Producing the future leaders of the bankruptcy bar
The Rankings
What Frims Want
True. However, as
part of its accelerated
two-year J.D. program,
Northwestern University
School of Law requires
that all applicants “have
at least two years of substantive post-undergradu-ate work experience,
preferably in a non-legal
setting, and ideally have
demonstrated managerial and leadership experience.” The program
places a premium on candidates who have supervised people in a professional environment.
Translating
this into the law firm
world seems to be the
challenge. One interesting attempt is the “Law
of Law Firms” seminar
offered by the University of Pennsylvania Law
School. It covers the
statutory and regulatory
laws that underlie and
are embedded in the organization and operation
of a law firm. It addresses
how law firms behave,
politically, socially and
financially, and how the
culture and organization drive and shape
one another. According to Vice
Dean Jo-Ann Ver-rier:
“This seminar
along with our Center on Professionalism help students
develop the additional skills needed to
be successful in the real
world: communications,
strategic planning, prob-lem-solving and organizational management.”
Topics include the
formation of the organization, including ownership,
liability and tax considerations; managing the ten-
sion between profits and
politics, on the one hand,
and ethics and profes-
sionalism, on the other;
admission, promotion and
termination of partners,
including the existence
of equity and non-equity
tiers; and multi-disciplin-
ary and multi-jurisdic-
tional issues arising
from substantive
and geographic
diversity.
Law firms also
want attorneys to
have well-devel-
oped soft skills.
Chris White, chief
learning/diversity/
recruitment officer for
Nixon Peabody, explains:
“Attorneys need rela-tionship-building skills
from day one. They need
to gain the confidence of
and build relationships
with their internal clients
(i.e., partners). They also
need these skills for external clients.”
»
LL.M. in
Bankruptcy
Sophisticated, Practice-Oriented LL.M. Course
Offerings: Two dozen specialized bankruptcy
course offerings designed specifically for the
LL.M. program.
Expert Faculty: Learn from experienced
St. John’s law professors and more than
a dozen leading judges and practitioners in
small interactive classes.
Merit Scholarships: Merit scholarships are
available to outstanding applicants.
Alumni: Our graduates include law and
business school professors, lawyers at leading
law firms and clerks for top judges.
An unparalleled offering: Located in
New York, the epicenter of sophisticated
bankruptcy practice, St. John’s offers the only
Masters of Bankruptcy program in the nation.
This elite program accepts only about a dozen
highly motivated students a year.
For Information and an Application Contact:
LL.M. in Bankruptcy Program
St. John’s School of Law
8000 Utopia Parkway, Queens, NY 11439
(877) STJ-7784 Ext. 5343 LLM@stjohns.edu
www.stjohns.edu/learnmore/01583.stj
