Center for Real Estate Law

The Center for Real Estate Law is one of John Marshall Law School’s Centers of Excellence. Students come from Chicago and across the country to enroll in its academic programs.

LLM in Real Estate Law

The Center's LLM in Real Estate Law Program has been educating attorneys in the substance and practice of commercial real estate law since 1995. Graduates are practicing commercial real estate law with law firms, corporate law departments and government agencies. Other graduates are working in the real estate industry as developers, project managers and title officers.

The LLM curriculum takes a transactional approach to legal education. Students learn about real estate law in the context of the real estate industry and learn to understand the business objectives and concerns of real estate clients. Courses are taught by adjuncts that use practice materials rather than casebooks with appellate decisions for course materials. Classes are held at night and on weekends to accommodate those who practice while earning their LLM.   Students include recent law school graduates as well as experienced attorneys looking to refocus their careers or to expand their understanding of real estate law.

The Center also has a JD/LLM Program open only to John Marshall JD students.

MS in Real Estate Law

In 2005, the Center introduced an MS in Real Estate Law Program for non-attorney experienced real estate professionals. After completing cohort introductory courses, MS students take all other courses with LLM students. The MS program builds on students’ knowledge of the real estate industry and gives them the ability to understand the context in which real estate transactions are done and to assess the risks inherent in those transactions.

Curriculum

The Curriculum for both the LLM and MS Programs were developed with input from an Advisory Board of practicing attorneys and non-attorney real estate professionals. The curriculum, which has been expanded from time to time – most recently to add courses on sustainability, covers all substantive areas of commercial real estate law.

Courses emphasize the transactional nature of real estate practice and law. Course materials include the forms and materials real estate attorneys actually use to document and close transactions. An integral part of all courses is Skills training. Courses enable students to gain an in-depth understanding of commercial real estate law and practice; to assess and evaluate risks and to be able to ask the right questions to quickly cut to the heart of the issues.

Consistent with the goals of the MacCrate Report of the American Bar Association, the curriculum is designed to ‘bridge the gap' between legal education and real life practice of commercial real estate law.

In 2006, the Center began The Legal Case Study initiative to develop legal case studies for use in the classroom. Like their business school counterparts, the Center’s Faculty are creating and publishing case studies, based on real life situations, to be used as course materials.  This initiative aims to teach real estate law in the context of real deals and supports the goals of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Education’s Report “Educating Lawyers Preparation for the Practice of Law.”

Research and Scholarship

Encouraging research and scholarship has long been an important part of the work of the Center. The Center organizes and presents period Kratovil Conferences on Real Estate Law and Practice which bring distinguished professors and practitioners to John Marshall Law School to consider and reflect on issues of concern to the real estate community. Real Estate Symposium issues of The John Marshall Law Review publish articles written by Kratovil participants as well as articles solicited by the Center.

In addition to its scholarly conferences, the Center Events for Students has available programs and workshops to educate the practicing bar and real estate professionals. These programs and workshops enable attorneys to earn CLE credit.

The John Marshall Law School is accredited by the American Bar Association and the North Central Association of Colleges and Universities. The LLM and MS programs in Real Estate Law have received acquiescence from the American Bar Association.