The Graduate Program in Financial Services Law

Offering the degree of LL.M. in Financial Services Law for U.S. and foreign lawyers on a full- and-part-time basis.

The Graduate Program in Financial Services Law provides the LL.M. candidate with the opportunity to acquire a thorough knowledge and expertise in the law, business, and regulation of the global financial services industry and hands-on, skilled-related practices regarding transactions, finance, agreement negotiation, and structure. Through this comprehensive program, students will develop a rich understanding of the financial, business, and regulatory policy concerns that impact financial institutions globally. The LL.M. comprises a rigorous core curriculum that provides a comprehensive foundation in financial services law and business, and a broad array of electives that permit candidates to examine in depth various areas of particular interest. The program will be taught in New York Law School’s brand new state-of-the-art academic building, opening in spring 2009, which offers the most advanced technological features of any U.S. law school.

Each LL.M. degree student must take the Regulatory Policy and Advanced Research Seminar courses. In addition, students must select one of four areas of concentration: Asset Management, Banking, Capital Markets, and International Regulation. Each student must take a minimum of five courses in one of these areas and complete the balance of the 24 credit minimum requirement through electives.

Students may come to the Graduate Program in Financial Services Law with different levels of preparation and different professional backgrounds and goals. In order to enable students to reach those goals, the program assigns each student a faculty advisor who helps him or her develop an individualized course of study and career plan. The Program Director is also always available to assist and guide the students in connection with the LL.M. program. Recent J.D. graduates with little or no background in financial services may start the degree program after completing only two prerequisite courses. The full resources of New York Law School are available to LL.M. students, including the Office of Career Services, the staff and collections of the Mendik Law Library, and our state-of-the-art electronic research resources.
 

Financial Services at New York Law School

New York Law School has a presence in the financial services law field that few, if any, other U.S. law schools can match. At many law schools, financial services law seems almost an afterthought, with the faculty and curriculum focused on offering only a few basic financial services law courses, such as Securities Regulation, Administrative Law, and Banking Law. New York Law School has demonstrated a commitment to teaching financial services law at the highest level, as evidenced by the extraordinary depth and prominence of the faculty, the work of the Center on Financial Services Law, and the development of the new LL.M. in Financial Services Law.

The LL.M. program offers more than 50 different law-related courses, many of which involve advanced discussion and skills-related practices, ensuring that LL.M. students graduate with a thorough knowledge of the area of concentration selected. And through the Center on Financial Services Law, the School offers a variety of continuing legal education courses, seminars, and programs that provide a forum for industry leaders to debate important new laws, regulatory policies and structure, cases, best practices, and other important issues facing the field.

The Law School’s commitment to financial services law is supported by a number of other important resources unique to the Law School, including the Center on Business Law & Policy, the Center for International Law, the Center for New York City Law, and the Center for Real Estate Studies. In addition, the Law School’s location right where the action is provides students with incredible opportunities for hands-on experience in the financial services industry, with Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange, two major futures exchanges, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the headquarters of several major banks and brokerage firms, and many of leading law and accounting firms only a few blocks away.