One-year LLM programs at U.S. law schools are on the rise again, attracting fledgling power brokers from around the world
Mikheil Saakashvili left the former Soviet Republic of Georgia in the early 1990s to get a degree at Columbia Law School -- then returned to lead a democratic revolt. In late 2003 Saakashvili rallied his countrymen against corruption in the so-called Rose Revolution, elbowing out former president Eduard Shevardnadze. Today Georgian cabinet meetings have the feel of an Ivy League seminar, with the foreign minister and deputy justice minister also trained in American law. Such is the power of the LLM, the one-year advanced degree that allows foreign lawyers to attend U.S. law schools. These degrees are rarely regarded as revolutionary -- and yet they promote political change. "LLMs are undoubtedly the most effective rule-of-law programs," says Bryant Garth, the incoming dean at Los Angeles' Southwestern University School of Law and the longtime director of the American Bar Foundation. "You create friends. You create people who understand U.S. models. You build an army of advocates for reform."
Michael D. Goldhaber The American Lawyer 09-14-2005
American Lawyer Article
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2 comments:
Seems like they seem to serve a different purpose with the Indian Outsourcing Market. Quite a few of the American trained LLM's are now doing legal outsourcing work or at least are available to do so. Obvviously most of them prefer to stay in the States and work for US law firms.
For those Indian lawyers immersed in legal research on behalf of outsourcing companies, completing the one year law programs could very well be beneficial. American trained law graduates, who have chosen to settle down in India to set up their outsourcing units are certainly proving to be a success.
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