LLM in Advocacy

The Advocacy LLM is a degree designed to provide opportunities for law graduates to enhance their legal advocacy skills in and out of the courtroom. A variety of courses are available to improve students’ technical trial skills, learn new litigation strategies and tools, strengthen persuasive abilities, and focus on the application of professional ethics in the pretrial and trial settings. Important focuses of the LLM Advocacy Program are the use of modern technology in litigation and the training of ethical trial lawyers. The LLM Advocacy combines a rigorous academic component and a breadth of practical litigation training, including optional credits from writing projects, teaching opportunities, and practical exposure through externships. The LLM Advocacy can be completed on a full-time or part-time basis. Students can tailor the experience to fit their individualized goals or select courses from one of the predetermined specializations in Civil Trial Advocacy, Criminal Trial Advocacy, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Environmental Litigation, or Labor and Employment Litigation.  Required courses and most elective courses are offered in the evenings to accommodate students’ work schedules. 

LLM Degree Requirements

The LLM degree requires the completion of twenty-four credits, chosen from the designated list of classes, with a grade point average of 2.0 (C) or better. At least sixteen of these credits must be earned from traditional classroom study and up to eight credits can be earned from pre-approved externships, writing projects, and/or co-teaching opportunities. Before receiving the LLM degree, students must complete the following designated courses: (1) the two-credit Ethics for Trial Lawyers course, and (2) the two- or  three-credit Advanced Trial Advocacy course. The twenty-four credits needed for the LLM degree can be completed in two semesters of full-time study. Part-time students generally complete the LLM degree in three or four semesters.  Absent extraordinary circumstances, students must complete the LLM degree within sixty months of matriculating in a given LLM program.