In our new article, Pursuing a Tax LLM Degree: Why and When?, Jennifer M. Kowal (Loyola-L.A.), Katherine Pratt (Loyola-L.A.) and I provide information and advice to American law students and JD graduates who are considering pursuing a Tax LLM degree:

This Article (1) discusses the costs and benefits of pursuing a Tax LLM degree, (2) explains the circumstances in which prospective Tax LLM students may be able to expand their employment options by pursuing a Tax LLM degree, and (3) compiles information and advice that tax law professors typically provide to prospective Tax LLM students in individual counseling sessions. This information includes a primer on tax practice employment opportunities, which vary based on (1) the nature of the work (i.e., transactional work or controversy work) (2) the type of tax subspecialty that is the focus of the tax practice and (3) the type of tax practice employer. The primer includes descriptions of various tax subspecialty areas, including business tax, international tax, estate planning, employee benefits, tax-exempt organizations, and tax controversies. This Article also offers advice to prospective Tax LLM students who are searching for tax positions with various types of employers, including (1) law firms (large, elite law firms, medium-size law firms, or smaller law firms), (2) accounting firms (Big Four accounting firms or smaller accounting firms), (3) the IRS, Treasury Department, or Department of Justice, (4) state taxing authorities, (5) corporations or other organizations, or (6) the U.S. Tax Court. For prospective Tax LLM students who hope to become full-time law professors, this Article also discusses the value of a Tax LLM degree in making the transition from tax practice to academia. In addition, this Article provides information regarding aspects of Tax LLM programs about which prospective Tax LLM students frequently inquire and addresses some common misconceptions about Tax LLM programs. (See also our related article, Pursuing a Tax LLM Degree: Where?)

The National Law Journal has sparked a discussion of the value of LL.M. programs in 'Cash Cow' or Valuable Credential?:

No longer just for aspiring academics and wannabe tax lawyers, master of laws (LL.M.) degrees are gaining in popularity among foreign and domestic law students. The number of LL.M. degrees conferred by ABA-approved law schools grew by 65% between 1999 and 2009 — far outpacing the 13% growth in J.D.s during the same period. In 2009, 5,058 students completed LL.M.s, compared to 3,069 a decade earlier. Despite that growth, the number of J.D.s still dwarfs LL.M.s, with 49,861 awarded in 2009.

The value of advanced law degrees remains something of a question mark, however. There are few studies or employment statistics available to quantify the career benefits of those programs — which typically last a year and cost about the same as a year of J.D. tuition. "I definitely think that a lot of people want to use an LL.M. as a fresh way to improve their résumé," said Jennifer Kowal, professor and director of the tax LL.M. program at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. "In this market, I think that's a dangerous gamble."

The ABA lists 295 LL.M. programs, although that number does not include some recently announced programs. …  Neither the ABA nor NALP collects employment data or salary data specifically for the graduates of these programs, as they do for J.D. graduates. … The Law School Admission Council is creating a centralized application system for the programs, which will generate national data on who is applying and how many programs are out there. … Even individual schools have difficulty quantifying the employment benefits of their own programs. …

Several law school administrators speculated that the tight entry-level job market may be prompting more recent graduates to consider going for advanced law degrees. …  Advanced law degrees from prestigious schools have been viewed by graduates of lower-ranked law schools as a way to boost their résumés. Kowal of Loyola, Los Angeles collaborated with University of Cincinnati College of Law tax professor Paul Caron and her Loyola colleague Katherine Pratt on a paper that cautions against taking that approach. They warn that many employers place a much heavier weight on the school from which a student obtained his or her J.D. "For large law firm positions, a tax LL.M. degree is most helpful at the margin — for students who did very well at a law school with a lower ranking, or did reasonably well at a law school with a higher ranking, but need something extra to get an interview with large law firms," they wrote.

With the exception of tax LL.M.s — which have been around longer than other advanced law degrees and are particularly relevant because of the highly specialized nature of tax law — the degrees don't necessarily set job candidates apart. "For our offices in the U.S., the only LL.M. degree that has much of an impact on our hiring decisions is a tax LL.M.," said Jones Day hiring partner Gregory Shumaker. … As at Jones Day, the perceived value of an advanced law degree varies at DLA Piper, which looks for graduates of tax programs and occasionally hires foreign attorneys with LL.M.s for international offices. ….

Law schools have their own reasons for adding LL.M. programs, which range from fostering international diversity among their student populations and providing more opportunities for practical training, to generating much needed tuition dollars. Administrators point out that per-student costs tend to be lower for advanced law degree programs because the curriculum largely consists of classes already offered to J.D. students — meaning there is little need to hire additional faculty. "Are these programs a cash cow? Yes and no," said Indiana University Maurer School of Law – Bloomington professor Carole Silver. "The school gets a year of tuition and the LL.M. students fill in the seats in classes that would otherwise be empty."

Schools can admit students into the programs without worrying about compromising their ABA accreditation or U.S. News & World Report rankings, since the ABA does not accredit LL.M. programs and U.S. News does not look at the test scores or grade-point averages of those students."

Wall Street Journal Law Blog, The LL.M.: A Valuable Degree or a Wasted (and Expensive) Year?:

[The legal academy has] got another charge to defend itself against: that a secondary degree offered by many schools, the master of laws (or LL.M.) is a big fat waste of time and money for many students. …

[M]any law firms say that outside of a tax LL.M., an advanced degree really doesn’t do much for the resume. “For our offices in the U.S., the only LL.M. degree that has much of an impact on our hiring decisions is a tax LL.M.,” said Jones Day hiring partner Gregory Shumaker. DLA Piper hiring partner Benjamin Boyd largely agrees.

Above the Law, What Is the Value of an LLM Degree?:

Earlier this week, the legal blogosphere took a look at the “value” of an LL.M degree. I put “value” in scare quotes because the main point of the pieces in the National Law Journal and the WSJ Law Blog was that we don’t really know how valuable these degree programs are.

Now, in most markets, not knowing whether or not something has value would kind of be a big deal. But when it comes to legal education, the inability to determine the value of the degree isn’t a problem.

Faced with a lack of information about how much the LL.M credential is worth, law schools are quite happy to charge as much as possible for it anyway….

Whatever, it’s too early in the morning to get worked up about the fact that law schools (once again) have shown themselves to be far more concerned with raking in tuition dollars than educating new lawyers. Just because law schools are selling something that they’ve made no attempt to appraise doesn’t mean the thing is worthless.

Hell, the LL.M could be undervalued for all the law school administrators know. … We only have anecdotal evidence to go on. The NLJ points out that the ABA doesn’t track employment or salary data for LL.M. graduates — because, you know, why would the only organization in charge of regulating law schools spend any time collecting data that could form the basis of regulation it has no stomach to enforce? But, as anecdotal evidence goes, lots of people say getting an LL.M. is worth it if you are going into tax or something similarly specialized. …

You (as the law school) are taking kids who are three years into debt and clearly have no opportunity to earn money, and you’re giving them the potentially false hope that by debt-financing a fourth year, things will get better. You’ve done nearly no research about the employment opportunities your LL.M. confers, but the kids don’t know that you’re talking out of your ass. Still, the kids trust you because they’re stupid, because they’re desperate, because if I tell a homeless person that I’ll give him my change only after he sings me a song, he has no choice but to believe me. The prospective LL.M. students think: “There’s no way they’d even be offering this to me if it was completely worthless; I’m dealing with a respected institution of higher learning here, not a used car salesman.” …

So we may never know the answer to the question, “What is the value of an LL.M degree?” Law schools have no incentive to figure it out, the ABA is totally AWOL, and the LL.M. graduates aren’t going to be any more effective at holding their law schools accountable than their J.D. cousins.