In evaluating applications for admission to our Graduate Legal Studies programs, we strive to select a student body of diverse backgrounds and interests that shares a discernible commitment to excellence. We place primary emphasis on demonstrated qualities and proven skills we regard as necessary for academic success and intellectual engagement at Columbia Law School, and also highly value personal strengths that we believe predict professional distinction and public service. We endeavor to identify how and to what extent candidates have forged their values and achieved their goals – how they have actually chosen to commit their time, energies, and talents, and how they have made use of their opportunities. Applicants are evaluated, therefore, not only on their potential but by their demonstrated motivation, self-discipline and industry.
Eligibility
To be eligible for admission to the LL.M. Program, applicants must hold a first degree in law. A degree in a field other than law, even if followed by a master's degree in law, generally does not suffice for admission. Applicants who have earned a law degree by correspondence course work or distance learning are not eligible for admission. Graduates of foreign law schools who have already had a year of residence in an American law school are ineligible for admission.
Admission Standards
Strong preference is given to applicants who have had at least one year of work experience after earning their first law degree. Only in exceptional circumstances are applications from candidates who are in their final year of their first law degree accepted. Applicants who have not yet graduated must demonstrate that their admission to the program would enable them to realize an immediate and specific career objective that would not otherwise be attainable.
A. Graduates of Law Schools in the United States
Admission to candidacy for the LL.M. degree is restricted, in the case of graduates of law schools in the U.S., to graduates of A.B.A.-accredited law schools who achieved honor status in their undergraduate legal studies as evidenced by very high academic standing, by membership on their law reviews, or by outstanding work in research. Generally, preference is given to candidates who have acquired at least one year of significant professional legal experience subsequent to graduation.
B. Graduates of Law Schools in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or English-speaking Caribbean Countries
Admission for these degree candidates is generally restricted to those who achieved honor status in their undergraduate legal studies as evidenced by very high academic standing, by membership on their law reviews, or by outstanding work in research. As a general matter, applicants from law schools in these countries who have not completed at least five years of post-secondary undergraduate and legal education combined must have been admitted to the bar and practiced for at least one year after completing their legal education.
C. Graduates of All Other Law Schools
The purpose of the LL.M. Program for these degree candidates is to provide an introduction to new areas of interest to them as well as the opportunity to further specialize in their current areas of practice, and is generally restricted to those who achieved honor status in their prior legal studies.
International lawyers who intend to reside permanently and to practice law in the United States should apply for the J.D. degree, the first degree in law, rather than the LL.M. The J.D. program is normally three years of full-time study. Generally, a maximum of one year's advanced standing toward the J.D. degree at Columbia may be granted for graduate legal studies completed in the United States or another common law country. Such standing, however, is determined on an individual basis by request of the student after an offer of admission has been made. No advanced standing is given for legal studies completed in a civil law country. Completion of an LL.M. degree at Columbia Law School does not guarantee admission to the J.D. program. (See "Transfer to the J.D. Program" below.)
Regrettably, because of the large number of applicants from all over the world, it is not logistically possible for interviews to be included as part of the selection process. As a substitute, the Admissions Committee relies upon the insights provided by your letters of recommendation and Personal Statement. In addition to providing the Committee with a more personal sense of your individual qualities, the Personal Statement affords you an opportunity to present any special information or factors that may prove useful to the Committee's deliberations. Nevertheless, if you are in New York we invite you to visit the Law School and the Office of Graduate Legal Studies; we will provide you with a self-guided tour booklet for the Law School and, if you are visiting during the academic year, a list of courses open to visitors. (In 2009-2010, courses will be open to visitors from late September through November and late January through April.) Please also visit our section of this website on Visiting Columbia Law School.
Applications submitted by third-party educational advisors or consultants are strongly discouraged, with the exception of applications from Fulbright or other scholarship organizations. Such applications do not in any way enhance your chances for admission to Graduate Legal Studies at Columbia Law School; in fact, unless submitted through Fulbright or another scholarship organization, they may hinder your chances or render your application incomplete, as we have no way of verifying that the application is indeed your work. The Office of Graduate Legal Studies requests that all application materials be submitted by you directly, and requires that you personally communicate all inquiries regarding the status of your file. We will not report on your status to a third-party advisor.
Communicating with the Office of Graduate Legal Studies
Due to the large volume of applications we receive, it is not possible for the Graduate Legal Studies staff to report on the progress of applications. We will send each applicant, by email, the following information regarding her or his application:
1. An automatic confirmation that we have received your online application once you click “Submit Application”;
2. Notification of missing items, if applicable; and
3. Notification that your application is complete.
Regrettably, we cannot provide information regarding the receipt of specific documents as such requests slow the processing time of applications.
You can also find answers to many of your questions under the Frequently Asked Questions section of this website. Please address all other inquiries by email to gls@law.columbia.edu. We will respond to all inquiries within two business days.
We send all admission decisions by email. Offers of admission are also sent in writing, via courier. Please be sure to provide us with a valid email address and a physical address for the courier delivery (we do not deliver admission materials to post office boxes), and to update that information as necessary. Many companies have put up firewalls which block our email messages. Therefore, we recommend that you use a personal email account (such as gmail, hotmail, or yahoo) or speak with your employer’s IT department to make sure that messages from Columbia Law School will not be blocked. All decisions are sent from gls@law.columbia.edu.
Early Review Program
Applicants for admission to our 2010-2011 LL.M. Program, except those who are in their final year of law school in their home countries and reapplicants from 2009-2010 who were not granted admission, have the option of applying through the Early Review Program. If you wish to be considered under the Early Review Program you must:
1. Submit your application online – we will not accept paper applications for the Early Review Program, and
2. Specify that you wish to be considered for Early Review by checking the appropriate box on the online application form.
All application materials, including supporting documents and TOEFL scores, must be received by November 2, 2009. If all materials are not received by November 2, 2009, you will automatically be considered for admission in the regular cycle.
The Office of Graduate Legal Studies will provide a decision for early applicants by the end of December. Applicants will be admitted, rejected, or deferred to the regular admission cycle. If you are admitted through the Early Review Program, you will not be required to withdraw your applications to other LL.M. programs. Admitted candidates will be required to notify us in early March of their intention to matriculate.
Regular Application Deadline
Applications and all supporting documents for the 2010-2011 academic year must be postmarked no later than December 15, 2009. Applications postmarked after this date will not be processed. Admission decisions are made on a rolling basis, in most cases no later than late April.
Provide as much information as possible on the online application. To avoid any confusion or delay in the processing of your application, please make sure to consistently use the same form of your proper name on all supporting documents and to keep us informed of any changes to your contact information (including mailing address, email address and telephone number). When mailing your supporting documents, please do not place each sheet in a separate folder or sleeve. Clearly mark your name on each supporting document, and we will match it to your online application. Do not include a printed copy of your completed online application form with your supporting documents, as doing so will significantly delay the processing of your application and the timing of your admission decision.
If you are unable to complete the application online, you may send an email to the Office of Graduate Legal Studies (gls@law.columbia.edu) to request a paper application. Include in your message the reason you are unable to complete the application online. While submitting a paper application will not affect your admission decision, it may significantly delay the processing of your application and the timing of your admission decision.
Application Fee
You must submit an application fee of U.S. $75 with your application. This fee is non-refundable and will not be credited against your tuition. The fee must be paid in U.S. dollars, and may be paid by credit card (MasterCard or Visa only), a check drawn on a bank located in the U.S., traveler’s checks, or a U.S. bank or postal money order. Checks must have officially printed mica numbers and fraction numbers (the numbers at the bottom of the check – they may not be typed or entered by hand) and must be made payable to “Columbia University.” Traveler’s checks must be countersigned in both places and made payable to “Columbia University.” To pay by credit card, provide the following information: (1) type of card: MasterCard or Visa; (2) the cardholder’s name exactly as it appears on the card; (3) the account number; and (4) the month and year of expiration (month first, then year). We do not accept Japanese International or Canadian Postal Money Orders; checks drawn on foreign banks (even if in U.S. dollars); wire/bank transfers; American Express cards; or cash. You will be able to pay the fee by credit card after you click “Submit Application” on the online application.
Application for Financial Assistance
To apply for financial assistance, check the appropriate box in the Questionnaire section of the online application, complete the Financial Aid section, and sign the Financial Aid line on the Certification Form. List in the "Additional Remarks" section all scholarships to which you have already applied or to which you intend to apply. It is your obligation to notify the Office of Graduate Legal Studies within seven (7) days should other funds become available to you. Since Columbia Law School awards financial assistance mostly on the basis of need, the Law School reserves the right to reduce the amount of any financial aid it has awarded if other funds become available to you.
If you do not submit an application for financial assistance you will not be considered for financial aid, even if you request it after the admission deadline. If you think you may need aid you should complete the Financial Aid section of the online application.
Supporting Documents
Applicants have the option of submitting certain supporting documents as attachments to their online application rather than through the mail. Submitting documents electronically rather than through the mail will expedite the processing of your application. The following documents will be accepted as attachments:
• Personal Statement
• Résumé/Curriculum Vitae
• Appel Fellowship Application (if applicable)
• Human Rights Fellowship Application (if applicable)
All remaining supporting documents, including letters of recommendation, transcripts, diplomas, and the Certification Form must be submitted by mail to the Office of Graduate Legal Studies.
All documents submitted online should be double-spaced with a 12-point font and standard margins (one inch on all sides). Your name should be listed at the top of each page of each document (in the format of “Surname, First name”) and in the document title when it is saved (i.e., Surname, First name – Personal Statement). Attachments must be in .pdf or Microsoft Word format. We strongly recommend submitting documents in .pdf format if they were created with a non-English version of Microsoft Word. A free version of .pdf conversion software can be downloaded from www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp.
1. Personal Statement
You must upload to the online application a detailed Personal Statement describing your background, academic interests, the program of study you wish to follow and your reasons for doing so. You should prepare this statement without assistance from others. The format of the statement should not exceed three double-spaced pages using a 12-point font with standard margins. We will not consider your application without a Personal Statement, and will not accept a résumé or curriculum vitae in place of the statement.
2. Résumé or Curriculum Vitae
While résumés are not required, we encourage you to upload one to the online application for consideration as part of your application. If you are applying for the Associate-in-Law Program, you must include your résumé with your application.
3. Transcripts and Diplomas (Columbia Law School does not require or provide a form to accompany your transcripts and diplomas.)
You must submit an official transcript and, where applicable, a diploma or proof of degree from each college, university, graduate school and law school you have attended, whether or not you earned a degree. If you are unable to submit original documents, you may submit certified copies. If the originals are not in English, you must submit an official, certified translation of each document in addition to the original document. If you are in school at the time you submit your application, please send us your most recent transcript with your application, and send us an updated one once your fall grades are available. If your rank does not appear on your transcript, we must receive a separate, official statement of rank from your law school. If your law school does not rank its graduates, we must receive an official statement from the law school to this effect. Transcripts and diplomas cannot be uploaded to the online application; submit them in sealed envelopes issued by your University. Please note that we do not accept evaluations of transcripts from companies other than LSAC (see “LSAC LL.M. Credential Assembly Service” below), such as those from WES.
LSAC LL.M. Credential Assembly Service For submission of transcripts, diplomas, and TOEFL scores
We strongly recommend that LL.M. applicants who graduated from law schools outside of the U.S. or Canada register with the Law School Admission Council's (LSAC) LL.M. Credential Assembly Service. This service is designed to save you time and money, especially if you intend to apply to a number of U.S. or Canadian graduate law degree programs.
For a registration fee of U.S. $185, LSAC will collect and authenticate your university records and TOEFL iBT or TOEFL/TWE scores, and will distribute them to the schools to which you are applying. You will therefore need to obtain only one set of transcripts and other required academic credentials. The registration fee includes five law school reports; for an additional fee, applicants can purchase additional reports. Further information about this service is available at www.LLM.LSAC.org.
Please note that all applicants for admission to the LL.M. Program, including those who register with LSAC, must complete Columbia Law School's online application and submit it directly to Columbia Law School, together with their other supporting documents. LSAC will not collect these materials for Columbia.
4. TOEFL iBT or TOEFL/TWE (Test Of English as a Foreign Language/Test of Written English)
All applicants except those whose native and working language is English or who earned their first law degree entirely in English in an English-speaking country must take the TOEFL iBT or the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the Test of Written English (TWE). (No other examination is required.) We do not accept the IELTS exam in place of the TOEFL. The minimum scores required for admission are:
• TOEFL iBT: 105 overall score, with 26 on Reading and Listening sections and 24 on the Speaking and Writing sections;
• Paper-based exam: 620 overall score, with 59/60 on the Structure/Writing and Reading sections, 60/61 on the Listening section, and 5.0 on the TWE.
If your scores fall below these levels, your chances of admission could be adversely impacted even if other factors in your application are strong. You must decide whether to repeat the test based on how far below these scores your results fall; we cannot make this decision for you.
If you are applying for Early Review, we must receive your scores by November 2. Otherwise, you should register for and take the TOEFL by the December 15 deadline. Although you may include a copy of your student score report with your application, Columbia must receive the official test results directly from ETS. If you register with LSAC (see “LSAC LL.M. Credential Assembly Service” below), you do not need to send an official report to Columbia Law School; LSAC will send it. Waivers of the TOEFL requirement are rarely granted, and are granted at the sole discretion of the Office of Graduate Legal Studies. Therefore, if you request a waiver you should assume the request will be denied and make arrangements to take the test by the deadline. Requests for waivers on the grounds that you have run out of time to take the exam or work primarily in the English language will not be granted.
Columbia University’s institution code is 2163; the Law School’s code is 03.
5. Letters of Recommendation (Columbia Law School does not require or provide a form to accompany your letters of recommendation.)
We require two original letters of recommendation from your law school professors, employers, supervisors, or other persons qualified to appraise your academic potential for graduate legal studies. At least one letter should come from a law school professor. If you have work experience, one letter should also come from a work supervisor. "To Whom It May Concern" letters (which tend to be very general), letters from family friends, and letters from prominent persons who have not supervised your work are not helpful.
Letters of recommendation must be written by the recommender on official letterhead and addressed to the Office of Graduate Legal Studies. If your recommenders are unable to print the letters on official letterhead, ask them to include an explanation as to why they are unable to do so. (If your recommenders cannot write in English, please submit certified translations together with the original letters.) We reserve the right to disqualify letters written or translated, in part or whole, by the applicant. Letters of recommendation cannot be uploaded to the online application; submit both letters in sealed envelopes with the recommender’s signature across the back flap.
Please do not submit more than two letters. Part of compiling a strong application for admission is determining which two recommenders will be best able to evaluate your ability to pursue and succeed in graduate legal studies. Even if you indicate that you are submitting more than two letters of recommendation, we will consider your application complete once we have received two letters of recommendation and all other required supporting documentation.
6. Certification Form
Once you submit the online application, you will be able to download the Certification Form. Print and sign the Certification Form, and mail it with your other supporting documents to the Office of Graduate Legal Studies.
7. Application for Human Rights or Appel Fellowships (Optional)
For additional information on the Human Rights and Appel Fellowships, please visit www.law.columbia.edu/llm_jsd/tuition_fees/fin_aid. Fellowship applications should be uploaded to the online application. Be sure to write your name exactly as it appears on your application for admission (in the format of Surname, First name) on your fellowship application(s).
You must submit all supporting documents that cannot be uploaded to the online application by courier or mail, including the Certification Form, transcripts, diplomas, and letters of recommendation. The documents must be received no later than November 2 for Early Review and postmarked no later than December 15 for regular admission. Send all required materials to:
Office of Graduate Legal Studies
Columbia University School of Law
435 West 116th Street, MC 4036
New York, NY 10027-7297
Faxed or emailed application materials will not be accepted. If you plan to send your application by courier, please note that Columbia University does not accept courier deliveries on holidays, Saturdays or Sundays.
All application materials become the property of the Graduate Legal Studies program and as such will not be returned to you under any circumstances. Applications postmarked after the application deadlines will not be considered for admission.
Please note:If you submit an online application, you should not include a printed copy of your completed online application with your supporting documents, as doing so will significantly delay the processing of your application and the timing of your admission decision.
Admission decisions for the Early Review Program are made by the end of December. Applicants will be accepted, rejected or deferred to the regular admission cycle. All other admission decisions are made on a rolling basis, in most cases no later than late April.
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Reapplication
We retain application files for one year after the original year of application. To reapply, you must complete a new online application; submit a new Personal Statement updating your file on your academic and professional activities since you first applied; submit one additional letter of recommendation; and submit a reapplication fee of U.S. $75. The reapplication fee will not be waived. The reapplication deadline is December 15, 2009. Reapplicants who were not originally granted admission are not eligible for the Early Review Program.
Deferrals of admission are not granted automatically. Deferrals that are granted are for one year only. Each request for a deferral must be made in writing and will be decided on a case-by-case basis at the sole discretion of the Office of Graduate Legal Studies. If granted a deferral, you must confirm your intention to enroll by contacting the Office of Graduate Legal Studies between October 1 and December 15. Upon contacting the Office of Graduate Legal Studies, you will be informed of the steps needed to update your application, including submitting an additional tuition deposit of $250 by February 1 and a new Financial Aid application by December 15, if applicable.
Completion of an LL.M. degree at Columbia Law School does not guarantee admission to the J.D. Program. The number of Columbia LL.M. graduates applying for admission to our J.D. Program has grown in the last few years. While each year the Law School admits some LL.M. graduates into the J.D. Program, admission is by no means guaranteed, and in fact is very competitive. There is no quota or separate application review process for LL.M. students applying to transfer into the J.D. Program, but rather LL.M. students are evaluated relative to the entire pool of transfer candidates. Some students have assumed that because of their enrollment in the LL.M. Program, admission as a transfer student is more or less automatic or at least is given a higher priority. This is not the case. Your academic performance at Columbia Law School, recommendations from Columbia Law Professors, and personal conduct as an LL.M. student will greatly affect your ability to transfer to the J.D. Program. For more information, contact the Office of J.D. Admissions at admissions@law.columbia.edu or visit their Web site.
Download Application Instructions and Application Checklist
To download a PDF version of the complete application instructions and application checklist, click the attachment below (Adobe Reader software required).
