On most days, you will find Sarah Dorner standing at her desk, dividing her attention between the two computer screens in front of her. The walls of her office are adorned with pictures and mementos from across the world, gifts of gratitude from lawyers who have graduated from the UNH Franklin Pierce of School of Law in Concord, New Hampshire.
This is not too surprising; as the Assistant Dean of Graduate Admissions at the law school, Dorner is the first point of contact for graduate applicants. It is a role she embraced more than five years ago after graduating with a master’s in public administration; it is also a role that is complex and demanding, with multiple moving parts.
Over the course of months, and sometimes years, the Concord native advises potential applicants, participates in LLM themed webinars, takes part in “recruitment fairs” across the world (with colleagues from other law schools), develops graduate communication and outreach strategies, and plays a crucial role in evaluating the applications themselves.
Her role does not end there.
Although the position may not have asked for it, Dorner has also pushed for a greater degree of integration of LLM candidates within the law school, making space for non-JD students. This would include cultural programming for foreign-trained lawyers (as most LLM candidates are), as well as offering on-campus employment opportunities.
It is, quite clearly, a lot.
On her part, Dorner is driven by the difference she can make in people’s lives. “For our graduates, [the UNH Franklin Pierce master’s] program is a transformative experience,” she says, “and I get to be a part of it. This is something I really enjoy.”
This sentiment, this feeling of contentment from helping others, is a recurring theme when it comes to those who work in the field of international higher education.
As Dorner puts it, “People who work with international students, who are interested in people, [who are] interested in the world are, by default, good people.”
Nearly seventy miles to the southeast of UNH Franklin Pierce, in the city of Boston, lies the Suffolk University Law School. Here, Bridgett Sandusky has watched with interest as the number of LLM programs offered by US law schools has grown exponentially over the last two decades.
And, much like Sarah Dorner in New Hampshire, Sandusky has welcomed LLM candidates from all over the world, often being the first point of contact before they entered the law school, and remaining their friend and advisor through their time within the law school.
Currently the Assistant Dean of Graduate Law Programs at Suffolk Law, Sandusky joined the law school way back in 2005. “At that time,” she remembers, “we were one of the few law schools who offered an LLM. Not anymore.”
As this rather critical article from 2013 finds, the number of LLM programs in the US grew by 65% in just ten years. As per the Law School Admissions Counsel (LSAC), which often acts as the admission portal for US LLM programs, there are 153 US law schools which offer at least one LLM program. With a majority, if not all, of these specifically designed for foreign-trained lawyers.
Interestingly, not only has the number of LLMs changed, but for Sandusky, the very purpose of the LLM has as well. “I have seen a trend in that more and more international students want to take the Bar exam,” she says, referring to one of the most popular Bar examinations in the country, that conducted by the New York State Bar.
Instead, just a few decades ago, foreign trained lawyers who enrolled for the LLM were more attracted by the concept of gaining specialized knowledge.” “Those LLM candidates,” says Sandusky, “used to be looking for knowledge and training that would be valuable back home.”
This change in goals, and the number of LLM programs on offer, are just two examples of how transnational legal education has changed over the past three decades or so. Perhaps the most important one is that relating to finances.
“[Financial aid] is becoming a bigger problem with each passing year,” says Sandusky. Compounded with the increasing costs of education (or education inflation), this often means that conversations with LLM applicants can be difficult to say the least.
“I am very transparent about how much [the LLM] is going to cost,” say Sandusky, “and it just breaks my heart to hear that they won’t be able to make it.”
Despite the relatively small size of Suffolk Law’s LLM class, and the fact that student recruitment is “becoming more and more expensive”, Sandusky draws inspiration from the change that she has witnessed.
“There have been applicants with incredible stories, and to see their determination to pursue a legal education in the US is quite powerful. It really makes an impact on you.”
“It is no easy task, being away from all things familiar, immersed in a language that is not your native one,” remembers Kara Galvin, “Everything is just a little more difficult than you want it to be. It is exhausting. So, to be able to spend that time studying overseas, stay positive, and not become totally burnt out is difficult – but also so rewarding.”
Galvin is the Director of International and Graduate Programs at University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis, an institution she joined way back in 2017. At Minnesota Law, Galvin and her team oversee LLM admissions, the SJD (doctoral) program, as well as exchange programs for JD students. She also happens to have lived the life of an international student, spending time in Costa Rica, Ireland and Spain.
Her time there has given her tremendous insights into what it means to be a foreign student, using this knowledge to make the LLM at Minnesota Law a more welcoming and fulfilling experience.
Talk to LLM candidates at Minnesota Law, and they will tell you how Galvin goes out of her way to help and support them, be it with course registrations (LLMs typically must make way for JD students when it comes to registrations), or emotional support. In her office suite, there is an entire wall covered with photographs of current LLM and SJD students – a way of showing international students that they are seen, they are welcome, and they are celebrated here.
The twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul have long been known to be immigration friendly cities, and Minnesota Law itself is within the top 20 law schools as per US News. But these are facts that many LLM applicants are simply unaware of. One of the biggest challenges she faces, is simply to make applicants aware that her school exists. Or rather, where her school exists.
“Whenever I do a [LLM] webinar I start by displaying a slide of the map of the United States. I must point and tell them that this is where Minneapolis is – in terms of name recognition, Minnesota is not like New York or California.”
And then there is the weather. Much like her counterparts in New Hampshire and Boston, Galvin and her colleagues must deal with brutal winters; in 2016 Minnesota proudly won top place for having the most miserable winter.
“Just the other day, an LLM applicant was describing how terrible the winter was in Nigeria. I remember telling her that she had better be prepared for a whole new level of winter here in Minnesota!”
In many ways, the challenges Galvin faces are like those faced by other law schools – building name recognition outside the US, funneling precious dollars into marketing and recruitment, while also ensuring a fulfilling graduate experience. All the while competing with a hundred other law schools in the US alone, not to mention the hundreds of LLMs offered by law schools around the world.
And just like her colleagues, what keeps her going is the change she can play some part in.
“The work that our LLM and SJD graduates do around the world is fascinating. And then to keep in touch with them and see all the great things that they’re doing at home is extremely meaningful for me.”
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