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LLM in Law & Government
Curriculum

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Courses of Study

LLM candidates can choose from a wide array of upper level offerings in the regular curriculum. Recent courses are listed under the following three headings:

By using these rubrics, we do not suggest that a student should stay within one area. Nor do we imply that the areas are separate in some fundamental way. Rather, they closely interact since they all concern the intersection of law and government. While some students may focus on a particular subfield of regulatory law and policy, others may pursue more general and comparative curricula. The curricular platform that we offer accommodates both approaches.

Upon entering the LLM Program, each student works with us to plan a course of study appropriate to his or her career goals and intellectual interests. To receive the LLM degree, a student needs to earn at least 24 course credits. At least 18 of these credits are to be earned from classroom-based offerings at the law school. Up to 6 credits can be earned from independent studies and/or externships, discussed below. The 24 credits needed for the degree can be completed in two semesters of full-time study. Part-time students generally complete the Program in three or more semesters.

LLM students take The Washington Lawyer Seminar (offered fall and spring semesters), which is the sole required course and has been prepared especially for the LLM Program. In the fall, Law and Government Fellow Jeffrey Lubbers teaches the course. In the spring, the course is taught by Professor Paul Weckstein, who serves as director of the Center for Law and Education, a Washington DC-based non-profit. This unique seminar investigates major legal doctrines of administrative law, regulatory law and policy, and constitutional law in a setting that explores cutting-edge problems facing Washington lawyers. Attorneys from the community are often guests of the seminar, at which they present problems they confronted and solutions they devised for their clients. Whether or not they expect to settle in Washington, D.C., LLM students will find this offering compelling, for the "Washington" lawyer faces issues analogous to those confronting attorneys in any locale where legal practices are rich in interactions with government.

The writing requirement for the LLM Program is a paper for The Washington Lawyer Seminar. This paper is to reflect original research and analysis of some issue, problem, or theory dealing with U.S. public law. We urge students to pursue paper topics that are important and interesting to them and to be creative in their analysis. Recent paper topics have covered a wide variety of debates about the use of governmental power, the reform of regulatory law, the role of lawyers in different contexts, and other matters about public law and policy. In the papers, students should integrate particular knowledge with broader themes, including the theoretical, political, and institutional dimensions of law and government.

LLM students have unparalleled externship opportunities given our location in Washington, D.C. An externship can be served with an agency, court, legislative body, or nonprofit public interest organization having regular involvement with the government. Since they offer experiential education, externships promote the development of skills and contacts in particular areas of practice. Although the Program staff offers guidance about externships, students take an active role in obtaining their own placements. LLM candidates have had considerable success in securing challenging and productive externships.

Aside from their formal courses of study, students can take advantage of a large number of speakers, panels, and conferences arranged by faculty, staff, and students associated with the LLM Program.

Menu of Courses Menu of Courses and Seminars Offered Over the Past Several Academic Years

Students who wish to pursue a concentration must achieve at least 12 credits in one of the concentration areas (administrative law and regulatory practice, business and financial regulation, and civil and constitutional rights). Students who wish to pursue a specialization within one of the concentration areas must take at least 12 credits of coursework within the specialization area (communications law, health law, tax law, gender and the law, etc.). The concentrations and specializations are recognized by the Program on Law and Government with a certificate from the Program; they do not appear on the student’s transcript or diploma.

Law and Government -- General Practice

Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice

Business and Financial Regulation

Civil and Constitutional Rights

 
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