Within the LLM degree, LLM students may choose an academic concentration.  A concentration is optional and LLM students may select an area of concentration at any time after the program starts. To be eligible for a Certificate of Concentration (along with the LLM degree,) students must successfully complete at least 12 credits in an area of concentration out of the required 24 credit hours. It is also possible to earn double concentrations as long as a minimum of 12 credits in each area of concentration are completed.  

We offer six academic concentrations. Students may select any of the courses offered in each of the area of concentration to successfully complete the required 12 credits for a Certificate of Concentration: 

• Alternative Dispute Resolution (PDF)
• Corporate or/and Business Law (PDF)
• Intellectual Property and Technology Law (PDF) 
• International and Comparative Law (PDF) 
• Criminal Law and Procedure (PDF) 
• Employment and Labor Law (PDF) 

In certain circumstances, subject to prior approval, students may customize the courses to specialize in an area outside of the above-listed concentration areas). 

Our curriculum offers all the bar exam courses that LLM students at the Moritz College of Law can take to meet the additional legal education requirements of many U.S. jurisdictions to qualify to sit for the bar exam in those jurisdictions.  

You will not be required to take all the bar exam courses listed below. Most states in the U.S. that admit foreign-trained law students and lawyers to practice law in their jurisdictions require between 12-26 credits in the subjects listed below. The selection of which bar exam courses and how many credits one will be required to take depends on which bar exam you will sit for. The Assistant Dean for International and Graduate Affairs is available to meet with students for individualized bar advising. Please e-mail Assistant Director Charliene Abrori at charliene.1@osu.edu to request an appointment or to ask any questions you may have about taking a bar exam and getting admitted to practice law in the U.S. 

Since LLM students at the Moritz College of Law can take up to 34 credits during the LLM program for the same tuition, the students will be able to combine bar exam courses, concentration courses, and any other courses of their interests to gain a broad knowledge of different areas of law during their LLM program. 

• LLM Analysis, Research and Writing 
• US Legal Systems 
• Business Associations 
• Civil Procedure 
• Constitutional Law 
• Contracts I & II 
• Criminal Law 
• Criminal Procedure: Adjudication 
• Criminal Procedure: Investigations 
• Evidence 
• Family Law 
• Federal Courts 
• First Amendment 
• Professional Responsibility/Legal Ethics 
• Property  
• Remedies 
• Sales 
• Torts 
• Uniform Commercial Code/Secured Transactions 
• Wills, Trusts and Estates 

Note that this list above is provided for advising purposes only. View the most up-to-date schedule of bar exam courses for each academic year on this Academic Information page. For a full list of all course offerings at Moritz, please visit here (PDF).  

Also note that all law students in the U.S. buy a commercial bar prep course to study for the bar exam. Moritz College of Law subsidizes all Moritz students, JD and LLM students alike, to enroll in the THEMIS course, one of U.S.’s largest national bar review providers. Therefore, LLM students at the Moritz College of Law will have access to this course at a very low cost ($500 while the regular price may be as high as $2,700)

• The curriculum offers experiential learning courses that teach students the practical side of the law. These courses equip LLM students with essential lawyering skills that allow them to meet the demand of the legal service market. LLM students may enroll in the following experiential courses and earn credits towards the required minimum 24 credits: 
• Legislation Clinic (4 credits) 
• Mediation Clinic (4 credits) 
• Law Externship Program (2-4 credits) 
• Compliance Externship ( 3 credits) 
• Simulation Courses: such as Transactional Practice, Legal Negotiation, and more (PDF).  
• Moot Competitions (1 credit): students may earn academic credit for participation in the annual LLM International Commercial Arbitration Moot Competition (external competition); the Lawrence Negotiations Competition; Moritz Representation in Mediation Competition; Moritz 1L Competition. 

Learn More About Experiential Learning

Students enrolled in the LLM program at Moritz are eligible to apply to the LLM-JD transfer program upon completion of their LLM program. The Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) scores are not required to apply to the JD transfer program. The applicant's academic performance during the LLM program, taking into account their grades and remarks from their professors, is among the key considerations for admission to the JD program. 

If students are accepted to the JD program, they will not earn the LLM degree; instead they will be able to transfer most of the credits earned during their LLM program (except for credits earned in LLM-only courses) towards the JD degree and only need to complete additional two years at Moritz to earn the JD degree.  

View More Details about the Transfer Option

Eligibility requirements for the New York Bar Exam for foreign-trained lawyers and law graduates is available here. Foreign-trained students should pay particular attention to Rule 520.6 of the Court of Appeals for the Admission of Attorneys and Counselors at Law.  

Rule 520.6 permits foreign-trained lawyers and law graduates to sit for the New York bar exam whose first law degree was substantially equivalent in duration and in the course of law study to the U.S. JD degree program offered at a law school approved by the American Bar Association. If the first law degree lacks either the durational or substantive equivalency (but not both), they can cure such deficiency by completing an LLM degree program at an ABA-approved law school in the U.S. and meeting the course and credit requirements listed below as part of the LLM degree.  

Please note that only the New York Board of Law Examiners has the authority to determine the equivalency of a foreign student’s first law degree to the U.S. JD degree. Therefore, all foreign-trained lawyers and law graduate are required to apply for an Advance Evaluation of Eligibility at least 6 months in advance of sitting for the New York Bar Exam. 

Foreign-trained LL.M. students who wish to take the New York Bar Exam must successfully complete at least 24 credits in the LLM program, of which at least 12 credits must be in certain required classes. New York rules prohibit online and distance learning courses. All 24 credits must be completed within 24 months of matriculation in the LLM program.  

The following courses are offered at Moritz College of Law for LLM students to meet these course and credit requirements: 

Minimum 6 credits in three mandatory courses: 

• US Legal System (3 credits) 
• LLM Analysis, Research and Writing (2 credits) 
• Professional Responsibility (2-3 credits) 

Minimum 6 credits in courses that focus on subject matter tested on the New York Bar Exam (i.e. the Uniform Bar Exam) or the New York Law Examination: 

• Business Associations (4 credits) 
• Constitutional Law 
• Contracts (4 credits) 
• Criminal Law (4 credits) 
• Criminal Procedure (4 credits) 
• Wills, Trusts and Estates (3 credits) 
• Evidence (4 credits) 
• Family Law (4 credits) 
• Civil Procedure (4 credits) 
• Property (4 credits) 
• Torts (4 credits) 
• Secured Transactions (Uniform Commercial Code) (3 credits) 

General information on requirements for a foreign-trained lawyer and law graduates to be admitted to practice law in Ohio is listed below. Please contact Moritz’s Assistant Director Charliene Abrori for individualized advice at charliene.1@osu.edu 

To be admitted to the practice of law in Ohio, applicants with undergraduate and legal education outside of the U.S. must meet the requirements outlined in Rule I of the Rules for the Government of the Bar (Sections 2(C), 10(C)(12), or 11(B)(7) of this rule): 

• Applicants must have completed at least three (3) years of post-secondary education and at least three (3) years of formal legal education and have received a law degree (i.e. 6 years of post-secondary education total.) NOTE: An LLM program can either count toward the requirement of six years of post-secondary education or toward the 30-credit requirement below, but not both. 
• Applicants must have completed at least 30 credit hours of classroom courses at an ABA-approved law school, of which at least at least 20 credit hours must be in courses that cover subjects tested on the Ohio Bar Exam (i.e. the Uniform Bar Exam): Legal Research/Writing; Business Associations; Conflict of Laws; Constitutional Law; Contracts; Criminal Law/Criminal Procedure; Wills, Trusts and Estates; Evidence; Family Law; Civil Procedure; Professional Responsibility/Legal Ethics; Property (Real & Personal); Torts; Uniform Commercial Code. No online credits are accepted. All 30 credits must be earned within 48 months from the beginning of the enrollment. 
• Request an Evaluation of Foreign Education. 
• Register with the Office of Bar Admissions an Application to Register as a Candidate for Admission to the Practice of Law (the “Registration Application”.) An applicant may not apply to take the February Ohio bar examination unless the applicant has filed a complete registration application by the August 15 immediately preceding the February examination. An applicant may not apply to take the July Ohio bar examination unless the applicant has filed a complete registration application by January 15 immediately preceding the July examination. 
• Demonstrate that applicant possesses the requisite character, fitness, and moral justifications for admission 
• Register with the Office of Bar Admissions an Application to Take the Bar Exam 
• Pass the Ohio Bar Examination (UBE), the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam, and the Ohio Law Component. 

Eligibility to take the California Bar Exam for foreign-trained lawyers: 

Foreign-trained lawyers who are already admitted to the active practice of law in a foreign country or in another U.S. jurisdiction and are in good standing are qualified to take the California Bar Examination without having to complete any additional legal education at an ABA-approved law school in the US.  

Eligibility to take the California Bar Exam for foreign-trained law students (not yet admitted to practice law) 

Foreign-trained law students who received their first law degree outside the U.S. may qualify to take the California Bar Exam if they: 

• Have a first law degree that is equivalent to the U.S. JD degree or that meets the educational requirements for admission to practice law in a foreign country or in a country where their law degree was acquired, and 
• Obtained an LLM degree from an accredited US law school approved by the ABA or the State of California. The LLM degree must have at least 20 credit hours with no less than 12 credits in subjects tested on the California Bar Exam, including Professional Responsibility that covers the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and leading federal and state case law on the subject.  

Read more about eligibility to take the California Bar Examination 

Rule 46 of the DC Court of Appeals on Admission to the DC Bar permits foreign-trained law students and lawyers to sit for the DC bar exam if they have graduated from a foreign law school and successfully completed at least 26 credit hours in courses that are concentrated on subjects tested on the DC Bar Exam (i.e. the Uniform Bar Exam). 

What are the approved 26 credit hour courses? 

In addition to passing the Uniform Bar Examination, a candidate must meet other requirements before applying to be admitted to the practice of law in the New York State. One must apply for admission to the practice of law in New York within 3 years from the date when the applicant sat for the second day of the Uniform Bar Examination; hence must have satisfied all the requirements below within this timeline. These other requirements are: 

• Pass the Multi State Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) 
• Complete 50 hour of pro bono services. View details here.  
• Pass the New York Law Exam (NYLE) 
• Meet the Skills Competency and Professional Values Requirement (Rule 520.18). For LLM students, there are typically three Pathways that they can utilize to meet this Skills competency and professional values requirement: 
• Pathway One – selection of courses approved by the Moritz faculty listed in the course work categories here. For our purposes, any student who has not gained at least one year of full- time legal work experience can qualify to fulfill this Skills Competency and Professional Values Requirement by completing the Moritz Pathway One curriculum. Moritz’s Registrar will certify compliance with “Pathway One” for students who complete the pathway components adopted by the Moritz faculty. Note that students must achieve a passing grade for their course work and may not use the same course to satisfy more than one of the coursework categories. The Assistant Dean will advise students wanting to complete the Pathway 1 requirements as part of their LL.M. 
• Pathway Four, Apprenticeship: Complete a post-graduate, six-month, full-time apprenticeship in a law office in the United States, or in a foreign country.  
• Pathway Five, Practice in Another Jurisdiction: If you have been authorized to practice law in another state in the U.S., or outside of the U.S., and have practiced in that jurisdiction full-time for one year, or part-time for two years, you will meet the skills competency and professional values requirement. Practice may occur before or after the LL.M. program, but it must be within the past 3 years counting from the date when you sat for the second day of the Uniform Bar Examination. 

View Admissions Requirements