Many foreign lawyers attend American law schools to obtain an L.L.M. degree. If you are planning to be one of them next fall, you want to be prepared to get the most out of your experience. What you do may depend upon why you are getting your L.L.M.
L.L.M. candidates have different reasons for wanting the degree. You may want to return to your home at the end of your L.L.M. year, using the law school experience as an opportunity to take specialized courses not available to you there. You will expect to take only the minimum number of traditional large lecture courses and concentrate on the upper level courses. On the other hand, you may want to stay here and work for an American firm for a number of years. You will take many of the courses required for first and second year law students so that you will have the knowledge law firms expect of associates and so that you will be prepared to pass the bar examination.
If you come from a common law country, you probably know enough now about the American legal system, but you may not know enough about the American law school. If you come from a country without a common law tradition, you probably don't know enough now about either. The amount of information you need may depend on your reason for being in your program. If you intend to stay here, you will need more than if you intend to return home immediately. However, it is likely that your law school will have one program for all foreign students. Most law schools require you to take a course in the American legal system. However, is unlikely that you will be offered a course in how to survive the American law school.
I have worked with foreign L.L.M. students at four law schools. Most of them had the same complaint about the course their school offered in the American law: although it was interesting, it was too theoretical. Since they had all been through law programs, they said that they did not need the theory. What they needed was the practical information about how the American system worked.
Most students I have talked to want guidance in how to read cases efficiently. I have found that when I give lectures on the stages of trial and the bases of appeal, there are always a surprising number of L.L.M. students taking extensive notes. They also want guidance when they are faced with the prospect of outlining material from a lecture course and taking their first issue spotter exam.
Look at other sections of this site for hints on how to be prepared for your American law school experience.