Careers

The Career & Professional Development Center has outstanding resources for international students. Duke also has a dedicated staff member with significant professional law experience who devotes time to LLM students in their job search. In addition to individualized counseling, we have developed a series of programs explicitly for LLM students.

Duke LLM students participate in a New York City job fair, where legal employers from around the world conduct interviews for positions both in the U.S. and overseas. In addition to the strong support from the Career & Professional Development Center, students at Duke benefit substantially from the willingness of alumni, both in the U.S. and abroad, and from Law School faculty to offer advice and assistance.

Legal positions available to LLM graduates who wish to work in the U.S. vary from year to year and tend to reflect external conditions, such as the extent of trade with the student's home country or the state of the global economy. LLM students are more likely to find jobs when they have had a few years of professional experience before studying in the United States.

A significant group of LLM graduates remains at Duke for a period of time after graduation in order to prepare to take the New York or California State Bar Examination. Students who elect to return to their home countries after graduation frequently identify positions in overseas offices of American law firms or at firms and organizations serving American clients involved in international work. 

Graduating LLM Class of 2022

Pursuing opportunities in 20 countries and 5 U.S. states, the graduates in the LLM Class of 2022 have achieved career outcomes in top-tier institutions worldwide. Our graduates extend the Duke brand around the globe to multinational corporations, government agencies, international law firms, and NGOs. 

The chart below shows employment data by sector for the LLM Class of 2022: