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University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School LLM Pre-Term Program: Foundations in U.S. Law and Culture 

Our innovative Pre-Term Program provides an academic grounding in the U.S. legal system as well as social, cultural and professional opportunities.

The program includes two introductory courses:

Foundations of the U.S. Legal System: This intensive, advanced-level survey course addresses aspects of US legal thought and practice that are likely to be unfamiliar to most lawyers trained outside of the United States.

U.S. Legal Writing/Research: This course covers the basic skills of US lawyering, including predictive analyses, writing, effective and efficient communication, and basic legal research. 

 The program also features programming from:
  • Student Affairs Office: making the most of a year of study at a US law school 
  • Office of Career Strategy: job search strategies, skills and documents 
  • Registrar’s Office: course selection and registration procedures 
  • Information Technology Services: training on the Law School’s technology resources
  • Visa Registration and related requirements
  • Taking the New York Bar Exam
  • Continued study of law in the United States
  • Taking exams and preparing for classes

There are numerous opportunities for social interaction including a city bus tour, visit to Philadelphia Museum of Art, team building exercises, barbecue and banquet.

Students thoughts on the Pre-Term Program 

“This is one thing that separates Penn from other law schools. Personally, this period helped me get a better sense of what and how I should do things for the whole LLM year.”
— Amal Sethi LLM ’16

“A great opportunity to know the fellows and faculty at Penn Law, and a nice transitional period for international students to get familiar with living in Philly as well as American legal education, wonderful experience! ”
— Donglei Liao, LLM ’16

“The summer program was a really great experience which provided me with some invaluable information that I will use to make my year at Penn Law a successful one.”
— Michael Podevyn, LLM ’16