3-Year Joint JD/Tax LLM Program

Loyola offers what we believe to be the only fully-sequenced 3-year joint JD/Tax LLM Program in the United States. Three years. Two degrees. A program designed to make you practice-ready in tax immediately upon graduation.

In today's market, job candidates need every edge they can get. A Tax LLM degree certifies competence in a discipline central to transactional practice. Loyola's 3-year joint program offers students significant employment and financial advantages:

• Potential for LLM-level tax employment after three years: Many students cannot afford to spend the additional year it normally takes to complete a stand-alone full-time Tax LLM program. Our program allows you to earn your Tax LLM degree from one of the country's Top 10 graduate tax programs without extending the time you spend in school.
• Enhanced job prospects: During the fall on-campus-interview season at the beginning of their second year (when big firms hire second-year summer associates on track for permanent offers), students in the joint program can offer employers a credential (completion of the intensive summer tax session) not available from any other law school in the United States.
• Second-year summer open: Students in the joint program will normally be free to accept big-firm employment during the summer after their second year without conflicting academic obligations.

Finally, this unique 3-year JD/Tax LLM option is offered by:

• A Top 10 Tax LLM program (US News & World Report) at a law school
• Consistently ranked in the Top 5 in the United States in "best classroom experience" (Princeton Review), which has produced the
• Most partners in the 10 largest LA law firms in the past quarter century (Martindale-Hubbell, 11/2009, firm partners who graduated 1984 or later).

Program Details

Although significant flexibility is permitted, students in the program will normally complete all requirements for both the JD and Tax LLM degrees in three academic years, as follows:

How to Apply

JD Applications

Applicants interested in the 3-year joint JD/Tax LLM program who have not yet been admitted to law school should complete (1)  Loyola’s standard JD program application (http://www.lls.edu/admissions/jd) plus (2) a supplemental 3-year joint JD/Tax LLM application. Applicants who have already been admitted to Loyola's JD program or are already Loyola JD students need only complete the supplemental 3-year joint JD/Tax LLM application.

Transfer Applications

Students who have completed the first year of their JD studies at another ABA-accredited law school and wish to participate in Loyola's 3-year joint JD/Tax LLM program and obtain a Loyola JD and Tax LLM degree in two further years of study will normally transfer upon completion of their first year of JD studies. Transfer students will normally complete the intensive summer tax session during the summer after their second JD year. Applicants interested in transferring into the joint program should complete (1)  Loyola’s standard transfer application (http://www.lls.edu/admissions/transfers) plus (2) a supplemental 3-year joint JD/Tax LLM application.

Visitor Applications

Students who have completed more than the first year of their JD studies at another ABA-accredited law school and wish to participate in the joint program may apply to visit at Loyola beginning with the intensive summer tax session during the summer after their second JD year. Upon completion of Loyola's Tax LLM requirements and the JD requirements of their home school, they will obtain a JD degree from their home school and a Tax LLM degree from Loyola. Students interested in participating as visitors should complete (1)  Loyola’s standard visitor application (http://www.lls.edu/admissions/visiting/how.html) plus (2) a supplemental 3-year joint JD/Tax LLM application. They must also obtain permission from their home school.

Program Rules

Students in the 3-year joint JD/Tax LLM program are subject to all rules and requirements applicable to Loyola JD and Tax LLM students generally.

In addition, to complete the joint JD/Tax LLM program in three years, students must complete both intensive summer tax session courses and 12 additional units of Tax LLM courses (Tax Practice and Procedure plus 10 additional units of Tax LLM elective courses) during their second and/or third years of law school. In any event, students in the program must complete the requirements for each degree within five years after matriculation.

Because of the intensive nature of the instruction, students enrolled in the intensive summer tax session may not undertake any significant competing commitments, e.g., working, taking other courses, or sitting for the bar examination.  Violation of this prohibition may result in denial of course credit.

Students who have previously taken one or more courses subsumed in the intensive summer tax session courses (e.g., Income Tax Timing Issues, Taxation of Property Transactions, Corporate Taxation I & II and Partnership Taxation I & II) will receive undiminished Tax LLM credit for the relevant intensive summer tax session course, but will not receive unit credit toward the Tax LLM degree for any subsumed courses.

In no event will intensive summer tax session courses count for credit toward the JD degree. Students in intensive summer tax session courses will be graded on the Tax LLM grading scale and will receive credit only on their Tax LLM transcripts.  The 12 additional units of Tax LLM coursework necessary to complete the Tax LLM degree taken during the second and third years of law school will count toward both the JD and Tax LLM degrees and will appear on both the JD and Tax LLM transcripts.  Students in the joint program will be graded on Loyola’s JD grading scale; for purposes of their Tax LLM transcripts, however, grades in LLM-eligible courses will be converted to the LLM grading scale for purposes of computing LLM GPAs.

Further Information

Questions regarding the program should be directed to Prof. Jennifer Kowal, Director, Tax LLM Program, at jennifer.kowal@lls.edu or 213-736-8349.