LL.M. in International and Comparative Law
Application for LL.M. in International and Comparative Law (U.S. lawyers)
Application for LL.M. in International and Comparative Law (Non-U.S. lawyers)
Santa Clara University School of Law, located in Santa Clara, California, offers an LL.M. degree in International and Comparative Law. We offer to lawyers, judges and law professors an opportunity to experience the evolving legal culture of the world from the vantage point of our overseas programs’ dynamic centers of commerce and learning throughout the world.
The program offers not only courses at the Law School, but social and professional contact with other leading legal authorities, judges, and captains of industry.
Admissions Requirements
Admission to the Santa Clara University School of Law LL.M. Program in International and Comparative Law is open to those individuals who have shown by their educational and experiential background that they will be able fully to participate in and successfully complete the program’s requirements. Admission, therefore, is open only to those individuals who have:
- Obtained their first law degree from an institution accredited by the American Bar Association or graduated, with distinction, from a law school accredited by the State of California, and
- Demonstrated by their academic record and other experience their ability to benefit from and to benefit the program.
Students with degrees from law schools outside the United States may also be candidates for this degree, but different admission, and somewhat different course requirements are imposed on non-U.S. trained candidates.
Graduation Requirements
Participants seeking the LL.M. degree must complete 24 semester hours of credit. These units must include:
I. Successful completion of the academic portion of at least one Santa Clara University School of Law summer study abroad program; OR enroll as a full-time law student for one semester at a law school with which the School of Law has a cooperative agreement. These classes will satisfy part of the 24 units required for the degree, and satisfy one or more of the area of study requirements outlined in II below.
II. Students must take at least one course from each of the following categories of classes: (i) public international law; (ii) private international law; and (iii) comparative law. The specific list of courses for each category that is available during each academic semester is available at the International Law Program website.
III. Students are required to enroll in a three unit seminar for LL.M. students offered in the spring quarter. This seminar requires completion of a publishable paper on a topic of choice, prepared under the supervision of a faculty advisor. The remaining units may be selected from upper-division courses in international and comparative law as may be offered in a regular academic year at Santa Clara.
IV. Elective Courses: Most upper-division courses are open to enrollment by LL.M. candidates. The program will be reviewed and approved by the Director of Graduate Programs.
The program assumes as a minimum one academic year plus one summer in residence. The requirements for the degree must be completed within one calendar year from matriculation.
Tuition
A nonrefundable registration fee of $250.00 is required with the program application.
Tuition for the program for 2008-09 is $1,375 per unit. For 24 units, this totals $33,000. The per-unit rate applies both to courses taken on campus and to courses taken on our overseas programs. If a student takes more than 24 units, those extra units will be charged at the same per-unit rate. Participants also have full use of Santa Clara University's extensive educational and athletic facilities. If only a portion of the requirements are satisfied in 2008-09, tuition for courses taken in 2009-10 will be at the rates set for that year.
The Campus and Facilities
Santa Clara University is located in the city of Santa Clara, California, 47 miles south of San Francisco. The University lies in the heart of "Silicon Valley", home to one the nation’s greatest concentrations of high-technology industry and professional and scientific activity. Near the southern tip of San Francisco Bay and adjacent to San Jose, Santa Clara is an integral part of the fourth largest urban area in the country.
Santa Clara has emerged as the primary center for the country’s electronic, biotechnology, and aerospace industries. Computers, laser products, and other space-age electronic equipment are developed and produced in and around Santa Clara.
The business district of San Jose, and the courts and government centers of San Jose, and Santa Clara County are within three miles of the university. Santa Clara County is full of beauty and has a moderate climate even in mid summer. Pacific Ocean beaches are only an hour west and the sun almost always shines.
The School of Law, located on the 103-acre University campus, is housed in four buildings surrounded by landscaped lawns, bright flower gardens, and towering palm trees. The newly expanded Heafey Law Library contains more than 200,000 volumes. The fully refurbished building features open stacks, study carrels, typing and group study rooms, and a large reading room faced by soaring glass walls and a magnificent view of the campus.
LEXIS and WESTLAW legal information retrieval computers are also available, and all students are trained in their use. The School of Law is a member of the Center for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction and has a growing collection of educational software programs. Computer access for laptop computers is available to all students both in the law library and in the classrooms.