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LLM students celebrate at commencement

LL.M. in U.S. Law

Curriculum

LL.M. in U.S. Law Curriculum

The LL.M. curriculum is designed for you to get the most out of your education. You are required to take two courses: Lawyering Skills for LL.M. Students (4 credits) and LL.M. Mentor Externship (2 credits). In addition, you can choose six to eight elective courses (18 credits). A faculty or staff member will help you select the courses that match your professional goals.

Contact

Cristina Calderón

Director of Global Outreach
Cristina Calderon headshot
Email
ccalderon@stthomas.edu
Phone Number
651-962-4901

Required and Elective Courses

Note: Degree requirements are subject to change. The University of St. Thomas reserves the right to amend the degree requirements and to add to or delete from the list of courses that satisfy the degree requirements at any time.

Required Courses

Lawyering Skills for LL.M. Students (4 credits)

This course will introduce you to the basics of the US legal discourse including: (1) how to read and brief cases; (2) how common law lawyers analyze, compare and synthesize cases and interpret statutes; (3) how to write legal documents, such as memoranda briefs; (4) the basics of legal research (including use of secondary sources, ALRs, case reporters and citators); and (5) how to convey your insights about the US legal system to others. The class will meet for four days during orientation week and then twice each week during the fall semester. There is also a mandatory 30-minute conference with the instructor.

LL.M. Mentor Externship (2 credits)

LL.M. Mentor Externship is a required year-long course for LL.M. students that combines a classroom component with fieldwork to allow students to explore and gain insight into the U.S. legal system. The classroom component includes attending weekly meetings with discussion and guidance from a faculty member, guest speakers who are experts in their fields, readings and assignments. In addition, LL.M. students are matched with an attorney or judge in the Twin Cities legal community who can provide them with fieldwork experiences and debrief discussions to bring to life what they are learning in the classroom and broaden their professional network.
Neil Hamilton teaches an ethics class

Elective Courses

You will choose six to eight courses (18 total credits) from the J.D. curriculum to complete your course requirements. The following are examples of courses that can help prepare you to practice law in a global context.

  • Accounting for Lawyers
  • Administrative Law
  • Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR)
  • Bankruptcy
  • Business Associations
  • Business Planning
  • Comparative Constitutional Law
  • Compliance Programming: Design, Operation & Performance
  • Conflict of Laws
  • Contracts
  • Corporate Governance
  • Cybersecurity: Managing Risk
  • Employment Discrimination
  • Employment Law
  • Environmental Law
  • Ethical Leadership in Organizations
  • Federal Income Taxation
  • Information Privacy and Data Protection Law
  • Immigration Law
  • Intellectual Property
  • International and Comparative Intellectual Property
  • International Anti-Corruption Law
  • International Human Rights
  • International Law
  • Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Negotiation
  • Patent Law
  • Representing Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses
  • Sales
  • Secured Transactions
  • Securities Regulation
  • Taxation of Business Enterprises
  • Topics: Regulation of Disruptive Innovation
Students raise hands and take an oath

Meet Our Faculty

Our professors are leaders in their fields academically, but also receive consistent praise for accessibility and teaching. They influence students through the classroom, other scholars through writing in scholarly journals and books, and the law through their work in the administration of justice. In 2021, St. Thomas Law’s faculty was ranked #23 in the nation for scholarly impact based on the number of citations to tenured faculty scholarship.