Law (LLM)
Law School
Program Description
Cornell Law School offers a highly selective Master of Laws Degree and admission is based on a holistic review of the entire application including prior academic performance, recommendations, and work experience.
Application Requirements
To be considered for admission to the General LL.M. program, applicants must have:
- Earned a first degree of law outside the United States prior to the start of the program.
- Proficiency in English as demonstrated by all aspects of the application and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS), if required.
Cornell accepts both the internet-based (iBT) TOEFL and IELTS test scores. If submitting a TOEFL score, applicants must request that the Educational Testing Service sends official score report(s) to the LSAC using institution code number 8395. If submitting IELTS scores, applicants must request official IELTS score report(s) be sent to the LSAC Credential Assembly Service for electronic download using the IELTS system. A high level of English proficiency is needed to complete the General LL.M. program. While all applications will be reviewed regardless of ESL scores, successful applicants typically have a minimum TOEFL overall score of 100 or a minimum IELTS overall band score of 7.0.
Applicants should plan to take either test prior to December. TOEFL and IELTS scores are valid only if dated within two years of the program’s application deadline.
The English language proficiency requirement may be waived if an applicant meets at least one of the following criteria:
- is a citizen or permanent resident of the United States, or a citizen of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand or Canada (except Quebec).
- at the time of enrollment at Cornell, the applicant will have studied in full-time status for at least two academic years within the last five years in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand, or with English language instruction in Canada or South Africa. Even if English was the language of instruction at another school, if study did not occur in one of these countries, applicants are not exempt from the requirement. Applicants must submit a transcript that shows attendance at college in one of the approved locations, and that the academic program was at least two years in length.
If the criteria above is met, a waiver may be requested by uploading an addendum to the online application with the appropriate documentation. Waiver requests are reviewed with complete applications only.
Policies and Procedures
General LL.M. Grading Policy
LL.M. candidates are graded on the scale of High Honors (HH), Honors (H), Satisfactory (S), and Unsatisfactory (U), except that an LL.M. student may, after consultation with a Dean of Students advisor, elect to be graded on the J.D. scale and curve. This election applies to the entire academic year and must be made by notifying the Law School Registrar within the first four weeks of the date fall semester classes begin.
A grade of HH is appropriate for students who would have received an A or higher, H is appropriate for students who would have received a grade in the B+ to A- range, S is appropriate for students who would have received a grade in the range of C- to B, and U is appropriate for students who would have received a D+ or lower grade. There is no faculty policy regulating the proportion of HH, H, S, and U grades that faculty may give to LL.M. students.
Merit points are not assigned to HH, H, S, and U grades. For General LL.M. candidates, the Law School faculty determines whether the student’s course work meets the necessary standard for the award of the LL.M. degree.
General LL.M. Academic Deficiency
Depending on the grade scale elected, a General LL.M. student who receives a U or grade of D+ or below at the close of the first semester of law study will be placed on informal probation and must meet with the Dean of Students prior to continued enrollment. An LL.M. student will be dropped for scholastic deficiency if, in the judgment of the faculty, the student’s work at any time is markedly unsatisfactory. Work may be considered markedly unsatisfactory if, for example, the merit point ratio for work in the first semester is lower than 2.00 or two or more U grades are received.