Accura supports employees wishing to travel abroad to continue their professional development and gain international experience. As an attorney or legal advisor, you may therefore take leave of absence for the purpose of continuing your professional development training or being posted.
Josephine, attorney in our Dispute Resolution Team, has just left for the USA to study for an LLM at Georgetown University in Washington DC. She will be living in the US for the next year, and we look forward to hearing about her journey.
“My name is Josephine, and I am an attorney in Accura’s Dispute Resolution Team where I have worked since February 2020, first as an assistant attorney in the team. I have just moved to Washington DC where I will be living for the next year until July 2023 while I am studying for an LLM at Georgetown University.
Ever since I returned home from my student exchange programme in Toronto, Canada, during law school, I have wanted to go again. I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to be professionally challenged while expanding my network and having a lot of experiences that I would not be able to have in Denmark. Since then, I have considered studying for an LLM, which takes one year rather than just six months as an exchange student, which will give me plenty of time to immerse myself in my studies and also in my new temporary home.
As I really wanted to study abroad again, I discussed it with my partners who were very enthusiastic about the idea and encouraged me to go as they had both also studied abroad. Due to COVID-19, it did not make sense for me to go until now. Furthermore, it was very nice to get a bit more experience as an attorney first.
I had considerable doubts as to where I wanted to go, both in respect of which country and which university. I came to the conclusion that it would be great going to an English-speaking country so I did not have to worry about linguistic challenges. Therefore, I chose the USA. I applied to several universities, including NYU, Berkeley, the University of Chicago, Columbia University and Georgetown University, and I was accepted into all of them, which did not make my choice any easier.
I chose Georgetown University as it has several interesting subjects within dispute resolution, and it offers a Certificate in International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution, which matches well with my work at Accura. Also, I have only heard good things about the university and Washington DC, and it is, of course, also exciting to be living in the USA’s centre of power (especially now).
The LLM education is a one-year postgraduate law degree and corresponds to a one-year master’s degree. If you want to (and if you take the right subjects), you are then allowed to sit for the bar exam in the USA. My LLM is called “International Business & Economic Law”, and I plan to take several international subjects, e.g. International Arbitration, International Business Transactions, International Negotiations Seminar, and I will also take the subject Corporations.
In connection with my stay, I expect to be professionally challenged and to return home with a huge amount of practical and useful knowledge that I can translate and use in my work as an attorney at Accura. But I also expect to have time to explore Washington DC and the USA in general and to also have time to go out for a few Budweisers and have some fun.”
Josephine will give an insight into her stay in the USA, and what it is like studying for an LLM when she returns home – so keep posted!