Letter from Director Kennedy
Welcome to UIC John Marshall's Center for Tax Law & Employee Benefits.
Welcome to UIC John Marshall's Center for Tax Law & Employee Benefits.
Our Graduate Employee Benefits Programs were designed in response to the increasingly complex and multi-disciplinary nature of the employee benefits field. The LLM in Employee Benefits (for practicing attorneys) and MJ in Employee Benefits (for non-attorney employee benefits professionals) provide the substantive knowledge and skills necessary to solve employee benefits issues. With a high placement rate, our alums are in high demand upon graduation, and work in a variety of settings – law firms, governmental agencies, consulting firms, in-house corporations, and not-for-profit entities.
Graduate Employee Benefits Programs
The LLM in Employee Benefits was first offered in 1998 as the only graduate employee benefits degree program in the nation, and the MJ program followed in 2005. Both programs stress a unique, transactional approach, dealing with actual problems encountered by employers and employee organizations in developing and maintaining employee benefit plans. And we ensure our high-quality programs by offering courses taught by full-time professors and Chicago’s leading employee benefits practitioners, including current and former members of the IRS’s Office of Chief Counsel.
Some candidates begin their program immediately upon completion of their JD, requiring only an additional semester of classes. Others enter after several years of work experience in the employee benefits field, and often complete their degrees in as little as two semesters or over two to three years. LLM candidates may begin the program in the fall or the spring semester, while MJ candidates must start in the fall. Classes are offered in the evenings or on Saturdays, and externships and practicum are available to obtain practical experience in governmental agencies, such as the IRS, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of the Treasury, or in a law firm environment.
Additionally, our LLM and MJ Concentration in Employee Benefits degrees are available entirely through UIC John Marshall’s eDegrees distance education.
Professor Kathryn J. Kennedy
Professor of Law
Director, Center for Tax Law & Employee Benefits