LLM is Latin for Legum Magister, signifying Master of Laws. Our Master of Laws (LL.M.) Program in American Law is a one-year graduate program. Foreign law graduates who successfully complete the program are awarded the degree “LL.M. in American Law.”

Students who wish to pursue a three-year degree entitling them to apply for admission to the bar in all fifty states should consider our Juris Doctor (J.D.) Degree. The J.D. degree is generally the first degree in law for those graduating from law schools in the United States. Law schools throughout the United States have changed the nomenclature of this first degree from the long used LL.B. (Bachelor of Laws) to the J.D. (Juris Doctor).

Wake Forest offers a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) degree, which is an earned postgraduate degree in law indicating completion of two years of formal legal study beyond the receipt of the first degree of law (J.D.) or the second postgraduate degree in law (LL.M.). The S.J.D. degree is most often attained by those law graduates who wish to pursue academic or high ranking governmental careers in their home countries.