Letters of Recommendation- From Whom?

Getting the Letters of Recommendation is  crucial for LLM application. However, this is the only part of the application process for which you have to depend on someone else. You cannot ask your referee to write a recommendation letter for you one day before the application deadline. So, choose your referees EARLY and give them plenty of time to write the recommendation letter for you.

In general, you need two to three recommendation letters for each University application. So, think early who these two or three people can be. People who are renowned in their fields, academicians, high court and supreme court judges and other people who ( or whose posts) are well respected in the society can be potential referees. However, the University you are applying to may have certain stipulations as to who can be the referee. Generally, if you are a final year law student, at least two of your references should be from your present University professors, dean, vice chancellor or chairman of the university committee you are member of. The reference should be a personal or work reference or another academic reference. Work reference may be from a Supreme Court or High Court judge or partner of the law firm you interned under. Personal reference can literally mean anyone including your friends, though you may not like to add their reference. Letters from warden of your hostel is an excellent example of personal reference.

It is important to mention here that it is advisable that at least one of the references is by a professor who taught you the subject in which you seek to specialize in your Masters. So, if you want to specialize in Criminal Law, a reference from the criminal law teacher of your law school holds high importance.

Once you decide on who should be your referee, approach him/her. There might be cases where the concerned person refuses to write a reference letter for you. In that case, you need to ask someone else to be your referee. To make sure that you have enough time for that, ask your referees early.

Also, once the referees draft the recommendation letter, there lies the issue of uploading the references online. Most universities now prefer that references should be uploaded online directly by referees. (You can ask your referee to send a hard copy to the University you are applying to or can take help of LSAC. However, sending hard copy is time taking and a costly affair. Besides, there letter might be lost on its way.) The problem that one faces is that many professors, specially the renowned ones, are not comfortable in using the computer and the internet. So, they might take long to upload the recommendation letter. So, even if your recommendation letter is ready and has to be merely uploaded by the professor, give him enough time to do so. DO NOT go on the last day. Further, it is preferable that referee uploads a scanned copy of a signed recommendation letter , instead of typing directly in referee’s form.

Please note that while in some application forms (like University College London’s application), a request for uploading the reference can be sent only after you have submitted the application form, in most cases , especially Universities why use services of embark, you can fill out request for reference form before you submit your application. In fact, referee can submit recommendation letter before you submit the form. This expedites the process and you and your referee can simultaneously complete the respective forms.

Please note, the reference letter need not be from the President of India or Chief Justice of India. It can be ordinary people who know you well. Content of letter is very important. It is better to get a detailed hearty reference from law professor than a generalized letter from a bigshot person. I myself have used used references from law professors.

LL.M- is it useful?

A question my friends have often asked me when I wanted to do LL.M was- ‘why LL.M and why from abroad?’ They meant why I wanted to study again after five years of undergraduate law. Also, why I was not doing it in India. Well, in my case, I genuinely wanted to study further, to specialize and to know more about law. I also wanted to study from one of the world’s premier educational institutions. These, along with the fact that unfortunately most LL.M programmes in India are not as well-structured as the new five year integrated B.A., LL.B, made me think about applying for LL.M abroad. When I wanted to apply, I was very clear in my mind. I wanted to go only to the best institutions of the world like Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, McGill and LSE. I wanted to get the very best education that the world offered. Settling abroad was really not a driving force. In fact, in all probability, I would go back to India after completing my studies.

But let me sum up here what I read and heard about usefulness of LL.M from different sources. If you want to pursue LL.M, so as to settle abroad, it may not be a great idea. LL.M abroad DOES NOT guarantee you a job abroad, thanks to the global economic condition. I know people who have landed up with excellent highly paid jobs in the country they pursued LL.M from but I also know people who are still searching for jobs after completing their Masters. So, as I said, no guarantee. Secondly, Indian law firms more often than not DO NOT value LL.M, they value work experience. So, if you join an Indian law firm after LL.M abroad, they might pay you the same salary that they would pay to the fresher LLB degreeholder. So the question is why would anyone do LL.M then?

Here are my reasons:

a    1. If you want a unique experience, want to meet people from all over the globe, interact with legal luminaries, get introduced to quality research- go ahead, do it. LL.M from a reputed university is the best way to get this exposure. It will be perhaps one of the most exciting and learning experience of your life- that is guaranteed. 

       2. If you want to join the academia, you definitely need a masters degree. Why not do it from a world reputed university?

3.   If you are motivated to study further, why not do it from a university which is best in the world in the field? This will give you opportunity to have the experts in the field as your professors and it would be a wonderful experience. Think how exciting it would be if the authors of the books, ,you read and reread like Bible in law school, teach you themselves? 

4.  LL.M may not guarantee you a job but it definitely increases your change to get an international job. 

5.  The top law firms, in any case, pay a lot of money to freshers. So, does it matter much that they are not paying you more than the fresher LLB? 

6. You already did law school from India. Why not move to a different city in a different part of the world and enjoy the thrill.

Well, I know money is an issue. But, most universities abroad offer excellent scholarships. I would discuss that in my next post.

INTRODUCTION

Hii all,

I am currently pursuing LL.M in Air and Space Law as an Erin J. C. Arsenault Fellow from McGill University, Canada which incidentally has recently been ranked as one of the world’s top 20 universities. I come from India from where I recently graduated in law (2012) after completing five years integrated programme.

  I have spent around a month in McGill now and needless to say it has been a wonderful experience. However, here I do not want to talk about my life in Montreal (that is where McGill is located) or how good McGill is (though I might do that later). Here I want to talk about the process, the story about how I am in Mcgill now.

 It is end September and the time to apply for studies abroad. Last year, time was a hectic time for me , writing and rewriting statement of purposes, filling forms, deciding on universities abroad I wanted to LLM from. For six months, this was all that I did. The work seemed unending. I am sure many of my juniors are facing the same right now. I have been getting emails from them asking about how I did it, how difficult it was, whether is it worth or not, from whom to get recommendation, how to write SOPs, etc etc. So, I thought instead of answering their questions in piecemeal manner, why not write a blog on this. So here you go guys- this is my LL.M Application Diaries- it talks about all that I did, that I should have done and the blunders that I made. Hope this helps.

Since, I am a law student and I applied only for masters in law, this blog would talk only about that. I do not know about applications for masters in other subjects (though probably it would be essentially same) and definitely nothing about PhD  applications. So, I presume this would be helpful mainly to law students in India planning to do LL.M from universities in USA, U.K. and Canada. I hope you all find this blog useful.

Good Luck
- Author