM Transactional Contracts (3 credits, spring)
- LLM Simulation Transaction: Start Ups (3 credits, spring)
- LLM Appellate Advocacy (2 credits, spring)
- LLM Intellectual Property Licensing (3 credits, spring)
- LLM Client Counseling and Interviewing (2 credits, spring)
- LLM Practice of Copyright and Trademark in the Media and Entertainment Industries (3 credits, fall)
- LLM Advanced Legal Research in specialized fields (1 credit, spring)
- LLM Advanced Legal Writing (2 credits, spring)
- JD Financial Accounting for Lawyers (2 credits, fall)
- JD Simulation Transaction: International Collaboration (3 credits, spring)
- LLM The Effective Practice of In-House Counsel (3 credits, spring)
NOTE: The above list is tentative and subject to change.