JD LLM Tax Regulations

I. Admission Requirements

A. Suffolk JD Students

A student in good standing enrolled in the Suffolk University Law School JD program is eligible for admission to the JD/Tax LLM dual degree program if the student has earned a cumulative grade point average (hereinafter “GPA”) of at least 3.00 in the Suffolk JD program at the time of application to the Tax LLM program and a grade of B or higher in the Basic Federal Income Tax course.

B. Conditional Admission

Conditional admission is available to either an individual applying simultaneously for admission to the JD program and the Tax LLM program or a student in good standing enrolled in the Suffolk University Law School JD program who has not yet completed both the first year of the Suffolk JD program and Basic Federal Income Tax course.

A first-year day division student who receives conditional admission during the fall semester, will be permitted to take Basic Federal Income Tax during the spring semester of the first year and defer taking Constitutional Law until the second year of that student’s program.

Conditional admission becomes unconditional as soon as the student satisfies the requirements of earning both a cumulative GPA of at least 3.00 in the Suffolk JD program, determined as of the end of the student’s first year of that program, and a grade of B or higher in the Basic Federal Income Tax course. An individual who fails to satisfy both requirements is not permitted to continue in the JD/Tax LLM program, but that circumstance does not have any adverse effect, by itself, on the individual’s academic standing in the JD program.

C. Visiting JD Students (Non-Suffolk Law)

A student in good standing enrolled in another law school may be admitted as a visiting student to the Tax LLM degree program, with the approval of the student’s home school, if the student has earned a cumulative GPA of 3.00 in the home school’s JD program and a grade of B or higher in a course that the Academic Director of the Program determines to be comparable to the Suffolk University Law School course entitled Basic Federal Income Tax.

Such a student would be a dual degree student working toward the simultaneous award of a JD degree in the student’s home school and an LLM at Suffolk University Law School.

D. Post-JD Students

An individual who has earned a JD is eligible for admission to the Tax LLM degree program if the student earned a cumulative GPA of at least a 3.00 at graduation from the student’s JD program and a grade of B or higher in the Basic Federal Income Tax course or a course that the Academic Director of the Program determines to be comparable to the Suffolk University Law School course entitled Basic Federal Income Tax.

II. Overall Degree Requirements 

A candidate who holds a JD degree at the time of enrollment in the program must satisfactorily complete 24 credits in the Suffolk University Law School (SULS) prescribed Tax LLM curriculum, see III. below. A candidate in the dual degree JD/Tax LLM program must satisfactorily complete 26 credits in the Suffolk University Law School (SULS) prescribed Tax LLM curriculum, see III. below.

All students enrolled in the Tax LLM program must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher, determined as of the close of each academic year, to remain in the Tax LLM program; however, for students in the JD/Tax LLM dual degree, the 3.00 minimum GPA requirement affects only participation in the Tax LLM portion of the program.

Every candidate for the LLM in Tax is required to complete the ten-week intensive summer tax semester, which consists of two courses: Intensive Summer: Advanced Income Tax Topics (6 credits) and Intensive Summer: Business Entity Tax Topics (6 credits).

Degrees are awarded by the Trustees of Suffolk University on the recommendation of the Law Faculty. Recommendations may be withheld by the Faculty for good cause.

III. Course Requirements

A. Required Courses

All of the following courses must be taken to earn the Tax LLM degree:

  • Intensive Summer: Advanced Income Tax Topics (6 credits)
  • Intensive Summer: Business Entity Tax Topics (6 credits)
  • International Tax (3 credits)
  • Tax Practice and Procedure (2 credits)

B. Elective Courses*

A student who holds a JD at the time of enrollment in the Tax LLM program must take courses totaling at least seven credits, and a student enrolled in the dual degree JD/Tax LLM program must take courses totaling at least nine credits, from the following list to earn the Tax LLM degree:

  • Accounting for Lawyers
  • Advanced Legal Research: Tax
  • Advanced Topics in International Tax
  • Advanced Topics in Partnership Tax
  • ERISA
  • Estate and Gift Taxation**
  • Estate Planning
  • Income Taxation of Estates and Trusts
  • State and Local Taxation
  • Taxation of Exempt Organizations
  • Taxation of Intellectual Property

    *Not all electives will be offered every year and others may be added.

**Elective course only for students who enrolled in the LLM program starting in summer 2018. All prior enrolled students must complete Estate and Gift Taxation as a required course.

IV. Grading/Exams 

Grading and exams shall be governed Regulation III of the Rules and Regulations for the JD Program.

V. Academic Integrity 

Any violation of academic integrity shall be viewed as a serious infraction of the Rules and Regulations of the Law School. Violations of academic integrity shall include, but are not limited to, dishonesty in the examination process, harassment, and plagiarism in written work, as defined in the Regulation II. F. of the Rules and Regulations for the JD Program.

VI. Academic Standing

A candidate for the Tax LLM must maintain a GPA of 3.00 or higher, determined as of the close of each academic year. If a candidate’s GPA falls below 3.00 as of the close of any academic year, the individual is dismissed from the Tax LLM, but, in the case of a student in the JD/Tax LLM dual degree program, that circumstance does not have any adverse effect, by itself, on the individual’s academic standing in the JD program.

VII. Leaves of Absence and Withdrawals

Regulation V of the Rules and Regulations for the J.D. Program shall apply.

IX. Student Conduct and Discipline

Regulations XI of the Rules and Regulations for the J.D. Program shall apply.

X. Academic Director 

The Dean shall appoint a resident faculty member who shall serve as the Academic Director of the Tax LLM program. The Academic Director may, from time to time, recommend to the Graduate and International Programs Committee for consideration by that committee and the Law School Faculty what courses or academic requirements should be added to or deleted from the Tax LLM degree requirement. However, routine amendments to the list of Elective Courses, see III.B. above, may be made by the Academic Director on his or her own authority. The Academic Director shall have sole authority to determine whether a tax course taken at another law school is comparable to the Suffolk University Law School course entitled Basic Federal Income Tax. Based on the Academic Director’s best judgment, the Academic Director may grant individual waivers of certain requirements of the Tax LLM degree including the following:

A. An individual student may be permitted to take the two six-credit courses of the intensive tax summer program in separate years rather than in the same year.

B. An individual student that has already taken Business Entity Tax, Corporate Tax, Partnership Tax, or Federal Taxation of Property Transactions before being admitted to the Tax LLM program may be permitted to substitute one or more of those courses for portions of Intensive Summer: Advanced Income Tax Topics or Intensive Summer: Business Entity Tax Topics, but only if the Academic Director concludes that the individual has already mastered the material to be covered in either of the Intensive Summer courses and it would be a hardship for the student to be required to take both Intensive Summer courses in full.

XI. Changes to Rules

The Law Faculty reserves the right to change the schedule of classes, the program of instruction, the requirements for credits or degrees, and any rule or regulation established for the government of the student body in the school. Any such change may be made applicable to students already enrolled in the Law School.