DEGREES OFFERED

Master of Laws Degree (LLM)

This program is a one-year, full-time course of study in advanced legal topics designed for lawyers trained outside of the United States. Students select courses from an extensive curriculum of specialized courses and seminars at Penn Law. You can review the full curriculum at the Registrar’s page.

Listed below are some of the areas students have chosen to concentrate on:

• Corporate Law
• Criminal Law
• Trade Law
• Intellectual Property & the Internet
• International Law
• Securities and Banking
• Constitutional Law

The LLM program can be done as a Course Track or as a Thesis Track. For more information on the specific requirements of the program, please consult the Degree Requirements section of the Registrar’s Page.

Penn Law’s LLM program is distinguished from graduate law programs at other schools in several ways:

• Cross Disciplinary Study
  Graduate students can participate in Penn Law’s exceptional cross-disciplinary program, both at the Law School or throughout the University. Students can earn a Wharton Business and Law Certificate (described below) or take one course at any of the University's highly esteemed graduate and professional schools, including Wharton’s MBA program, the Annenberg School for Communication, and the graduate programs in economics, history, philosophy, political science, bio-ethics, and sociology. Credits from these courses are counted towards graduation requirements for the LLM degree.
  
  Penn Law is well known for the broad array of cross-disciplinary courses here at the Law School. Seventy-five percent of our faculty hold advanced degrees beyond law, of which close to 50 percent are at the PhD level and 40% have secondary appointments or affiliations within the University. Our faculty's broad interests and expertise are certainly reflected in the courses that they teach in areas as diverse as Securities Regulation, Corporate Finance, Negotiations, Accounting, International Finance, and non business courses such as Mental Health Law or Immigration Law. A more complete listing of recent courses can be seen on our Registrar's page.
  
  
• Wharton Business and Law Certificate
  

  This program has been redesigned for the LLM class entering in the summer of 2012 and is offered in alliance with Wharton’s Aresty Institute of Executive Education.  It is designed for lawyers who wish to acquire:

  • A strong grounding in business disciplines to better serve their clients, manage their practices, or expand their professional options beyond the practice of law.
  • A robust business vocabulary that enhances workplace communication and an understanding of business culture in the United States.
  • Enhanced skills for the sophisticated presentation of projects, ideas, or investment propositions to colleagues, clients and other professionals from the worlds of both law and business.
  • A better understanding of the core management concepts that will increase their capacity to develop or professionalize a practice, department, firm or business enterprise.
  
  

  This is a custom designed program for Penn Law LLM students taught by Wharton faculty and  industry experts selected for their teaching skills, subject expertise and ability to offer applied concepts and examples to participants.  . All LLM students may participate in this program which runs concurrently with the LLM program. Those who successfully complete its requirements will earn a certificate awarded by The Wharton School’s Aresty Institute of Executive Educationas well their LLM degree from Penn Law. Wharton courses are held in the evenings in state-of-the-art teaching facilities at the Steinberg Conference Center on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia.

  WBLC students choose three courses from among several areas of study, including accounting, corporate finance, human resource management, responsible business practices, and general management. This certificate program has been designed by the Wharton School's Aresty Institute of Executive Education exclusively for mid-career professionals seeking to gain business expertise. This program should not be confused with an MBA program and does not include MBA students.

  View the Program Details


• Penn Law LLM Summer Program
  Penn Law offers a distinctive summer orientation program open to LLM candidates at all US law schools. This program – mandatory for those admitted to Penn's LLM class – features credit bearing, graduate level legal course work in US legal systems and research.

Master of Comparative Law (LLCM)

This program is a one-year course of advanced study for students who have received their LLM degree (in general, from Penn Law). LLCM candidates have the option of pursuing a concentration of study in a particular field, such as

• American Legal Institutions
• Business Organizations and Securities Law
• Commercial, Foreign Investment and Trade Law
• Comparative and International Law
• Criminal Law
• U.S. and Transnational Litigation and Dispute Resolution

The LLCM degree requirements can be found in the Registrar’s section.

Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD)

The SJD program provides an opportunity for students to conduct extensive research, culminating in a dissertation, under the guidance of a faculty member from Penn Law and, where appropriate, other professional schools and graduate departments of the University of Penn. The program is designed for students with exceptional promise as academics or with specific and important research goals.

For more information on the specific requirements of the program, please consult the Degree Requirements.

LLM/MFS International Finance and Law

An elite program in finance and law offered in conjunction with Sciences Po in Paris, France. This is a two-year program taught in both French and English offering advanced education in the area of financial law.

For more information on the specific requirements of the program, please consult the Degree Requirements or watch this video.

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Penn Law Summer Program

Penn Law offers a distinctive summer orientation program open to all candidates who have already earned a law degree by the date the program begins. (The program is mandatory for all Penn Law LLM candidates, who are registered for it automatically and do not need to submit a separate application).

The Summer Program features credit bearing, graduate level legal course work in US legal systems and research.

For more information on the program, please consult the Summer Program page.