
The question is how you as an international student may get the best out of your LL.M. program year? The lecture provides tips and hints on how you achieve maximum benefits from your LL.M. program. How can you achieve your academic, personal, and career goals?
Listed below are some LL.M. Survival and Empowerment lecture suggestions. For more survival & empowerment tips, check out LL.M. Roadmap.
1. Embrace the Socratic Method [link to section on Socratic Method – in section on success in the LL.M. classroom]. This method of U.S. law school instruction may intimidate international LL.M. students, but it presents an opportunity for you to gain an edge in thinking on your feet, analyzing complex issues quickly, and arriving at sound solutions. Leap at the opportunity to practice your lawyerly abilities!
You will learn how to think quickly and arrive at reasonable conclusions. U.S.-trained lawyers are expected to possess this skill!
You can get practice at the Socratic Method from taking courses like BARBRI’s LL.M. Preview.
2. Take advantage of opportunities to gain legal skills. Sometimes this means engaging in non-credit activities outside the classroom. This may interfere with some of your study or leisure time, but it is a worthy investment.
Your U.S. law school should have opportunities for you to do clinical work with real clients, pro bono work research, internships, or other work outside the classroom. You can learn a great deal from hands-on exposure to the law. See # 4 below.
3. Understand who is who at your law school. What is the difference between the following officials at your U.S. law school: