University of St. Thomas School of Law—Minneapolis

Introduction

The University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, Minnesota, offers an innovative educational experience that sets the standard for practical legal training while maintaining high ideals. We do not just train students for the real world; we train them to build a better world.

Nationally renowned for our professors, practical training, externships, value, and quality of life, our unique law school experience goes beyond the transfer of knowledge to build a more holistic perspective we provide. We believe that in the process of protecting client interests, we can also advance the common good and make an impact that is felt far and wide.

LLM Programs

The University of St. Thomas School of Law offers three LLM programs: the LLM in US Law for foreign lawyers, the LLM in Organizational Ethics and Compliance (on-campus), and the LLM in Organizational Ethics and Compliance (online).

LLM in US Law

Our LLM in US Law program is tailored to your professional goals and will prepare you to practice law in a global context by providing you with an insider’s view of the American legal system.

This one-year program will introduce you to the United States legal system and provide you with the opportunity to focus on a particular area of law that interests you, such as global and comparative law, intellectual property, or business and corporate law. You will study with distinguished faculty who will offer personalized attention based on your individual professional and personal development, with a wide selection of elective courses in many legal fields available to you. This program is especially beneficial if you expect to work with US-trained attorneys on international transactions or disputes that involve US law and legal institutions. Generous scholarships are available for outstanding applicants.

We know how important relationships are in your legal training, and St. Thomas Law’s groundbreaking Mentor Externship Program has been recognized as one of the top programs in the United States. As an LLM in US Law student, you will be paired with a local practicing lawyer or judge working in your area of interest who will serve as your mentor and provide guidance and fieldwork experiences to you throughout your program. You also will have the opportunity to participate in a business, judicial, or public interest externship for academic credit with a company or law firm. Business clients want lawyers who know the law, but also know how to deal with people. St. Thomas Law excels in both.

Curriculum

The LLM in US Law is a one-year, full-time program. It begins in mid-August and concludes in mid-May. The curriculum includes two required courses and six to eight elective courses.

The first required course, Lawyering Skills for LLM Students, is specifically designed to introduce students to the basics of the American legal system. It provides a basic introduction to the tasks of attorneys in the US system, including research skills specific to US law; drafting memos, briefs, and client letters; and analyzing and comparing case law. The second required course, LLM Mentor Externship, is a unique part of the St. Thomas Law experience. The course builds upon the externship program, which focuses on relational skills by pairing you with a local attorney in a mentor relationship. This ensures that you gain a number of “experiences” in the US legal system.

The LLM elective courses provide the opportunity to choose from approximately 90 broad course offerings, allowing you to tailor your LLM experience in a way that will be most helpful to you. Advisors will work with you to provide information on courses and help you to choose elective courses that fit with your particular interests. For example, if you choose to focus on practicing business and corporate law in a global context, you may elect to take Accounting for Lawyers, Banking Law, Corporate Finance, Corporate Governance, Employment Law, Federal Income Tax, Mergers and Acquisitions, Sales, Securities Regulation, and many more. Some graduates are eligible to take a US bar exam in selected states, but choosing this option requires careful course selection from the beginning in connection with an advisor.

Tuition

Tuition and Scholarships

Admission

The Admissions Committee will thoroughly review your application for the LLM in US Law program to understand your unique strengths, skills, and potential.

To be eligible for admission, you must have a law degree from outside of the United States. If your native language is not English, you must also demonstrate proficiency in English, most commonly through achieving an Internet-based TOEFL score of 80, with a sub-score of 20 on the written and 20 on the speaking sections, or an IELTS score of 6.5.

A completed application will include the following:

• application form
• personal statement
• résumé or CV
• LSAC LLM Credential Assembly Service (LLM CAS) report that includes official academic transcripts from all colleges and universities attended, two letters of recommendation, and proof of English proficiency demonstrated through adequate TOEFL or IELTS scores

LLM in Organizational Ethics and Compliance (On Campus)

The University of St. Thomas is home to one of just two LLM programs in the United States accredited by AACSB International, and the only one earning this accreditation in the compliance and ethics discipline. This LLM is for those who already hold a US law degree but seek to advance in their career, either as a practicing attorney, or as a lawyer working in compliance, risk management, human resources, accounting, health care, banking, or software engineering, as just some examples.

The University of St. Thomas is at the forefront of education in compliance and ethics and was one of the first schools in the nation to launch graduate programs in the discipline. St. Thomas is a dedicated leader in ethics, and we devote a significant amount of time in the program to the topics of ethics and culture, equipping our students to make a positive impact on corporate behavior. We have a long history of shaping businesses in this way through the work of our Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions, Center for Ethical Business Cultures, and the Veritas Institute, which are known nationwide for their research and programming on ethics and professionalism.

The goal of the Organizational Ethics and Compliance Program is to build on this tradition by providing the university’s hallmark “whole student” approach to better position ethics and compliance professionals to shape corporate practices and priorities well into the future. Relying on input and expertise from business leaders, we designed our program to develop ethics and compliance professionals to work in a variety of industries, from banking to health care to manufacturing and more.

Curriculum

This 24-credit program can be taken part time or full time, and completed in one or two years. The curriculum includes three required courses and five or more elective courses. Required courses include

• Compliance Programming: Design, Operation, and Performance
• Ethical Culture
• Executive Perspectives on Ethics and Compliance

The electives allow you to tailor your experience to suit your professional needs, perhaps focusing on financial or health care law.

Tuition

Tuition

Scholarships

The Dean’s Compliance Scholarship is awarded on behalf of the dean of the University of St. Thomas School of Law to all accepted applicants.

Admission

The Admissions Committee will thoroughly review your application for the LLM in Organizational Ethics and Compliance program to understand your unique strengths, skills, and potential. To be eligible for admission, you must hold a Juris Doctor (JD) from an ABA-accredited law school or be enrolled in a JD program at an ABA-accredited law school.

A completed application for the LLM in Organizational Ethics and Compliance will include the following:

• completed application form with your responses to essay questions
• résumé or CV
• LSAC LLM CAS report that includes official academic transcripts from all colleges and universities attended and two letters of recommendation

LLM in Organizational Ethics and Compliance (Online)

Beginning in January 2018, the University of St. Thomas will offer its groundbreaking Organizational Ethics and Compliance LLM program online. This program is one of just two LLM programs in the United States accredited by AACSB International, and the only one earning this accreditation in the compliance and ethics discipline. This LLM is for those who already hold a US law degree but seek to advance in their career, either as a practicing attorney, or as a lawyer working in compliance, risk management, human resources, accounting, health care, banking, or software engineering, as just some examples.

The online LLM program is offered in a cohort model and runs four consecutive semesters, beginning in January and ending 17 months later in May. St. Thomas is dedicated to building a strong community, and this model supports that commitment. Throughout the program, you’ll take classes with a cohort of no more than 25 students, so you can form friendships and develop a professional network that will continue beyond graduation.

The University of St. Thomas is at the forefront of education in compliance and ethics and was one of the first schools in the nation to launch graduate programs in the discipline. St. Thomas is a dedicated leader in ethics, and we devote a significant amount of time in the program to the topics of ethics and culture, equipping our students to make a positive impact on corporate behavior. We have a long history of shaping businesses in this way through the work of our Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions, Center for Ethical Business Cultures, and the Veritas Institute, which are known nationwide for their research and programming on ethics and professionalism.

The goal of the Organizational Ethics and Compliance Program is to build on this tradition by providing the university’s hallmark “whole student” approach to better position ethics and compliance professionals to shape corporate practices and priorities well into the future. Relying on input and expertise from business leaders, we designed our program to develop ethics and compliance professionals to work in a variety of industries, from banking to health care to manufacturing and more.

Curriculum

This 24-credit program is offered part time over the course of 17 months. The courses have been carefully chosen to provide the knowledge and skills needed for students in this career path, and include

• Compliance Programming
• Risk Management
• FCPA
• Investigations
• White Collar Crime and Compliance
• Ethical Cultures
• Privacy/Cybersecurity
• Project Management
• Executive Perspectives

Tuition

Tuition

Scholarships

The Dean’s Compliance Scholarship is awarded on behalf of the dean of the University of St. Thomas School of Law to all accepted applicants. 

Admission

The Admissions Committee will thoroughly review your application for the online LLM program to understand your unique strengths, skills, and potential. To be eligible for admission, you must hold a Juris Doctor (JD) from an ABA-accredited law school or be enrolled in a JD program at an ABA-accredited law school.

A completed application for the LLM in Organizational Ethics and Compliance will include the following:

• completed application form with your responses to essay questions
• résumé or CV
• LSAC LLM CAS report that includes official academic transcripts from all colleges and universities attended and two letters of recommendation

Location

St. Thomas Law is located in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and the nearby capital city of St. Paul make up the core of a metropolitan area with more than 3.5 million residents—the 13th largest in the United States. With a highly educated population, a diverse economy, nationally renowned cultural institutions, and the beauty of the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” the Twin Cities area routinely ranks high on lists of the nation’s most livable communities.

Home to a vibrant business community that features 17 of Fortune 500’s largest corporations, including Target, Best Buy, Cargill, General Mills, 3M, and UnitedHealth Group, the Twin Cities is well positioned among the nation’s top metropolitan communities in business and industry. With its location in downtown Minneapolis, St. Thomas Law is in the middle of the region’s lively legal community.

Campus

St. Thomas Law occupies a beautiful building of more than 150,000 square feet in downtown Minneapolis near the federal courthouse and major law firms and businesses. The building has several defining features that make it “quite simply breathtaking,” as described by an ABA site-evaluation team. These features include the dramatic four-story Schulze Grand Atrium, used for lectures, conferences, and social gatherings; and the beautiful Chapel of St. Thomas More.

Modern technology enhances the classrooms, library, group study areas, and the moot courtroom. A computer lab and a computer training center accommodate your research needs. The library, with its ample seating, 12 group study rooms, and 3 AV viewing rooms, provides an attractive, functional environment for group or individual study. The library’s collection of more than one million titles provides convenient access to many resources from both on and off campus.

St. Thomas Law is connected with downtown Minneapolis via a skyway system that is unmatched by any North American city. The skyway includes 84 enclosed bridges that connect downtown buildings. Walking from one end of the skyway system to the other, you can cover eight miles and pass hundreds of stores, dozens of restaurants and coffee shops, more than 1,500 apartments and condominiums, and almost 200 million square feet of office space.

The Twin Cities

The Twin Cities area ranks highly for its wide range of leisure activities—from an outstanding music and theatre scene to a hometown professional team for every flavor of sports fan. The Twin Cities offer virtually limitless recreational opportunities to enjoy, from the area’s 949 lakes—22 lakes within the Minneapolis city limits alone—to extensive park systems, miles of bicycle and jogging trails, and the beauty of the Mississippi River.

Minneapolis is recognized as the

• healthiest city in America
• cleanest city in America
• best city for parks
• #2 city for recent college grads
• #2 downtown in America
• #2 most bike-friendly city in America
• #3 friendliest city in America
• #4 city for job-seekers
• #4 city for women entrepreneurs
• #6 city for young attorneys

Faculty

St. Thomas Law is home to many distinguished teacher-scholars, who are national leaders in their fields, publishing books and widely cited articles, litigating cases in courts from the US Supreme Court to federal and state courts, testifying in Congress or state legislatures, and serving in capacities from law-reform commissions to Native American tribunals to nonprofit service organizations. They also receive consistent praise for accessibility and teaching, and have been repeatedly celebrated as being among the top professors in the nation. Our professors influence students through the classroom, other scholars through writing in scholarly journals and books, and judges through work in the courts.

In addition to our full-time faculty, St. Thomas Law regularly welcomes adjunct professors from throughout the Twin Cities legal community. Our adjuncts include some of the most respected judges and lawyers in the Twin Cities, and the wealth of knowledge and expertise they bring to the classroom gives students a unique view of a variety of challenging subjects.