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Does it make sense to do an LL.M. in the U.S.?

Before the last financial crisis, doing an LL.M. in a good U.S. Law School opened many doors, including American Big Law's door. Then, the decision to invest in the steep cost of an LL.M. was a no-brainer since most people who got a job in an American law firm went back to their home countries not only with more knowledge and experience but also with savings. Now, this is no longer the case.

You may not know this, but in most law schools "advanced degrees" are just a source of profit. While these programs also allow law schools to say they are "international," the term "law student" is restricted for JDs. This is not a reality in every law school (I would say NYU is a main exception, where LL.M.s are treated as actual experienced lawyers), but it is in many if not most. If you want to study in the U.S., you may want to take a look at which schools offer scholarships for LL.M. students. This is a good signal to see where the administrators want to bring the brightest students and not only those who can pay to subsidize their JDs.

Before the second world war, it was common for Americans to do LL.M.s and doctoral programs in law if they wanted to teach at elite American law schools. It seems it was due to the realists' influence that the study of law became a 100% professional endeavor afterward---if law isn't scientific, it doesn't make sense to theorize about it. While in elite European schools it is impossible to get an academic job without a Ph.D., most American law professors only have a JD. Isn't this bizarre? Another curious fact is that their career depends on publishing articles in student-run journals—--not peer-reviewed.

What can you get for twice (or more) the cost of a good LL.M. in Europe or Asia-Oceania? bragging rights? Maybe not even that. At least outside of the U.S., LL.M.s are actual graduate degrees, where people would take you seriously. In American law schools, the center of gravity is the J.D. program, and most people think you are just taking a sabbatical year. If you have a sponsor who will also help you find a job in New York, sure, no-brainer, do the American LL.M. But if you have to pay for your studies on your own, what benefit can you get in the U.S. now that it is almost impossible to get a job in an American law firm? Think carefully, there are terrific options in Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, at a fraction of the tuition you would pay in the U.S.---where most international students just subsidize a system that sees no value in lawyers trained abroad.

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Concluding Remarks

My friends, this is my last post. First of all, I would like to thank the LL.M. Guide Team for their trust. I hope you have found at least some posts useful and/or interesting. Studying abroad is a wonderful experience and I hope most of you will decide to embark on this rewarding journey. With my 25 posts, I expect you know better what to find at Stanford. If you are applying here, I wish you best of luck. This is a great place to study and (with a car) it can be also an amazing place to live in! 

Yesterday there was a farewell barbecue and I realized I had probably depicted a too pessimistic picture of the labor opportunities after the LL.M. It is true that it is challenging to find a job in an American law firm. However, many European law firms are also looking for LL.M. graduates. True, many times they are looking for European people, but this is not necessarily the case. At least a couple of Indian friends received offers to work in a top-notched law firm in London. Brussels can be an alternative too. If you come here with the expectation to find a new job and are flexible about the location, you have good chances to find something! Stanford Law School has a great reputation worldwide.

I have repeated many times that getting a car is key to make the most of your time here. I am not exaggerating. Unfortunately, Stanford is a super isolated place and after a couple of weeks here, life starts getting quite monotonous. A good place to find cars, rooms, and second-hand equipment is SUPost, a website for Stanford affiliates. Sometimes you may find good deals. But for a not so old car, in good condition, and with low mileage, you may need to spend something around USD$10,000. It is important to bear in mind that to that price you should add taxes, since after buying the car, you have to register it at the DMV and pay fees and taxes, which, in total, amount something like 9% of the price paid in first place. Parking is quite convenient at Stanford. You have to get a permit, which costs little more than USD$300 a year. Once you have your car, you are ready to visit Yosemite, Monterrey, Napa, Sausalito, and many other wonderful places which are not so far from Stanford but that require a car to make the visit feasible (time wise). Thanks and good luck!

PS. I took the following pictures in Half Moon Bay, Sausalito, and Yosemite, places I highly recommend to visit if you are in the Bay Area. 

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Stanford, Oxford, and Harvard

I have been lucky enough to study, in different capacities, at Stanford, Harvard, and Oxford. The three places are radically different both academically and in non-academic terms. In most countries outside the U.S., Harvard and Oxford are probably the most prestigious universities. Both are great institutions. I can say Oxford is probably the most rigorous university I have studied at, where it is tougher to pass the classes. There you also get very close mentorship from tutors, even one-on-one tutorials. Harvard is a huge university with many of the most famous academics in the world. Many of the world leaders have a Harvard degree. Since Harvard Law School is so large, classes are huge, which means it is harder to interact with academics there. Also, professors tend to be always busy, and, relative to Oxford and Stanford, they care less about developing relationships with students (at least with international students). 

In the three universities passing to the doctoral program is hard. In Oxford, you need very good grades, close to a first-class, in addition to a professor willing to be your supervisor. In Harvard, admission is more political. I do not really know what factors are determinative besides having a professor who has ties to the admissions committee. It is well-known that there are some self-perpetuating networks in terms of nationality and topics. Being part of those networks seems to help a lot (I mean, A LOT). Being there on your own makes things much more difficult (actually, I’d say as an outsider the odds are against you). At Stanford, the admission to the JSD is based on your performance (grades and thesis project). If you get good grades and convince your advisor that you can do high-quality research, it is unlikely to receive a rejection. While you may think that a Harvard LLM (or a Stanford JSM or LLM) makes it easier to be admitted at another leading US school, that is actually not true. Transfering from a school to another is very rare. I tend to think admission committees are of the opinion that bringing outsiders sends a negative signal about the quality of their own school. Besides, JSD programs tend to be very small. Stanford admits only 4 people/year; NYU, Columbia and Chicago have similar admission rates; Harvard admits 10 (but as warned, you should not think the probability of getting in is higher there unless you are close to the people who have strong ties to the admission committee; and Yale admits 7 approx.)

Oxford is a beautiful city. It is also close to London. But Oxford itself is wonderful. If you like gothic architecture, you will fall in love with this place. The university facilities are also very good, but not as impressive as leading U.S. universities, which, in fairness, charge much higher tuition fees. The city is also quite lively. There are many events per week and, despite the not great weather, it is hard to get bored. Besides, the collegiate culture has a special charm.

Harvard is located in Cambridge, MA, relatively close to MIT and Boston University. Cambridge is a beautiful suburb of Boston, and Boston itself is a very nice and friendly city to live in—especially for bikers! The Charles river provides stunning landscapes, especially when you cross from Boston to Cambridge by the T (Boston’s Metro). Harvard admits more than 500 JD students and 180 LLM candidates every year. Since there are a lot people around, it is easier to get to know good friends. It is very easy to have a good life in Cambridge, where you may find several good restaurants and bars. But you may also visit Somerville and Boston, where you can find pubs, clubs, and breweries. The main disadvantage of Boston is its weather. The winter is long and really cold (I mean REALLY cold, even reaching -30 Cº) and the summer is really hot and humid. 

Stanford has great facilities but is a quite isolated place, located next to Palo Alto. Palo Alto is a small suburb, which has been gentrified by tech entrepreneurs and business people. That means there are only a handful of clubs and pubs targeted at students, and prices are quite high. If you own a car, you may visit San Francisco and several wonderful national parks, such as Yosemite, Muir Woods, Point Reyes and the Big Sur. This is a great advantage of the Bay Area; nature is quite stunning. In addition, the weather is great almost all year long. Using the train (CalTrain and BART) requires to have some time, since it is slow and the frequency is not great. 

In the U.S., Stanford is the place to be. This is to a great extent given the reciprocal influence between the university and Silicon Valley. Stanford has become one of the most prestigious in recent years. While Oxford and Harvard base their prestige to an important extent in their history, Stanford is a university of the future, where people currently discuss the regulation of self-driving cars, the implications of algorithms in the practice of law, and the regulation of artificial intelligence, among other questions that will be key in the coming years.

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Getting a Job after the LL.M.

Today, getting a job in a law firm in the U.S. after completing the LL.M. is hard. But not impossible! I would like to share with you some cases I have seen and tell you how my friends obtained interviews and, finally, a job offer to work as a foreign associate in American law firms. Yesterday I met with a Mexican friend. He was working in a Mexican law firm before coming to Stanford. He was mostly doing corporate law in Mexico but came to do the LL.M. in International Economic Law and Policy. As I told you in an earlier post, there is one main job fair for LL.M. candidates, which takes place in New York. In order to participate in that fair, you have to upload a copy of your CV to a system, to which recruiting law firms have access. If they are looking for someone of your profile, they get in touch with you and schedule an interview. That is what my Mexican friend did. He flew to NYC, dressed up, and met with a handful of potential employers. In his words, he though the interviews had gone pretty bad. But after a couple of weeks, he heard back from his first choice. They wanted to interview him again, with more partners this time. Then he passed to another round of interviews, and another. In total, he interviewed five times! But he got the job! He will work for this law firm for one year. He will start in Texas for six months, and then will move to NYC for six months. A friend from South America got a job in a Palo Alto law firm. As you may know, law firms here mostly specialize in tech (patents, trademarks, and the like) and start-ups. She got help from her former Latin-American employer, which facilitated the contacts. She was interviewed here and offered a one-year position, with the possibility of renewal. She will have to take the California bar to stay after one year, but she will have the chance to stay in a more permanent position after passing the bar. She will be working on venture capital. One of the main advantages of Stanford is its size. If you go to a big law school, like Harvard, Columbia or NYU, you will be competing with many classmates. Here, at Stanford, you will be part of a small cohort. In this sense, if someone is looking for a Stanford LL.M., competition will not be as tough as elsewhere. The two cases I described here are the two typical ways to find a job after the LL.M. Unfortunately, I saw more cases like the second one (friends benefiting from prior contacts, rather than succeeding at the NY fair). I also met a friend, who was a native English speaker, who just started emailing partners at law firms. He also asked a professor to back his applications as a reference. He persisted for several months. At the beginning, he did not even receive replies to his emails. But he succeeded in the end and got a job! International organizations and tribunals are also an opportunity to consider. Stanford offers several fellowships (see, https://law.stanford.edu/research/sls-fellowships/), and one of them is an internship at the International Court of Justice. This year, a Colombian friend got this position. I understand around 10 people were applying. I think a 10% chance of getting a job like this should be quite encouraging! She will be paid by Stanford and will work closely with an International Court of Justice judge. Even if the odds are not so great, don’t be discouraged! There are many possibilities to consider and many friends who wanted to get a job and persisted for several months were able to find something they liked. Good luck!

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The Best of Stanford

Many good memories come to my mind when I think of the academic year that just ended. I met new friends, I learned a lot, and also visited beautiful places in California (I’m sharing some pictures with you). But, as a young academic, what I find more remarkable about this academic year is the academic mentoring I found at Stanford Law School. An anecdote may shed light on what I would like to share with you. I was having a coffee with a tenured professor once (I think this tells a lot! and we had coffee together more than once). He taught at another leading law school for some years and then came back to Stanford. He told me his mentor at the other law school was very proud to be somewhere where teaching was not so important because that gave him more time to do research. My Professor understood what his mentor meant but could not disagree more. He told me he loved Stanford because teaching was in fact important as well as the relationship with students. Here, at Stanford Law School, you may see that most professors really love to spend time with students and care a lot about being effective teachers. They are close, kind, and engaging. They encourage students to ask questions and attend office hours. 

This is Yosemite!

There is another experience I would like to share with you. I wrote a paper for Professor Robert MacCoun. I had to collect some data. After I had some results, I asked him to meet during office hours. He received me in his office and we sat together to see what I had found. He read my file as it had been his own paper. He looked at my data with care and interest. He also suggested very good ideas to analyze and interpret what I had found. In my paper, I acknowledge his help and guidance but I feel he should be my co-author! I also learned a lot about methodology and data interpretation just by sitting with him sharing our thoughts. This is an amazing learning experience that I imagine can only occur in very small law schools with a large faculty-to-student ratio. 

I would like to conclude this post with a final anecdote. I was very interested in getting to know Professor Douglas Melamed. He is a Rockstar in the law and economics field. I had not had classes with him but asked him to meet in office hours. We talked for fifteen minutes. After that, I told him I was writing a paper in a topic in which he had academic and professional experience. He did not only offer me thoughtful advice but also offered me to be my research supervisor. After I had a first draft, he gave me detailed feedback and great suggestions—despite he was in New York! In closing, during this academic year I could see that Stanford tries to maintain a community environment, in which it is very easy to get in touch and interact with faculty members. Maybe there is also a self-selection process in which academics who prefer to spend most of their time doing research go to the East Coast, and those who also enjoy teaching and mentoring prefer Stanford. But whatever the reasons is, I can tell that you will find great mentors here!

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How to Save Money at Stanford

LL.M. programs are expensive. This is especially the case in the U.S. where tuition rates are close to USD$ 60K. Furthermore, many good universities, including Stanford, are located in the most expensive American cities to live in. A handful of universities give some funding in the form of partial tuition waivers (such as Yale, Michigan, Duke, Chicago, Harvard). This is not the case at Stanford, where financial aid is inexistent for LL.M. students and very limited for SPILS and JSD students.

Even if you are quite wealthy, you may find the following pieces of advice useful. The first recommendation I would give is to waive the quite expensive default health insurance plan offered by Stanford (which costs more than USD$ 5,000) and look for an alternative. By doing this, depending on your age, you may save between USD$ 4,000 and USD$ 2,000 a year. California mandates international students to have health insurance, and the minimum coverage is quite demanding. By choosing any alternative that satisfies the minimum CA coverage, you should be fine in terms of having Stanford approving your waiver and also covering from emergencies and even prescription drugs. Unfortunately, Stanford does not provide good information on this matter. For me, it was hard to find an alternative insurance company. I ended up getting ISO insurance and saved USD$ 2,500. I only went to the doctor once during the year, but this was covered by another fee Stanford students have to pay (“health fee,” USD$ 300 per quarter, a mandatory fee that is charged in addition to the very expensive health insurance plan).

Another way to save some money is to buy “meal plans.” Stanford has several dining halls that offer buffet meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Buying a meal plan, especially if you buy several at the beginning of the year, allows you getting a very affordable price for each meal (less than USD$ 10 for lunches and slightly more for a dinner) (See, https://rde.stanford.edu/dining/mealplans). Meal plans are very convenient and the buffet has no limitations as you may imagine if you had a hotel in mind. The buffet also includes drinks and desserts. The food is usually quite good and you may access any dining hall, some of which specialize in Mexican and Asian food.

The last advice I would give is applying for on-campus housing at Escondido Village. The construction is quite annoying but housing there is still much cheaper than other alternatives. Housing at Escondido South is further from the construction zone and there you may find a room for less than USD$ 900 a month. In many, if not most, countries and cities this would seem very expensive. But at Stanford that is a great price. If you are not lucky with the housing lottery you may end up paying close to USD$ 2,000 going to Munger (but you would live next to the Law School somewhere that looks like a 4-star hotel).

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The End of the Academic Year

Friends, The end of the academic year is here. It is sad to see how time flies by. With the quarter system, you can barely notice the passage of time. I mean you are always rushing with deadlines and suddenly see that the quarter is over. This happens three times and then you see yourself wearing a cap and a gown. There are many reflections I could share with you. I will try to be brief and comment on some that should be of interest to most of you. 

First, Stanford is a close-knit group. Here faculty members and staff know your name, appreciate your efforts, and care about your learning and progress. The mentorship you obtain is up to you. If you are committed to writing a good paper or developing any type of academic project, chances you will not find support from a faculty member are close to zero. 

Second, financial aid is very poor and living costs are quite high. The law school does not offer funding for LLMs and only little funding for SPILS students (also, despite the rumors, funding for JSD students is quite limited and is far from covering living expenses). In addition to tuition and fees, you should expect to spend, at least USD$ 30,000 more during the academic year. If you are not lucky enough to find affordable housing, living costs may rise to USD$ 35,000. And if you are not careful with your expenses, you may easily need more than UD$ 40,000 to pay your bills. 

Third, an LLM or JSM degree may be highly appreciated in your home country but is of little value in the U.S. It is true, an LL.M. allows you to take the NY Bar Exam. But, as I mentioned in an earlier post, nowadays it is really hard to get a job in the U.S. unless you were working for someone who could get something for you (usually, a big multi-national law firm). Law Schools invest heavily on their JD programs. JD graduates are those who will become partners in big law firms, will teach at major law schools, and will donate money in the future. JD activities are usually funded (even parties) but there is very limited funding for LLM activities. It feels frustrating. Even working as a journal editor is kind of annoying since you do the boring job for people who have usually only one year of legal training! Additionally, JD students are not really interested in interacting with international students. Most people here see friendships from an strategic point of view, and they see little value in getting to know people who will stay in the U.S. just for one year. 

Finally, Stanford is a quite isolated place. If you decide to come here, you should try to get a car and I would recommend leaving at least one day a week to go to San Francisco or the surroundings. Going to San Francisco takes more than one hour (at least 90 minutes by train, and the train frequency is not great). So, you really have to find the time to spend on transport. There is not much to do on campus. The facilities are great, especially the gyms, and the sports courts. But besides that, if you want to grab a drink or a special meal, after a couple of weeks you have tried out most of what Palo Alto has to offer. California is a beautiful place. Coming here is beneficial from many perspectives. But to make the most of your stay, you have to go out of campus and without a car, that is very hard. If you live on campus, you may get a parking permit for USD$ 300 a year, which is quite reasonable. You may also buy a used car from people who are leaving campus (SUPOST.com is a great resource for that). Beware that used car transactions are subject to tax! if you buy a used car, you should expect to pay 9% more than the listed price in taxes and fees.

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Law and Psychology

Hi friends, Have you wondered how people process information to make decisions? How juries reach their conclusions? What makes a witness persuasive? what makes people perceive that a specific outcome is fair? All these were just a handful of really interesting questions that we studied with Professor Robert MacCoun in his class Law and Psychology. This was a really enjoyable class and Professor MacCoun is, as most SLS professors I met, a very nice and approachable person. This class started by referring to the psychology “inside the courts.” During the first eight classes (there were two classes per week), we studied the decision-making of most relevant actors: judges, juries, and witnesses (including experts). Among the many stimulating discussions we had, Prof. MacCoun addressed jury selection, prejudice and extralegal bias, jury deliberation, and the awarding of damages. During the rest of the class, we studied fundamental topics with a broad application to the legal system and our conceptions of justice, such as moral reasoning, risk regulation, law and happiness, and free will and criminal responsibility. A question I found particularly interesting was how free we are to behave as we do. We saw that the answer to this question was not as straightforward as we, people with legal training, tend to think. In fact, Shopenhauer depicted the psychological theory of behavior with a great maxim: you may do what you will but you may not will what you will. Professor MacCoun is one of the nicest persons you can meet. Of course, he is extremely knowledgeable about the topics he addressed in his class. In fact, he has published in Nature and Science, among other leading journals. But one of the things that made this class special was his personality. He is very kind, engaging and respectful. He is also available in office hours. He is someone who will learn your name and will ask you how things are going besides study. For this class we had to either write three response papers, commenting the readings; or one 26-page research paper. I highly recommend this class to challenge many preconceptions you may have about law and behavior and to have the chance to learn from a great mentor and a great person.

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Law and Statistics

My friends, sorry for the delay in posting back. The academic year is over and things were very hectic. During the following days, I will be giving you more insights about classes I took, the research you can do here, the relationship with professors, and the doctoral program.

In this post, I would like to talk about a wonderful class I took: Statistical Inference in the Law. The Professor: John Donohue, the leading legal empiricists in the world. Throughout the quarter, we read an introductory book to statistics and then delved into quite debatable topics. For instance, does the death penalty deter? Do selective colleges assure higher salaries to their graduates? Do harsher sanctions reduce recidivism?

If you read a regression table, like the picture I am including in this post, it is unlikely you would understand anything with no statistical background. Believe me, after you complete the class you will be able to read regression tables and not only that. You would also be a critical consumer of statistical analyses. When we see a lot of notation and numbers, it is easy for us to defer to someone who appears to be an expert. But, during the class, we saw that many times data are manipulated, that researchers can fabricate data, and that “researchers” may also play out with the data until they reach a conclusion that is favorable to their political view (or their clients).

Professor Donohue is one of the most influential legal scholars in the U.S. He was the President of the American Law and Economics Association and is especially well-known for his work on the death penalty (showing it has no deterrent effects) and gun-control (showing how guns lead to more crime). But he is also the kindest and most available professor you could meet. There is a café on campus that he frequently visits. When he was going there, he let the class know so that we could join him to talk about the class or just about anything! He was truly interested in getting to know his students.

Empirical research is becoming increasingly more important for academia and also for legal practice. Actually, the first reading material for this class is a guide on statistics for Federal Judges! This class will give you the tools to understand what is going on when you see regression tables and appreciate the value and limitations of the study. I highly recommend it!

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Learning Tax Policy at SLS

In another academic post, I would like to share some thoughts about a class I especially liked in the Winter Quarter: Tax Policy with Professors Bankman and Kessler.

How can the law tackle inequality? How effective are different jurisdictions in redistributing wealth from the richest members of their society to the poorest? How can we encourage people to pay their taxes? These were some questions Professors Bankman and Kessler addressed in this class. The topics were very interesting and both professors are engaging, super knowledgeable and respectful of different opinions.

Professor Bankman is a leading expert in the field of tax law. He is not only a lawyer but also a psychologist. His background in psychology is patent since he tends to refer to experimental research on a variety of topics related to tax policy, such as compliance with the law, happiness and the law, inequality and well-being, and the like. He is a great communicator and always has a smile on his face. Professor Kessler is a lawyer as well as an economist. His main field is health law and policy but he also conducts research on tax policy. Prof. Kessler does not leave any room for improvisation in his lectures. For his classes, there were problem sets we had to answer before the beginning of the class and those sets were very well connected with what he was going to talk about. This made it easier to follow what sometimes were very technical discussions, such as how to measure inequality.

Both professors presented about half of the classes. In the other half, they invited guest speakers. After the lecture, they invited the guest speaker to go out for dinner. And not only the speaker, but also some students! (those who sent an email showing interest and availability). The professors were kind enough to consider that some of us may have been interested in hearing more from the speaker in a less formal setting. Isn’t this super nice? Well, this is an advantage of coming to an elite and small law school. Here you can develop meaningful connections with faculty members and they have time an interest to hear your thoughts and guide your learning experience.

The professors required us to write 3 short memos during the semester, commenting the readings for a particular week. There was no exam. As the professors said, “the class developed in a low-stress environment” and we could write the papers about the topics that interested us the most. This was a thought-provoking class, flexible in terms of grading policy, well-organized, well-structured, and definitely one of the highlights of my experience at Stanford Law School. It also allowed me to see that many times there are no clear best policies but a range of reasonable and responsible alternatives to achieve justice with the legal system.

By the way, this is how Spring looks at Stanford.

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Housing at Stanford

My friends, things are quite busy at the moment. Hence the delay in getting back to you. As promised, this time I would like to share with you some insights about housing at Stanford. You may have heard that Palo Alto (and the Silicon Valley area more generally) is one of the most expensive areas for housing in the US. Well, Stanford housing is subsidized, but this does not mean that student housing is cheap. Prices range between USD$1,000 to USD$2,000 a month for shared apartments at Escondido Village and Private Studios at Munger/Kennedy, among other places. The cheapest option is basically a room, quite spacious actually, with a shared bathroom and a shared kitchenette. The most expensive alternatives can compare to 3-4-star hotels.

If you, like me, came to Stanford with limited funding, Escondido Village (EV) is probably a place to consider. The typical apartment here is located in a mid-rise or high-rise building and you either share the apartment with your significant other or with a flatmate. A nice thing about housing at Stanford is that you may apply in groups. If you, for example, were lucky enough to be accepted as well as a good friend, you can apply to live together, avoiding the risk of sharing an apartment with someone you do not know. The buildings are spread in the East extreme of campus. You certainly need a bike to commute, since a walk from EV to the law school takes no less than 20 minutes. Rooms are decent sized (I’d say 4x3.5 meters) and fully furnished. You will have a bed, a desk, a chair, and a couch. There is a laundry room in every building, which makes laundry very easy. The downsides, there is no much room to share with visits and you might be unlucky enough to live close to a construction zone, in which there is quite a lot of dust and noise.

Close to EV there’s another great alternative: Rains apartments. This is a very nice housing complex from an architectonic view. The building look very European and there are many gardens and trees around. There you can share with one or three people. Prices are slightly higher compared to EV, but there you have a living room so you can invite friends over. Also, the living room coaches are big enough to allow your visits to spend the night there, if necessary. Rooms are smaller than at EV’s apartments, probably around 2,5x3m. Rains has its own music rooms for students, so if you like playing the drums or the piano, this is probably the place for you. Rains is slightly closer to the law school. I would say a bike is helpful but not necessary.

If you came to Stanford with a lot of money, then you can aim at Munger. Munger is a new housing complex located almost across the law school. There you can live on your own, share with one person or with three. Munger looks like a 3 or 4-star hotel, apartments are larger and quite luxurious. The downside is its price. But there are many advantages of living there. First, it literally takes just a couple of minutes to get to the law school from there. Also, rooms look more solid than the rest I have referred to. I assume there it is less likely to hear what is going on at your flatmate’s room or at your neighbor’s apartment. Apartments there are huge so you may host meetings and parties without a problem. Also, you may book rooms inside the building to host bigger events.

There is also subsidized housing outside Campus and other housing areas inside campus I don’t know well enough to describe here. As time goes forward, I feel less excited about life on campus, so, at this point, I might recommend living outside. Stanford campus is beautiful but life ends up being dull. Having some fresh air cycling to Menlo Park might be a good thing. Menlo Park is an affordable zone you might consider checking out.

Here you might find prices to compare: 

https://rde-stanford-edu.s3.amazonaws.com/Housing/PDF/2018-19_Grad_RatesChart.pdf

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Racism at Stanford

My Friends, I've usually (if not always) written great things about Stanford. Well, this time it's an exception. Some weeks ago, a JD student received hatred mail with racist comments in her mailbox. Of course, most people criticized such a coward act. However, there have been unexpected reactions, such as the spread of racist posters throughout the law school.

My experience at Stanford has been great so far. The Professors I have met listen to me with care, respect, and even with patience when they realize I am not communicating well an idea in my second language. The handful of JDs I have met are very nice and respectful. JDs are usually very busy and I tend to believe most of them are not interested in becoming friends of international students. This might be a cultural difference. "Friendship" appears to be understood from a more instrumental view in the US. But despite that, JDs tend to be nice and some of them are interested in what international students can bring to American universities. 

Well, other people claim they have had worse experiences than mine. This is certainly the case of a JD student. She received anti-immigrant images in her mailbox. This is serious. Actually, those images were taken to the police and an investigation is taking place.

This attack triggered several reactions. Many students "of color" started complaining that racism was a daily problem in the law school. In an email shared with the whole academic community, they identified several reactions of white students and professors they thought were discriminatory (such as not giving credit to comments from students of color, something I haven't seen). They also filled the walls with "racism lives here" posters, mentioning some of the discriminatory attitudes/comments they have seen or heard at Stanford Law School. There have been many open reunions too, in which students have shared their experiences about discrimination. Surprisingly, there was a reaction by a racist group, posting "make American great again" posters by night.

No country is perfect, including the US. The US has many great things to offer, including the best universities of the world. However, racism has been a prevalent problem throughout American history. The current political situation appears to be helping some "racist viruses" flourish within some people's bodies. I understand that some other elite law schools have experienced similar problems (such as Harvard Law School). But I am surprised to see this happening in California, a liberal and multi-cultural state, where most people have some “non-white” background. You might have been wondering how current distressing times affect the life of LL.M. students. Well, what I described in this post is happening in 2018, in Stanford, California.

[advanceddegreesls17-blog]

The New York Job Fair and Working in the US After Graduation

Hi, there, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. The Winter Quarter is about to end at Stanford (by the way, the picture shows what the Winter looks like here); and quarters really fly by! In this post, I would like to share with you some thoughts on getting a job in the US. Most people expect to come to the US to work in an American law firm after earning the LL.M. So I think this will be a particularly interesting post for many people. Please, have in mind that I’m sharing with you my own experience.

Getting a job as a foreign associate in the US was easy before the financial crisis. Now it is not. Having said that, it is worth giving it a try and there is an important distinction to make: whether you currently work for a firm that has contacts in the US or not.

Most people who get offers to work for one year as a foreign associate got the interviews from their future employers because their firms at their home countries gave them a hand reaching the right people in the US. Many times, big firms in the US have informal agreements to receive people from their partner offices abroad. Some things to note: languages matter a lot. Spanish is a plus as well as Portuguese. If you speak both, that's a great asset!

If you don't work for a firm with contacts in the US, that's not great but you could still make it. There's a handful of job fairs that can give you a chance. Since I only have experience with the New York Job Fair, I will only refer to this one. This job fair allows students from elite law schools to upload a copy of their resumes to a system and apply to be interviewed by law firms of their choice. The fair takes place in New York City. You can apply to up to 20 law firms. Some people get many interviews, some none. A disadvantage of being in the West Coast is that interviewers do not fund your travel expenses, so this is a not so cheap investment. But the reward can be high! I heard some firms pay for your expenses if you pass to a second round.

From what I've seen, people with experience in project finance coming from countries where American companies have large investments is a plus (for example, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina); speaking the language of one of those countries helps too. People working in international arbitration also have an edge. Certainly, the brand of your school matters a lot as well. So, applying from Stanford gives you a plus. However-and again, from what I've seen-contacts matter more than your law school's brand (among the top 10). For instance, many people I know who came to Stanford or went to Harvard without contacts haven't found a job yet. But friends who attended lower ranked schools who were working for firms with strong connections in the US found jobs relatively quickly.

Also, it is worth considering that many international firms have branches in your home countries. They also offer jobs for their branches. Many firms specializing in European law offered positions to work in Brussels (and required a bachelors in law from a European country). Also, firms with branches in Asia and Latin America were looking for LLM students to fill up some vacancies.

In closing, an LLM brings you great opportunities to get a new job. If you are willing to work in a different country and not necessarily in the US, you will find plenty of options. If you come here trying to stay as a foreign associate in NYC, San Francisco, or another main city, try to find people in your own country who can give you a hand contacting potential employers. Otherwise, it is hard, but not impossible! And if you get an offer, get ready to take a bar exam! (a topic for a future post).

[advanceddegreesls17-blog]

The classroom experience and the relationship with professors at SLS

In another academic post, I would like to share with you what, according to my experience, the classroom experience at SLS is. Of course, I have only taken a handful of courses and it might be unfair to generalize, but I only have good things to say.

When you get to a school where many "rock stars" teach, you might find it surprising that the professors really prepare the lectures and they also expect you to be prepared to answer (and ask) questions. Probably many of us saw that in our home countries some professors did not care much about the syllabus of the class and they just talked about anything they wanted to. Well, here that is not the case. The professors really take their job very seriously. They follow the syllabus with care, choose thoughtful readings for each session, and present the contents trying to have many students participating in the discussion. As anywhere, there are always some "gunners" per class (people who like to talk a lot), but that seems to be inevitable, especially in elite schools. The classes at SLS are usually very small (you find classes with 20 students, but some are larger, like "corporations" or "evidence,") so you can usually interact a lot with the professors and they can get to know you quite well. Even the most famous professors put a lot of effort in delivering great lectures. I talked to one of them once and told him how impressed I was about his commitment. He replied to me "this is what I'm paid for." But besides the "contractual" responsibility, one can note they really LOVE what they do (if not, that's what it seems).

In many classes, the professors prepare notes for each session, problem sets, and even summaries indicating the expected learning outcomes. The problem sets can be quite time-consuming. And they reminded me of being in high school! But then I realized that problem sets and other types of homework you may get here (like response papers) really help you be on the top of the material and think critically about it. The professors spend a lot of time revising the homework but this shows their commitment to your learning. I think this is one of the main advantages of being in a small school (Stanford Law School has less than 600 students, and a faculty ratio of 7:1!!!). If you have to write response papers (or reflection papers), it is the professor who is going to read it, not a teaching assistant. So, one has to be careful with this. Notably, there's a great resource at Stanford: the Hume Center for Writing and Speaking. They help you check your papers and also your presentations in case you had to give one. As I mentioned in a previous post, there's an ideal writing style one should meet (for papers there is even kind of templates one should follow). The Hume Center is important to perform at the expected level.

In closing, the classroom experience at SLS is quite engaging. The professors put a lot of effort into making sure that the students learn, and they try to make the classes as participative as possible. The notable student to faculty ratio of 7:1 gives many possibilities to interact with the faculty and get valuable feedback. I'll get back to you with more professional and mundane topics: the New York Job Fair, and Housing!

[advanceddegreesls17-blog]

Winter at Stanford

Probably you Heard about the "Bomb Cyclone Snowstorm" in early January. It sounded like an Apocalyptical disaster. Those areas that were affected by the snowstorm were colder than Mars. Well, my friends, you may imagine those cold waves are not a problem for Californian residents. And Stanford is lucky enough to benefit from a weather that is usually warmer, and less rainy than in closer areas (like Berkeley). You can barely notice that it's Winter in here (I took the pictures yesterday). 

Although, somedays (usually 2 days a week) it does rain. And when it rains, it rains a lot. You only need to spend 5 minutes outside without an umbrella to get totally soaked. For bikers this is a problem. However, sometimes there are showers too. I usually don't like the rain, but I find the showers quite relaxing. The weather here allows you to play volleyball, tennis, soccer, and many other sports outdoors during the whole year. I don't play any of those sport, but when I go to the library on the weekends, I can see many people playing volleyball in the sand courts close to the law school. My friends in New York can barely commute and they probably count the seconds to get to the next building with a heather. 

Some people tend to get quite affected by the lack of sunlight. And this can be a very serious problem that harms not only your academic performance but your life quality more generally. For those people it may be a great idea to study in the West Coast rather than the East Coast. Here at Stanford there's plenty of sunlight. It's hard to believe it's Winter actually. The sun rises before 7am and it sets at 5pm. For Winter, I believe that's a lot of sunlight. Moreover, the sun actually warms up. If you've been to the East Coast during the Winter, maybe you wondered how it could be sunny but freezing. At Stanford, it's usually warm during the day (15 Celsius). Though, it feels cold during the mornings and at night. When I say cold, it's 5 Celsius, not -15. A great advantage of this weather is that you can explore all the beautiful surroundings when you have free time. As you may know, there are wonderful hiking circuits in the Bay Area, as well as plenty of beautiful national parks. In short, life is good in California, all year long!

[advanceddegreesls17-blog]

Learning Law and Economics with the founding fathers

As promised, this time I will provide some insights on my favorite class of the Autumn Quarter: The Law and Economics Seminar with Professor A. Mitchell Polinsky.

First of all, it is important to mention that this is not an open class. If you want to enroll, you have to send Professor Polinsky an application and a copy of your resume. It seems the acceptance rate is about 2/3, so the chances are not bad!

The Class meets once a week. Usually, Professor Polinsky lectures on particular law and economics topics, such as optimal remedies in tort cases, and contract interpretation. However, there were four sessions in which invited guests, which included Professor Eric Posner, from U. Chicago, presented papers they were still developing. During those sessions, other Faculty members joined the discussion, and we were able to participate in very interesting and engaging debate.

We were 20 students. This provided a unique opportunity to interact with the professor as well as with the rest of the class. As indicated, when there is no guest speaker, Professor Polinsky gives a lecture. The topic: the application of economic analysis to a legal topic in which he worked as a consultant. How specific should testaments be to be enforceable? How severe should sanctions be in cases of environmental harm? These were some examples of questions Professor Polinsky addressed through the lenses of economic analysis. In the first class, he gave a general overview of this methodology and recommended material to prepare for the seminar. However, the lectures were totally accessible for people without previous economics training.

Why was this my favorite class? The topics were interesting, and this seminar gave me a new perspective to think about the law. However, what I found particularly remarkable was Professor Polinsky’s commitment with his class. For each invited speaker’s lecture, we had to write a 2-3 pages commentary. We all received DETAILED feedback from Professor Polinsky, which was, sometimes, as long as the comments we had written in first place.

Professor Polinsky also invited the class to have lunch with him, in groups of 4-5 students. He really wanted to get to know his students. This tells a lot about him. Notably, during the lunch, we could see that he was not only an eminent scholar but also a fascinating person. He does have a very interesting life besides academia! Actually, he is also a famous pilot, who has broken national records! I don’t know if you can find this type of interaction with Faculty members in bigger law schools.

Also, Professor Polinsky gave the opportunity to write a research paper under his supervision. Those who accepted the challenge had to present their research in the last class, and Professor Polinsky gave them detailed feedback and ideas to improve their papers. If you are lucky enough to come to Stanford, you should definitely consider this seminar!

[advanceddegreesls17-blog]

The Exam Period, Exams, and Grades at SLS

Well, this may be a frightening topic ;) but, in reality, exams are quite reasonable at SLS.

As I mentioned in the previous post, Stanford follows the Quarter System. This means we have ten weeks of classes, then one week to prepare for exams (the “reading period”), and finally all the exams you may have in one or two weeks. This is very important: when you take classes, you should plan accordingly. There’s a lot of material to master for each exam. And you do certainly want to perform well (and, of course, learn). However (and I found this quite surprising) many exams at SLS are “take home.” This means you either have a time limit (for example, eight hours) to upload your responses (usually, short essays) after picking up your exam questions; or you get the questions at the end of the last class, and have until the end of the exam period to upload your answers. I think this is very thoughtful, and surely an opportunity to think critically about the content covered during the term.

During the exam period, only law students (and Munger residents) have access to the law school library. This helps. As I told you in a previous post, the library is not large. But it’s quite good and comfortable. Many non-law students (undergrads, especially) are frequent users of the library, and sometimes make it difficult to find a spot. This is not a problem during the exam period.

For black-letter classes (such as corporations, contracts, and so on), there is a traditional method to follow: the IRAC. This means one has to spot the relevant issues, determine the applicable rule to the case (often, this means identifying what precedent concerns to the case), apply the rule to the problem, and conclude (making concessions, but affirming the most likely scenario). JDs do this automatically. It takes time to get used to it, and during the exam period, in my modest view, the best way to prepare for the exams is by applying IRAC to previous exams questions. It’s impossible to master a class in one week, especially if it’s a foreign law class! So, it’s important to be on the top of the materials during the quarter, and, in case of doubt, ask in class or visit the professors during office hours.

There are basically two grades at SLS: pass (P) and honors (H). Only the best 30% of the class gets an “H.” The rest, a “P.” There are also two other possible grades: “restricted credit” and “fail,” but it seems they only exist on paper. Some classes follow a “mandatory P/F” basis, this means no one gets honors. You can only pass or fail. This system was born at Yale. It is meant to avoid or lower competition among classmates. And it certainly reduces the pressure, especially in mandatory P/F classes. However, some people really want the honors! This is the case of JDs who may wish to become law clerks or work in the top law firms, LLMs wishing to stay in the US, or students wanting to apply to PhDs or the JSD at SLS. The H/P system makes it harder to stand out. Most classes at SLS are small (between 20 and 40 students), so just do the math and see how tough it may be to be among the best 30% in classes where most people are very smart and tend to have some experience on the topic (although JDs are not lawyers yet, they already have a bachelors’ degree, and some of them studied finance or business and have years of work experience on those topics).