Tax LLM Reputations

[CF25]

I will be a 1L this Fall most likely at the University of Denver or University of San Diego. I am interested in tax law and just wanted to get feedback on the reputation of LLM's outside the top 3 (NYU, UF, GT). Is it even worth it obtaining an LLM from other schools (i.e. USD or DU)? What if I want to work on the West Coast? Thanks.

[ifyem]

I'm a 2L at DU and I am currently doing the JD/LLM in Tax. Our program has an awesome national reputation so I wouldn't worry about not being able to find a job on the West Coast. However, I do recommend talking to Robin Wallace, the Admissions Advisor in the Tax Dept, as she will definitely be able to address your inquiries.

[CF25]

Thank you for the input. I believe I briefly spoke with her when I was touring DU over X-mas break. I mentioned that I was interested in the J.D./Tax L.L.M. program and she was very informative in regards to the program and timelines. How do you like the program so far?

[emarejay]

Right now, the market is completely dead. It all depends what kind of tax you eventually want to practice, but as far as transactional, corporate, and the M&A stuff, thing are flat. You have time though to hope/wait for a rebound. The only "awesome national reputation" belongs to NYU. Remember that. Even schools "better" than Du like BU, Florida, Miami, NW, and even Georgetown are graduating students without employment right now. I would never advise anyone to go out of their way to attend DU's LLM program, but if you are already there, it makes things immensely more sensible. I'm at one of the non-NYU schools mentioned and I have found out three things about tax LLMs in this market. They are NYU, NYU, NYU haha. Good Luck.

[CF25]

I'm going to go out on a limb right now and guess you are at........BU??

[phisher]

I'm a 2L at DU and I am currently doing the JD/LLM in Tax. Our program has an awesome national reputation so I wouldn't worry about not being able to find a job on the West Coast.

I hope that you have not relied too heavily on this assessment of DU. DU's reputation is not bad, but it's a long way from "awesome." The program is a mix of students pursuing M.T.s and LL.M.s. If you want to work in/around Denver or work in an accounting firm, then it's not bad. But DU really has very low pull among big law or law firms from other areas of the country.


USD, however, has a long-standing good reputation, especially on the west coast. The biggest drawback to USD is the recent rise of Loyola Law School's LLM program. But if you want to work out west, USD trumps DU any day. And if you want to work anywhere other than Denver, USD has a stronger reputation, better networking, and a higher likelihood of landing a job.