Advanced Law Degree

In general, you should find a master's degree in legal education a rather advanced law degree. Yet, the study of law has many varied complexities that you can never really limit an advanced law degree to the masteral level. That is why in many US law schools, you will find that apart from a Master of Laws graduate program, there are many other advanced law degree courses like a Doctor of Laws.

Normally, when you want to do more than just practice your legal expertise, you pursue higher education. In particular, if you have plans of pursuing a related legal career, like doing researches on various forms of documents, an advanced law degree should be of great help. (1)

Actually, this is a rather common goal of many lawyers who are interested in applying for an advanced law degree program. Many such programs offer their students a variety of opportunities that are not necessarily limited to actual legal practice. A good example of this is a possible career in the academe, either as a college professor or as a school researcher. In some law schools where advanced law graduate programs are available, you will pleasantly find that you have a far greater chance of being admitted to the program if you express an interest in entering the teaching profession. (2)

In addition, you should find a regular class in advanced graduate programs rather small in size. This is because the program wants you to be fully prepared for an alternative career in the legal field. It is not because there are very few qualified applicants. It is more of trying to conduct a highly individualized form of classroom instruction so you will come out highly specialized in the alternate field that you have chosen.

One other popular reason as to why an advanced law degree is often sought is because some programs can actually qualify you to take a bar exam in other American states. (3). For example, if you are a practicing lawyer in Albany but you want to practice law in New York, you can try looking for several Albany-based law schools that are known to offer advanced law degree programs. In these graduate offerings, admission to several state bars like in New York is not uncommon.

(1) http://www.law.berkeley.edu/admissions/advdegree/about.html
(2) http://www.law.berkeley.edu/admissions/advdegree/admission.html
(3) http://www.albanylaw.edu/sub.php?navigation_id=2