Credit Hours
In order to receive an
LL.M. in Bankruptcy degree, students will be required to complete
thirty credit hours composed of twenty-four credit hours of
substantive courses and two "Advanced Research Seminars" (three
credits each) in connection with which the student will prepare a
major publishable thesis. A minimum 3.0 GPA is required for
graduation.
Thesis Preparation
The Advanced Research Seminar will
meet periodically during the semester to review the student’s
progress in the research and writing of the thesis and to provide
feedback. Students attending each seminar will be required to
comment on, question and understand the complexities of each
other’s work. Additional sessions devoted to American research and
writing techniques may be scheduled for students who did not
receive their first law degree from a United States law school or
who otherwise are not familiar with American research and writing.
Between sessions of the seminar, students will meet individually
with the thesis professor to review progress in the thesis. Drafts
of the thesis will be reviewed by a mentor who is an expert in the
discrete area covered by the thesis. Students will be required to
defend the thesis orally before bankruptcy experts. Each thesis
will be a minimum of 50 typewritten pages including footnotes.
Students are expected to complete and defend the thesis by the end
of the term in which they complete twenty-four substantive course
credits.
Length of
Program
The program must be
completed within four years. Full-time
students complete the program in one year and part-time
students typically complete the program in two to three
years. Students must register for maintaining matriculation
and pay a maintaining matriculation fee for each semester in wich
they are not registered for classes. A student who fails to
register for maintianing matriculation and pay the fee will be
dismissed from the program.Prerequisite
The Director of the LL.M. in
Bankruptcy Program may require students who have not taken a basic
U.S. Bankruptcy or Creditor’s Rights course to take the Creditor’s
Rights course at St. John’s as part of their LL.M.
coursework.
Required
Courses
Students who have taken a
required or elective course, or a similar course, in preparation
for the J.D. degree, may not take such a course in connection with
the LL.M. program. A required course may be waived for students
with significant experience in the subject matter of a particular
course. Where a required course is not taken, a suitable substitute
elective will be selected by the student subject to approval by the
Associate Dean for Bankruptcy Studies.