Welcome to the Boston College Law School LL.M. program! It is my pleasure to introduce you to this exciting new initiative – one in which I hope you will take part.
Our LL.M. program is designed to immerse participants in the intricacies and flavor of the United States legal system, and help prepare them for the challenges of work in an increasingly global legal community. Most of our students are lawyers trained in other countries, but we also welcome applications from U.S.-trained lawyers who may uniquely benefit from advanced work here.
The program is informed by two central ideas. First, the presence of international LL.M. students in the Law School community – both inside and outside of the classroom – enriches our understanding of not only international legal norms but of our own legal system as well. Second, by bringing lawyers from other countries to Boston College for a year, we are not simply giving those lawyers an exposure to the U.S. legal system. We are also helping bring ideas about social justice and public service – ideas that are central to our educational philosophy -- to a world stage.
Apart from this, the programs’ possibilities are as diverse as the students we attract. If you join us, you may choose from among most courses in the Law School’s extensive curriculum, including both introductory and more advanced courses in your particular fields of interest. The range of options is enormous – from business law to constitutional law to criminal justice and beyond. We do not channel students into particular subject area tracks, so you can sample a range of different fields if that makes sense for you. However, the curriculum also gives you ample opportunity to specialize in a particular area if your study interests call for doing so.
Is Boston College’s LL.M. the right one for you? Only you can answer that question, but let me offer some thoughts about what I think is special about our school. It is not simply our faculty, who are brilliant teachers and scholars. Nor is it simply our students, who are among the most talented in the world. Nor is it our beautiful campus, nor our proximity to New England’s most cosmopolitan city.
Rather, it is our ethos. While the school has always placed a great deal of emphasis on the professional knowledge that every good lawyer must possess, that knowledge is imparted within a framework of ideals that have made the study and practice of law a calling for so many who come here. This ethos makes for students who are at once highly credentialed and highly collegial in their relationships with each other and with the faculty. It also makes for a strong sense of community – a sense that springs from a shared respect for law as the cornerstone of a democratic society, and a shared respect for one another as legal scholars.
Perhaps I should offer a note from my own experience. For a number of years I was responsible for the LL.M. program at Harvard Law School. When I joined the BC Law community two years ago, the warmth with which I was received was wonderful. You have my personal commitment that my colleagues and I will work hard to make you feel just as welcome, and offer you the richest possible personal and professional experience.
Warmly,
Gail J. Hupper
Director, LL.M. and International Programs
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