Preparing foreign lawyers for global practice

The LLM in American Law Program curriculum is specifically designed to prepare foreign lawyers for the challenge of global practice. In this program, students are fully integrated into BU Law’s JD classes, where they sit side-by-side with American students being trained in the tradition of US legal education.

This means you will not only learn the substance of US doctrine in virtually any area of interest—intellectual property law, international business law, mergers and acquisitions, alternative dispute resolution, to name only a few—but you will learn something equally as important: how US lawyers are trained to analyze legal questions and advocate on their clients’ behalf. You are also guaranteed post-graduation practical experience through the American Law Internship Program.

By the end of the year, we expect you will have developed skills to make you a more effective global practitioner. You will have gained unique insight into the “mindset” of US lawyers and others trained in the common law. You will have the necessary perspective to work across borders, and transact with lawyers from diverse traditions and backgrounds.

In that sense, our American Law Program is anything but American. It’s truly global.

Learn more about our program from Assistant Dean John Riccardi, Associate Director Maureen Tracy Leo, or download a program overview here.

Meet some of our students

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  • Juan Pablo Rodriguez - Guatemala

    Juan Pablo Rodriguez - Guatemala

    "BU keeps surprising me - I was expecting to have a really good year and come to a really good university. But I was not totally aware of how GOOD the university was."

  • Marina Pereira - Brazil

    Marina Pereira - Brazil

    “I got interviews with prestigious companies in the US and firms in Brazil, and I feel that the LLM was essential for that. BU not only increased my opportunities, but also opened some doors for me.”

  • Daniel Hasson Kalkstein - Chile

    Daniel Hasson Kalkstein - Chile

    "At BU you will find the best law professors, and the law school is located in the middle of one of the best student cities in the U.S. Boston has a great legal community that will help you build your professional network."

  • Nihkil Chawla - India

    Nihkil Chawla - India

    "One of the best parts of an LLM is that people come from all over, and can combine their cultures into a shared experience."

  • Mustafa Ali - Egypt

    Mustafa Ali - Egypt

    "Through the flexibility of the American Law Program, I was able to take Law for Algorithms - a course offered through the BU Computer Science department with UC Berkeley, BU, Columbia and Harvard students."

  • Zrinka Anic-Milic - Croatia

    Zrinka Anic-Milic - Croatia

    "You have a lot of freedom to pick subjects you want to take. In my first semester, I only had one LLM classmate, and was taking courses with JD students."

Contact Us

Graduate and International Programs Office
Boston University School of Law
765 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 1003
Boston, MA 02215
Telephone: 617-353-5323
Email: gradint@bu.edu