中国法律博客
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The Value of a China LLM
媒体来源: 中国法律博客

Law Professor Donald Clarke, of Chinese Law Prof Blog fame, has compiled an extremely helpful compilation of views on the pros and cons of Westerners' securing an advanced law degree, or LLM, from a Chinese law school. The compilation can be found here (h/t to China Esquire).

Saw this the other day via Tom's post (Dan conveniently has the links in the above succinct paragraph). I usually find myself commenting more on foreign LLMs to Chinese lawyers than the other way around, but I might as well wade in here.

Not everyone finds their way over here through "traditional" means (i.e. graduating college with a degree in Chinese and a JD from an Ivy League school). I have a feeling that some of the lawyers commenting on Don Clarke's blog probably see life in those terms. To them, there is little value in a LLM because the people they see everyday are superstars and don't need that extra boost to their CVs.

However, those of us who have made our way up the food chain in the law biz over here through non-traditional means understand that little things, like an LLM from Bei Da, can make a lot of difference for someone trying to gain a foothold in the country. I don't have one, but I am most assuredly a non-traditional type and understand what it's like trying to figure out how to get a break in a new industry.

If you have that Harvard law degree, by all means go work for a top firm, get your Chinese language training, and then migrate over here at some point. Shouldn't be too difficult. For the rest of us, you have to find a way to distinguish yourself from the rest of the pack. An LLM is one way to do it, but not the only way.

When I used to interview folks for positions at my old firm, which had a lot more non-traditional traffic than DLA Piper does (that's where I am now), I was always impressed with lawyers that in some way had a commitment to China, whether by legal training, language training, or by living here for an extended period of time. Without that, you better be a long-standing expert in a hot area of the law.

To sum up, an LLM can be valuable to certain people and shouldn't be discounted. However, the trick is to figure out if you need it and whether there are alternatives.

As Forest Gump would say, that's all I want to say about that right now.