Career Development
The G&IP Office is available to assist LL.M. and M.C.L. students in developing their individual job search strategies. We offer counseling and special workshops covering resumes and cover letters, interviewing, and networking skills. Our students participate in the International Students Interview Program (ISIP) held in New York each winter where foreign-trained LL.M. students from top law schools are given the opportunity to interview with prospective employers from the United States and abroad. Our students also participate in the West Coast LL.M. Job Fair held here in Los Angeles during the spring semester. Students are granted access to Symplicity, an online resource for jobs and internship opportunities around the United States. It is important to note that our students do not participate in the J.D. On-Campus Interview (OCI) program.
Many LL.M. and M.C.L. students choose to expand their experiences in the United States after completing their programs by looking for short-term "practical training" in law firms. The market for foreign-trained attorneys in the United States is very limited, and only a very small percentage of LL.M. and M.C.L. graduates from all United States law schools find work here. Those that do have earned excellent grades in their LL.M. and M.C.L. studies typically and then have passed a U.S. bar exam. Prospective students should be very clear about employment options before beginning graduate law studies.
Bar Exam Information
Many of our students take either the New York or California bar exam upon completion of the LL.M. program. Our Early Bar Preparation Program is offered each year exclusively for our LL.M. & M.C.L. students. It introduces the components of the New York and California bar exams and consists of four day-long workshops covering Contracts, Real Property, Multi-State, and Performance Exam workshops. Substantive law is reviewed during the first half of each workshop and students then focus on essay-writing for each subject. Students review outlining and practice writing a question on each subject, which is then graded by workshop instructors. For the Multi-State and Performance Exam workshops, students review the basics of multiple-choice format exams.
U.S. Bar Admissions for Foreign Law School Graduates
The American Bar Association provides important information on their website about U.S. Bar Admissions for foreign law graduates. Please refer to "A Note to Graduates of Law Schools Located Outside the United States: Degrees Other Than a J.D. and Bar Admissions" on their website.
As bar application requirements are unique for each student, the G&IP office cannot determine eligibility for bar exams. We provide resources for LL.M. students so that they can look into the requirements on their own.
Information on eligibility for the California Bar can be found on the CA Bar website.
Information on eligibility for the New York Bar can be found on the NY Bar website.
Optional Practical Training (OPT)
For current rules on Optical Practical Training (OPT), please visit USC's Office of International Students (OIS) website.
Students will need to determine their eligibility for and may be required to apply for OPT to extend their visas in order to sit for a bar exam following graduation from our LL.M. program.