Penn Carey Law LLM Program 2022-2023

Break Barriers
Broaden Your Horizons
Become a Global Leader

Academic excellence. Collegial culture.

The Penn Carey Law LLM is a rigorous, full-time academic program designed for lawyers trained outside the United States. This general LLM degree allows you to customize your curriculum by selecting courses from our extensive offerings to focus on a specific area of law or to explore new interests. You can also choose from two concentrations: Intellectual Property and Technology Law or Global Security, Sustainability, and Human Rights.

Accessible faculty, extensive student support, and a culture of collegiality are hallmarks of Penn Carey Law.

The Law School is situated on the University of Pennsylvania’s historic Ivy League campus, so you can attend classes, lectures, and events across disciplines.

Wharton Business and Law Certificate (WBLC)

As a Penn Carey LLM student, you can enroll in the WBLC. Taught by leading Wharton faculty, the WBLC program is exclusively for Penn Carey Law LLM students. This program runs concurrently with the LLM program and does not require a separate application.

Penn Carey Law Students sitting at a table outside

Pre-Term Program

Your LLM at Penn Carey Law begins with a five-week, five-credit program prior to the start of the fall semester. This innovative program provides an academic foundation in the U.S. legal system as well as social, cultural, and professional opportunities. By September, you are prepared for your classes alongside JDs and to fully integrate into Penn Carey Law’s collegial community.

Extracurriculars

Whatever your interests are, there are student groups through which you can engage with your fellow LLM and JD students. Options range from athletic clubs to academic and professional organizations to student-run journals. Past LLMs have joined the Journal of International Law, Journal of Constitutional Law, Asian Law Review, and Journal for Law and Social Change.

Experiential Opportunities

You can select from a broad array of pro bono opportunities, clinics, bootcamps, and practice-focused courses.

Office of Career Strategy (OCS)

Enhance your workplace skills and explore career opportunities with support from a dedicated LLM Career Counselor, who organizes programs designed specifically for LLM students, including resume and cover letter drafting, networking, and interview skills programs to help you connect with potential employers.

Penn Carey Law LLM Program students mingle together for team building chemistry

Admission and Financing Your Education

All applications and supporting materials must be submitted through LSAC.org by November 15 (early deadline) or December 15 (regular deadline).

We offer merit scholarships to select students. As most students combine loans, savings, and scholarships to fund their LLM, you should explore outside funding as early as possible.

Application and scholarship information

Housing and Living In Philadelphia

Philadelphia features charming residential neighborhoods, a booming restaurant scene, robust art and theatre life, excellent shopping, and great sports teams, all centrally located and served by public transportation. The city offers professional students an affordable, accessible, and exciting lifestyle with easy access to New York City and Washington, D.C.

Although on-campus housing is available to all students, most LLM students opt for one of the diverse, safe, and attractive off-campus housing options, ranging from rooms in historic houses to modern high-rise apartments.

A landscape photograph of a group of Penn Carey Law LLM Program students posing together for a picture