I've passed by posts about this a few times on friendsfriends, and I've hesitated to say anything, because you don't know me and it's not any of my business, but...
You are being very badly advised if you have been given the impression that LLMs (with the exception of a few very specialized ones, e.g., tax) are taken at all seriously in the United States, or that they represent any meaningful course of study.
You know the M.St.s at Oxford? The programs where they admit every random foreign student who wants to study at "an English university" and can afford to pay most or all of the tuition? For the most part, they're like that. They attract students who are desperate to have a common-law or Anglophone credential, or U.S. citizens trying to polish up a shaky resume. I graduated from a top-five U.S. law school and the only person I know of who went for an LLM did it in tax, and that was in conjunction with a work program.
It's not a meaningful professional credential for someone with a law degree from an English university who has a traineeship at an English firm waiting, and it's pretty humorous to think of any experience at a U.S. law school as being intellectually rigorous. Maybe you have a specific personal reason for wanting to be in Chicago, but otherwise I don't see what value it would offer you.
Like I said, I don't know you, it's really not any of my business, but I hate to see anyone being misled. Look here (http://abovethelaw.com/2008/07/the_value_of_an_llm_degree_rev.php?show=comments#comments) for instance. (I hate to refer anyone to that site because it's full of jerks, but it can give you an idea of what the LL.M. is thought of in the U.S.)
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You are being very badly advised if you have been given the impression that LLMs (with the exception of a few very specialized ones, e.g., tax) are taken at all seriously in the United States, or that they represent any meaningful course of study.
You know the M.St.s at Oxford? The programs where they admit every random foreign student who wants to study at "an English university" and can afford to pay most or all of the tuition? For the most part, they're like that. They attract students who are desperate to have a common-law or Anglophone credential, or U.S. citizens trying to polish up a shaky resume. I graduated from a top-five U.S. law school and the only person I know of who went for an LLM did it in tax, and that was in conjunction with a work program.
It's not a meaningful professional credential for someone with a law degree from an English university who has a traineeship at an English firm waiting, and it's pretty humorous to think of any experience at a U.S. law school as being intellectually rigorous. Maybe you have a specific personal reason for wanting to be in Chicago, but otherwise I don't see what value it would offer you.
Like I said, I don't know you, it's really not any of my business, but I hate to see anyone being misled. Look here (http://abovethelaw.com/2008/07/the_value_of_an_llm_degree_rev.php?show=comments#comments) for instance. (I hate to refer anyone to that site because it's full of jerks, but it can give you an idea of what the LL.M. is thought of in the U.S.)