Three Advantages of the Two-Year LLM:

1. Intensive development of legal writing, case analysis, and advocacy skills in the first year allows students to confidently meet the academic challenges of their LLM coursework in the second year;
2. Having an additional year to study legal English gives students the opportunity to make substantial improvements in their English that are not possible in one year programs; and
3. Spending two years in Boston and at BU Law allows students and any of their family members the opportunity to really become a Boston local and to fully appreciate the rich history that Boston has to offer. You will also have the most opportunities to visit court proceedings, attend talks by special guest lecturers, and participate in the many social events sponsored by the law school.

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Program Schedule

Year 1: Legal English Certificate Program

Students enroll in a specialized mix of legal English, legal skills, and legal doctrine coursework. Fall semester: U.S. Legal Discourse, Academic Skills for U.S. Law Studies, and Introduction to U.S. Legal Culture. Spring semester: Legal Reasoning and Analysis, International Contracts and Negotiations, Legal Writing, Persuasive Legal Advocacy, and Topics in American Law. For full course descriptions, please visit the Curriculum page.

Summer:

Students are required to complete a two week Pre-LLM program, consisting of a two week course focused on academic skills for the international lawyer. Students entering the Banking and Financial Law Program will alternatively attend Financial Services Fundamentals. Please note that BU offers spring, summer and fall semesters, and summer programs are billed separately from full-year programs.

Year 2: Your LLM Program

Students enroll in the American Law, Banking and Financial Law, Intellectual Property Law, or Taxation LLM program. For full program details, please visit our LLM Degrees page.

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Admissions Requirements

• First Degree in Law. Two-Year LLM applicants must have a first degree in law. However, applicants to only the Legal English Certificate Program do not need a law degree.
• English Proficiency. Please note that if you do not meet the below stated scores you are still encouraged to apply, as we assess applications based on a variety of factors in addition to English proficiency scores.
  • TOEFL: a score of 85 or higher on the iTOEFL (compared to 100 as required for a one year LLM program); 550 or higher on the paper-based TOEFL.
  • IELTS: a combined score of 5.5 or higher.
• For a full list of admissions requirements, please visit our admissions page.

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Contact Us

Legal English Certificate Program
Boston University School of Law
765 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 802
Boston, Massachusetts 02215

Phone: 617-358-6162
Email: gradint@bu.edu

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Additional Program Links

• Tuition and Fees. Note that Two-Year LLM students will be charged the applicable tuition and fees for full-time LLM studies for both the Legal English Certificate Program and their LLM Program. Additional tuition and fees will be assessed for the required summer coursework: Pre LLM or Financial Services Fundamentals.
• Application Instructions. Our admissions page details how to submit the application and supporting documents.