Frequently Asked Questions

What Kind of Program Is It?

The Concord Small Business Practice LLM, the first LLM in the country focused solely on small business, is designed for practicing attorneys and recent law school graduates who want an in-depth, practical knowledge of the legal issues unique to small business, an increasingly important segment of the economy.

Students take courses developed and taught by both practitioners and academics, which emphasize issues that are unique or especially important to start-up enterprises and small firms. With the practical, focused knowledge they receive and the credential they earn, graduates may have the opportunity to become more competitive in providing legal services and could greatly expand the reach and quality of their legal services to small businesses, which make up more than 90 percent of the business firms in the United States.

What Are the Prerequisites?

Potential students must have earned a Juris Doctor (JD) degree to be considered for this program. Experience in business or as a practicing attorney could also prove helpful.

What Are the Course Requirements?

The online Small Business Practice LLM is a 24-unit program that generally will be completed in two years. The core set of courses blend practice with theory and emphasize skills to enhance professional competence. The courses are familiar in name to every lawyer but, as structured for the LLM, are very different in focus and content and carefully tuned to the needs of small business clients.

Small Business Practice LLM Requirements

• Employee Management and Benefits I
• Leasing Commercial Real Estate
• Employee Management and Benefits II
• Structure and Governance of Small Firms and Other Closely Held Business Organizations
• Electronic Contracting, Business on the Web, and E-Commerce
• Protecting and Selling Intellectual Property
• Regulation and Finance in Starting and Growing a Small Business
• Taxation and Succession Planning
• Creditor and Bankruptcy Rights of Sole Proprietors and Small Firms
• Law Practice Management
• Virtual Law Practice
• Business Torts

What Could I Do After I Graduate?

Career Opportunities

The Small Business Practice LLM program offers students the opportunity to study the application of technology to client services and business operations, organizational forms and finance, risk management for small businesses and law office management. Graduates of the program could develop the skills and training to advance in their current work or seek new challenges as attorneys or firm managers.*

Completion of the LLM program at Concord Law School does not qualify a student to take the California Bar Exam or satisfy the requirements for admission to practice law in California. In addition, completion of the LLM may not qualify a student to take the bar examination or satisfy the requirements for admission to practice law in any other jurisdiction. A student seeking admission to practice law should contact the admitting authority in that jurisdiction for information regarding the legal education requirement for admission to the practice of law.

* Purdue Global's programs are designed to prepare graduates to pursue employment in their field of study, or in related fields. However, the University does not guarantee that graduates will be placed in any particular job or employed at all.