If you will be starting your 3L year soon and are undecided about your post-law school plans, you may want to explore the pros and cons of doing an LLM. Law students wanting to specialize in a specific area of law (tax, finance, international, environmental), can boost their credentials by completing an LLM degree from a school with an excellent reputation. Another reason to pursue an LLM is to establish yourself in a new geographic market; firms are sometimes reluctant to hire people who haven’t shown a strong connection with their location. While completing the LLM program, take advantage of the opportunity network and develop local contacts. In the last two years, our law school has had an increase in the number of students who are doing LLMs. What’s the downside of doing an LLM? The cost in terms of lost earning dollars as well as the cost of the program itself is a factor that students should consider carefully before deciding to take on additional debt. Most LLM programs have fixed deadlines for receiving applications, but the deadlines vary among programs. For a comprehensive list of LLM programs see http://www.llm-guide.com/.