Loyola Law School, Loyola Marymount University

Introduction

Loyola Law School, with a campus designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, is ideally positioned in Los Angeles—a legal, tech, media, fashion, and financial capital. We are the closest ABA-accredited law school to LA's primary courthouse and law firm scene, yet only 30 minutes away from the beautiful beaches of Santa Monica and Malibu.

Our strong 18,000+ alumni network reaches across the United States and into 35 different countries, and includes current and former ambassadors, governors, high-level government officials, movie studio executives, and business leaders. With more than 800 partners at major law firms, Loyola alumni can be found at every level of private practice, the judiciary, in-house corporations, government, and public interest organizations.

Home to prominent faculty, dedicated students, and cutting-edge programs with a strong sense of social justice, the school takes advantage of its prime location with a record number of networking events. Our LLM students come to Loyola to master the American and international legal system and gain fruitful practice experience during and after their stay on campus.

“We think of Loyola’s campus as our home and we want to make our students feel the same. We strive to give our students a personal approach, where faculty and staff members are committed to your success. We want to know you, we want to guide you, we want to help you achieve your goals!”—Professor Aaron Ghirardelli, LLM Director

LLM Programs and Specializations

Loyola’s boutique LLM program is designed for international and domestic law graduates and experienced attorneys. It allows students to build a flexible curriculum in American law and prepares them to become leaders in a globalized market. Students have the option to fully customize their course of study or select one of our LLM specializations in top practice areas. Moreover, Loyola offers a unique LLM specifically designed for international students interested in sitting for the bar exam in California and New York.

General LLM

This may be your preferred option, if you seek a general overview of the American legal system or you wish to design a course of study that allows you to focus on a subject not currently offered in our list of LLM specializations. With more than 325 elective courses, Loyola offers the breadth of American Law, as well as depth in several topical areas. This allows you to fully customize, with guidance from the LLM Director, your course of study and gain a unique learning experience.

Bar Track LLM

The Bar Track LLM is designed for international students interested in completing an LLM degree as a way to become eligible to sit for the bar exam in California and/or New York. Loyola has one of the highest bar passage rates in California and its faculty has extensive experience in training students for the bar exam. Our Bar Track LLM takes advantage of this experience and offers to our students a unique course of study, created by keeping in mind the specific challenges that international students face when preparing for the bar exam.

Students in this program will study through a rigorous curriculum that includes some of the heavily tested subjects in the bar exam, workshops on the structure of the bar exam in California and New York, and courses specifically designed for international students focusing on writing for the bar exam.

In addition, selected students receive exclusive one-on-one private tutoring from one of our leading professors on bar readiness, offered following graduation and up to the date of the bar exam.

The Bar Track LLM is a unique learning opportunity that will maximize your chances of passing the bar exam.

Civil Litigation and Advocacy LLM Specialization

An LLM specialization in Civil Litigation and Advocacy is an ideal choice for students interested in becoming international trial attorneys. Through this specialization, you will benefit from Loyola’s highly ranked trial advocacy program. You will learn in the Girardi Building, with its several classrooms designed to replicate typical US courtrooms and court facilities. You will take classes with professors with storied careers and experiences in the courtroom. Loyola is renowned for transforming students into stellar trial attorneys and you will be no exception.

Criminal Justice LLM Specialization

Loyola’s renowned advocacy teams, experienced doctrinal and skills faculty, and extensive advocacy-related course offerings have always set Loyola apart in lawyering skills training. More recently, the Criminal Justice Specialization was created to ensure that students interested in criminal law receive a comprehensive and unique academic experience. You will have matchless opportunity for exposure to and concentrated study in the law and skills necessary to train as an advocate in a criminal prosecution or defense setting.

Cybersecurity & Data Privacy LLM Specialization

The first of its kind on the West Coast, this specialization offers you a slate of classes and experiential learning opportunities to prepare for the evolving legal demands presented by emerging technology. Loyola draws on its traditional strengths in areas like technology, criminal justice, data privacy, and IP law, featuring professors and practitioners with unique expertise in the legal needs of Silicon Beach, cybercrime law enforcement, and engineering. This program also capitalizes on the expertise of national security and related sectors based in Los Angeles.

Entertainment & New Media Law LLM Specialization

With its highly regarded entertainment law program, Loyola takes advantage of its prime location near downtown Los Angeles (a media and fashion capital) and offers students a broad spectrum of courses, taught by top-notch faculty and practitioners in the field. Externship opportunities held by Loyola students in just the past year include well-known companies such as NBC/Universal, Sony, Lionsgate, MTV Live Nation, Warner Brothers Television, HBO, Activision, and many more.

Intellectual Property LLM Specialization

Intellectual Property is one of the most dynamic and fastest growing areas of legal practice and represents roughly 20 percent of the American economy. Technology and social media are enabling the rapid distribution of content to millions of mobile phones, laptops, and tablets across the globe, with new legal questions surfacing every day. Every lawyer, from the solo practitioner to in-house counsel to transactional and litigation lawyers in large firms, will increasingly face IP issues. LLM graduates with an IP Specialization will be prepared for the “knowledge” economy of the 21st century.

International Business Law LLM Specialization

Loyola Law School’s specialization in International Business Law targets students interested in assisting companies in a globalized market. Students will advise clients on a plethora of issues, from the incorporation of a company, to its corporate management, tax issues, and mergers and acquisitions. Los Angeles and its expanding Silicon Beach area are an extremely busy market for international business lawyers. Many leading venture capitalists are located in the area, and deals are made to finance these start-ups, buy, or sell them. In addition to the start-up world, Los Angeles is one of the top financial markets in the United States, second only to New York. Some of the foremost companies and firms are located in the city, and Loyola’s prime location in Downtown LA allows students to be in close contact with the preeminent players in the market.

Summer Institute Program

Start your LLM at Loyola early in the summer with this unique program, free to all of our admitted students. Designed specifically for our international students, the Summer Institute is an intensive program offered from mid-July to mid-August. This program teaches students how to write objective legal memoranda and case briefs. Students will gain an introduction to other fundamental lawyering skills such as legal reasoning and legal research. Additionally, students will work one-on-one with professors, collaborate with peers, and learn in a small class setting. 

The Summer Institute program is the perfect way to acquire the skills you need to successfully complete your LLM.

Scholarship

Loyola Law School’s generous scholarship program awards up to $30,000 to our best applicants. There is no need to submit a separate scholarship application. All applications are carefully reviewed by our Admissions Committee and any admissions offer will also include information on the scholarship award, if granted. Loyola’s scholarship program allows our students to reduce tuition to almost 50 percent and provides significant support to complete the LLM degree.

Location

Los Angeles is the capital of entertainment and technology! We are also 13 miles away from Silicon Beach, and home to over 500 tech start-up companies, including Google, Yahoo!, YouTube, Buzzfeed, Facebook, Salesforce, AOL, and Electronic Arts. Loyola is also at the center of the biggest entertainment hub in the city, L.A. LIVE. Here you will find five-star restaurants, the Regal cinema, as well as the Staples Center— home of the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings. A short cab ride away, you can find yourself at the Los Angeles Dodgers Stadium, where you can watch some of the world’s top baseball teams.

Los Angeles is home to major attractions like the world-famous Getty Museum, the Broad, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Universal Studios, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Hollywood. The rest of Los Angeles—its beaches, prime hiking locations, and natural wonders—are all easily accessible to visit during your weekends and days off. California is one of the most diverse and cultural places to study law in the United States.

Faculty

Loyola Law School students benefit from the faculty’s vast experience and their accessibility. Loyola has 74 full-time professors, including two former US Supreme Court clerks, several former federal prosecutors, and many alumni from the largest national and international law firms. Their areas of expertise cover more than 120 legal specialties ranging from accounting, administrative law, and admiralty law to white collar crime, wine law, and youth education law, to name just a few. Students have a multitude of opportunities to interact with their professors in class and during office hours and special events. Students are even invited to join the professors at their faculty workshops.

Campus Facilities

Loyola Law School occupies an entire city block. A series of contemporary buildings surround a central courtyard, making the campus feel both intimate and open. Designed by award-winning architect Frank Gehry, the campus has been the subject of much architectural acclaim, locally and internationally.

Just as impressive as Loyola Law School’s architectural design is its use of state-of-the-art technology. All classrooms are fully equipped with the newest audio-video equipment and teaching tools. Each classroom seat has access to an electrical outlet for laptop computers. Almost every class is digitally sound-recorded. Professors may make the recordings available to students through a course website, and many do. The entire campus is a wireless Internet hot spot.

Housing

Los Angeles offers a wide variety of neighborhoods and housing options. The campus is easily accessible from any part of the Los Angeles area by car or by public transportation. There is ample parking on campus in a private parking garage, and a private Law School shuttle service operates between campus and the nearest Metro Rail station a few blocks away at 7th and Figueroa Streets.

The school provides access to a website where students can post messages and find house-sharing opportunities with other students.

In addition, Loyola Law School’s housing guide provides incoming students with invaluable information on the housing market in Los Angeles, with suggestions on how to find an accommodation. Los Angeles’ housing market is very active and our students easily find the right place for them. The variety of options and locations allows students to find the best fit for their budget and lifestyle.

Career Services and Professional Development

Loyola Law School, Los Angeles’ 18,000+ alumni network is available to our LLM students interested in gaining practice experience during and after the program. Our alumni are fully engaged with our community and return to campus for both formal speaking engagements and informal networking events. Others participate in Career Development Center events, helping students prepare for job interviews by conducting mock interviews and offering their feedback. Still others have enlisted students for externship opportunities. And since they know firsthand how well Loyola students can hit the ground running, alumni frequently return to recruit students for employment opportunities in their own firms and employer organizations.

Our students are eligible to apply to Optional Practical Training after the completion of the LLM and receive authorization to live and work in the United States for twelve months after graduation. The services provided by the Career Development Center, in addition to one-on-one counseling offered by our LLM Director, help our students maximize their chances of receiving job opportunities that allow them to put into practice what they have learned during the LLM.