Writing Requirements for LL.M. Programs

I've written articles and blogged before about the need (or otherwise) for writing requirements in the J.D. program and what those requirements should look like.  I haven't given as much thought to writing requirements for LL.M. students and I'm interested in others' thoughts on this issue.  Many U.S. LL.M. programs comprise a lot of foreign students for whom a writing requirement may be problematic depending on language skill level and depending on why they are enrolled in the program in the first place.  If they are practising lawyers from other countries planning to learn some U.S. law to either to take a U.S. bar or to demonstrate overseas experience for career advancement in their home country, is a writing requirement seminar necessary for this purpose?  When I took my LL.M. at Cambridge some years ago, there was no writing requirement - there was a writing option that I took but it was not mandatory.  The student body mainly comprised foreign students who were interested in learning some comparative law, adding a qualification to their C.V. and having the Cambridge experience (and no I didn't join a rowing team so I guess I didn't have the TRUE Cambridge experience).  The school probably wouldn't have had sufficient faculty resources to supervise the entire LL.M. contingent writing a minor thesis/research paper anyway.

I would understand the need for a writing requirement in LL.M. programs that are precursors to Ph.D. programs which is the case in some universities.  But most U.S. law schools do not offer Ph.D. programs.  So outisde the potential function of an LL.M. writing requirement as a precursor for a Ph.D., are there other pedadogical imperatives to include such a requirement in the program? 

 

Comments

[Professor Pansy P]

The NY Bar now requires LLMs who are sitting for the Bar to have taken a legal writing class. Several schools have created an LLM writing requirement as a result.

[Matt]

Just to clarify the issue for me, by "writing requirement", do you mean a legal writing class, or the need to produce a modestly long and somewhat substantial paper on a subject which is given feedback by a professor and then revised?

[Jacqueline Lipton]

I meant the latter, Matt.

[KS]

The NY bar requires a legal writing class, but that course is pretty much the same as a 1L legal writing class--practice focused. I am the administrator for a large LLM program comprising mostly international students, and I think the students benefit greatly from completing some kind of substantial research paper (optional at my school, in no small part because of limited faculty resources). Many students wish to stay and practice in the U.S. following the degree, and writing a substantial paper is a great way for them to better understand how legal analysis in the U.S. works (it provides a much better opportunity for feedback than standard law school exams), as well as to improve their English skills. In particular, I think it helps them hone the linguistic precision that is required for the practice of law, but is extremely difficult to master in a language that is not native to you. Additionally, it helps their research skills, a skill that they do not have much opportunity to practice outside the legal writing class. However, even if a student doesn't want to stay in the U.S. following the LL.M. degree, I think there is value in completing a research paper.