The LLM in American Law Program’s flexibility allows you to pursue topics that best meet your professional and academic interests. Aside from two required courses—Introduction to American Law and Legal Research and Writing—and participation in a spring semester Graduate Colloquium or our Professional Skills Lab, you may freely select courses and seminars from virtually every American law subject offered in the JD curriculum. This includes any of the first-year classes in civil procedure, torts, contracts, constitutional law, legislation, property, and criminal law—as well as the nearly 200 courses that comprise the upper-class JD curriculum. You may also enroll in classes offered through BU Law’s Graduate Program in Banking & Financial Law Program and Graduate Tax Program.

View American Law LLM Program Learning Outcomes

Students with strong interests in intellectual property, international business law, or tax law can elect to pursue a formal concentration (or, specialization) in one of these fields and thereby receive separate certification that they focused their studies in these topics as part of their LLM in American Law degree.

Course selection process

The course selection process is highly individualized. There is no typical study plan. Courses in corporate, financial and business law, alternative dispute resolution, intellectual property and transactional contract drafting are highly popular among LLM students, as are bar-related topics such as evidence, constitutional law and torts, for example. Students have the option of taking special short-term, six-week classes in evidence and property through the program’s Fundamentals Track courses, offered exclusively for American Law students, in order to help them prepare for a bar exam.

Choosing classes involves one (or several) individual meetings with the director or associate director, who are available to answer questions about class content, teaching styles, workload, and any other matter of concern. Check in meetings take place with each student during the term, to discuss classes or address any problems.

Because we emphasize classroom learning, there is no thesis requirement. However, students may pursue writing projects under faculty supervision, either through independent research papers or seminars. They may also supplement their law studies with courses at other graduate or professional schools at Boston University—such as the Questrom School of Business—and, in appropriate cases, receive credit toward their law degree.