Boston College Law School

Introduction

Our LLM program combines rigorous education by renowned faculty at a top US university with individualized attention in a friendly and supportive environment. Through personalized guidance and mentoring, our LLM program provides the critical comprehensive skills needed to succeed as a lawyer and as a leader: gaining and applying knowledge in a global information age, innovating within a modern and global economy, and communicating effectively across cultures.

Our students are immersed in the JD student community, take their classes alongside JD students, and work with international scholars and experts to better understand the latest international business practices, rules of law, and global developments. 

Our LLM program features flexibility, breadth, and depth: students can choose from an array of courses—both introductory and advanced—to build their knowledge, skills, and networks. They can also specialize their studies by pursuing a concentration in one of five areas:

• Business and commercial law
• Environmental law
• Human rights
• Intellectual property
• Taxation

We also have significant strengths in international law, constitutional law, gender and family law, and legal history. LLM students can cross-register for courses in Boston College’s other graduate schools and university departments as well.

Because our program immerses students in the US legal system while preparing them to thrive in an increasingly global legal community, our graduates pursue diverse career opportunities. Private practice, government service, the judiciary, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and legal scholarship are just some of the areas in which they work.

Location

Founded in 1929, BC Law is located on an attractive 40-acre campus in Newton, Massachusetts, just minutes from downtown Boston, a thriving hub full of legal, corporate, and academic opportunities for current students and graduates. Boston is one of the country’s leading centers for major law firms and corporations—including many high-tech and biotech companies—as well as government agencies and nonprofits. The school’s clinical programs take full advantage of these opportunities to immerse students in the kinds of experiences that help them learn what it means to practice law.

Faculty and Curriculum

BC Law faculty are highly regarded published scholars and leaders in the profession, recognized nationally and internationally for their expertise. But first and foremost, they are leaders and mentors in the classroom. Their dedication is illustrated by the time spent with students long after office hours have ended. The faculty believes in the importance of a legal education designed to enable graduates to adapt to the changing demands of law practice, supported by a strong skills-based approach that gives students real-world experience in the practice of law.

Experiential Learning

With special permission from the clinical professor and the LLM director, BC Law LLM students may be allowed to participate in BC Law’s clinical programs. BC Law houses its clinical programs within the Center for Experiential Learning. The center includes the Legal Services LAB, a working law firm staffed by students and faculty serving clients from local communities. Many of the school’s clinical programs operate under LAB.

Clinical programs include

• Amicus Brief Clinic
• Civil Litigation Clinic
• Community Enterprise Clinic
• Criminal Justice Program (Prosecutors and BC Defenders)
• Entrepreneurship and Innovation Clinic
• Housing Law Clinic
• Juvenile Rights Advocacy Project
• Immigration Clinic
• Innocence Program
• Ninth Circuit Appellate Program (CA)
• Prison Disciplinary Clinic

Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy

BC Law has an extensive track record in training public policy leaders locally and nationally. The new Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy provides educational programs, career mentoring, and financial support to law students interested in government and public policy. The center focuses on public policy issues affecting Greater Boston and Massachusetts and houses both the popular Rappaport Fellows Program in Law and Public Policy, which provides 12 paid summer internships to talented law students from seven Greater Boston law schools, and the Rappaport Distinguished Public Policy Series at BC Law, which conducts scholarly research and hosts lectures, debates, and roundtable discussions on public policy issues with the region’s leading policy makers and thought leaders. The center also brings in the Rappaport Distinguished Lecturer, who teaches a special course and participates in various public and private lectures and events during the year. Last year’s distinguished lecturer was former governor and Democratic candidate for president Martin O’Malley. This year, the distinguished lecturers are former US Attorney Carmen Ortiz (fall) and MA Supreme Judicial Court Justice Geraldine Hines (spring).

Housing

The dedicated staff at the Boston College Office of Residential Life’s Off-Campus Housing Office provides services and resources to all graduate students in their housing search. Each year, the Office of Residential Life hosts a housing fair to help in the search for housing in local neighborhoods. The Roommate Finder and Roommate Locator are online databases for students seeking roommates to occupy a current or new apartment. For more information about housing for law students, please contact the Off-Campus Housing Office at 617.552.3075 or visit Housing.

Library and Physical Facilities

The BC Law campus is designed to foster the growth of community and to provide a learning environment that allows for both formal and informal interaction among faculty, students, and staff. The law library encourages individual or group study, with its desk and lounge areas, computer centers, audiovisual resource rooms, and private study rooms. With its soaring atrium entry and light-filled spaces, the East Wing includes classrooms and faculty offices, administrative offices for a career services center and a career resources library, two conference rooms, and the John J. and Mary Daly Curtin Center for Public Interest Law (a suite of offices for student groups working on public service projects). The East Wing’s brick exterior complements the law library and the Stuart House administration building, as well as the Barat House building, home of the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy. The three buildings form an attractive courtyard for outdoor use by the law school community. The school’s Center for Experiential Learning is housed in the Smith Wing and provides a central location for students, faculty, and clients working together on clinical and externship programs. All academic, administrative, library, and service facilities are accessible to persons with physical disabilities. View an online virtual tour.

Student Life and Diversity

BC Law is a unique community focused upon the development of the whole person, nurturing students not just academically, but socially and spiritually as well. The school has a vibrant social life. The Law Student Association (LSA) and 50 other active student groups host many scholarly events during the year, including distinguished speakers and lecturers, relevant film screenings and discussion panels, and jointly sponsored events during Diversity Month, such as Culture Shock, which examines the role of privilege in society. The school holds a welcome reception in the fall, as well as dean’s office-hosted events (such as Oktoberfest and Harvest Desserts), town meetings, and mentoring programs with faculty and alumni. BC Law has an extensive Academic Success program, as well as a Public Interest Designation program and a pro bono program that centralizes activities and encourages students to explore pro bono opportunities, with participants acknowledged at graduation.

BC Law has an associate dean for external relations, diversity, and inclusion who focuses on assisting our diverse students in acclimating to law school and the legal profession through special events and workshops, as well as pipeline programs with law firms, corporations, and nonprofits. For more information, visit Diversity & Inclusion.

Public Interest

Home to the John and Mary Daly Curtin Center for Public Interest Law programs, BC Law has a long, celebrated tradition of public service. The Office of Career Services has a dedicated director of public interest programs who helps coordinate the school’s various efforts (including the Public Interest Designation program, Pro Bono program, spring break trips to Navajo Nation, immigration-focused projects, and service to areas of need such as New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina) and advises students pursuing careers in public service.