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Become a lawyer in America?Become a lawyer in America?

Hi, I’d love to get some advice from people that know about this. There seem to be a lot of very knowledgeable people round here. :smile:

I’m doing my AS’s now, I’m keen on studying law and I got 9 A*s and 1 A in my GCSEs, winning a "legal-eagle teen apprenticeship" after showing my potential in the area. However, when I progress in my career, I really want to move to live with the rest of my family in California in the USA. The problem with law (and admittedly many other UK qualifications) is that they only entitle me to practise as a solicitor/barrister in the UK and not abroad.

The USA does not have any undergraduate law degree, so all law schools in America require applicants to have degrees already, so the prospect of studying in America after my A-levels seems risky and I doubt I would agree to do that.

How would a solicitor/barrister qualified from the UK fit into an American legal system? Are there courses to train legal professionals to understand differences and concepts specific to American law such as those in medicine?

All advise is appreciated greatly!
Thanks.

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Reply 1
Just sit the California Bar Exam. I think you have to have done 3 years of legal study in another country, and then you can practice once you have passed, I think. Also think its a tad easier than New York Bar, although you'll need to do a fair bit of work as lots and lots of it will be unfamiliar to you. Would check their website though, as I'm not an expert.
Some American Uni's can be averse to offering foreign students places to study law, since the Government is unlikely to offer visas (they believe that by studying American law youll wish to work in USA/Become a migrant).
Reply 3
Reading the thread-title, I half-expected the O.P. to burst out into song, Broadway-style.

Needless to say, I am disappointed.
Reply 4
Profesh
Reading the thread-title, I half-expected the O.P. to burst out into song, Broadway-style.

Needless to say, I am disappointed.


*Does a little dance wearing only the Stars-n-Stripes flag and clutching a copy of the Constitution*

Better? :smile:
Reply 5
If you finish a UK law degree, I think you do qualify to sit the Bar exam in various States (NY being one of them as far as I know). There are Bar Review courses (not degrees) which take you through the grind of preparing for the Bar exam. Given that the US is a common law jurisdiction, much of the methods of legal thought are the same.

You could also take a Masters in law at a university in the United States. This will both provide better prep for practice in the states, and also give you a valuable research qualification. Many people will be doing the Masters as a stepping stone into research or to pursue subjects of interest, but you could use it to get a thorough grounding in American contract or whatever.

*Please check this info though, I'm basing this on some vague Googling and comments from my tutor who practised in America*
Reply 6
Hi, i was thinking of going to America to be a medical defence lawyer, i am about to start my conversion course (graduate diploma in law) in london and was wondering if anyone what the procedure is to go to america to then practice law.?
Reply 7
JDixxelA
Hi, I’d love to get some advice from people that know about this. There seem to be a lot of very knowledgeable people round here. :smile:

I’m doing my AS’s now, I’m keen on studying law and I got 9 A*s and 1 A in my GCSEs, winning a "legal-eagle teen apprenticeship" after showing my potential in the area. However, when I progress in my career, I really want to move to live with the rest of my family in California in the USA. The problem with law (and admittedly many other UK qualifications) is that they only entitle me to practise as a solicitor/barrister in the UK and not abroad.

The USA does not have any undergraduate law degree, so all law schools in America require applicants to have degrees already, so the prospect of studying in America after my A-levels seems risky and I doubt I would agree to do that.

How would a solicitor/barrister qualified from the UK fit into an American legal system? Are there courses to train legal professionals to understand differences and concepts specific to American law such as those in medicine?

All advise is appreciated greatly!
Thanks.



good luck with this, its a very tough track. qualifying shouldn't be so bad -you can sit both the NY and Cali bar (and yes Cali is easier, Hilary Clinton failed the NY bar :eek: and so did the Cali one instead!). but getting employed by a US firm will be the tricky part and you have to be an exceptional candidate (although you do seem quite a brilliant candidate already :wink: ).

in the short term i would say you are better off undertaking a UK degree (you guys don't know how lucky you are in terms of the cost for domestic students :p: ) and then sitting one of the aforementioned US Bar exams.....unless of course your parents have the funds to sponsor you through an American uni :biggrin: !


best of luck


xxxx
p_puja
Hi, i was thinking of going to America to be a medical defence lawyer, i am about to start my conversion course (graduate diploma in law) in london and was wondering if anyone what the procedure is to go to america to then practice law.?


Some US jurisdictions will not accept the GDL as sufficient legal training to be eligible to sit the bar exam. For the New York bar for example, you need to have studied Law for three years.

In general it is not simple for a UK-educated lawyer with non-US nationality to practise law in the States. As mentioned above, this is not just a matter of the education and training but of visas and work clearance. The easiest way to work in the US would be if you worked for a firm in London with a US presence and were seconded to a US office for a fixed period.

I agree with Rochelle, and I would ask the posters who want to practise law in the States why they want to do so - a genuine question. Is it that you want to live in the USA in general, or that you think practising law over there will be more glamorous or interesting than here?

A solicitor / barrister from the UK, to be honest, basically does not fit into the US system. Yes, you could take certain bar examinations, or even be exempt (I think perhaps Washington DC exempts solicitors / barristers with a certain level of experience from having to take their bar exam, but don't quote me!) But then you have to get a job, and any employer is going to query why a British person wants to work in the USA and will have to get this reason through the authorities to get a visa / work permit etc. There is likely to be no good business case to do so unless you are experienced in your field in an area a US firm could find helpful; there is more need in reality for US regulatory / securities experience in London than there is for London experience in the USA. The cynic in me suggests perhaps it's media, films, books, TV shows etc that make people interested in practising law in the US.
Just in case anyone reading this topic gets misguided:

If you aren't a US Citizen, STOP. This is the first hurdle! Worrying about job issues without worrying about visa issues is a testament to how easy the EU has made it to work abroad - a very European approach. Unless you marry a US Citizen or have $1million+ in assets you probably won't be getting a visa. "Where there is a will there is a way" doesn't apply to US Immigration law.

And, of course, even if you did get a visa you would be unlikely to net a job at a US law firm without a JD, unless you had have serious experience on US-based deals to back it up. Employers are sceptical about the value of the NY or Cal bar exam on their own. There are no "Training Contracts" in the US, you are expected to hit the ground running.
jacketpotato
Just in case anyone reading this topic gets misguided:

If you aren't a US Citizen, STOP. This is the first hurdle! Worrying about job issues without worrying about visa issues is a testament to how easy the EU has made it to work abroad - a very European approach. Unless you marry a US Citizen, have $1million+ in assets you probably won't be getting a visa. "Where there is a will there is a way" doesn't apply to US Immigration law.

And, of course, even if you did get a visa you would be unlikely to net a job at a US law firm without a JD, unless you had have serious experience on US-based deals to back it up. Employers are sceptical about the value of the NY or Cal bar exam on their own. There are no "Training Contracts" in the US, you are expected to hit the ground running.


Thanks, very clear post - this was how I understood things, but you have expressed it very succinctly. I really don't understand where English students get the idea to practise law in the States from. There is just no clear route to do so when, as you say, you are not a US citizen and did not get your law degree in the States.
Just wanted to add a relevant link to Legal Week's "Career Clinic" this week:

http://www.legalweek.com/legal-week/advice/1530472/career-clinic-should-i-ditch-magic-circle-tc-ny-bar
You can go to LSE and then do the joint LLB/JD program...if you get in anyway :smile: (The joint program is pretty competitive but if you manage it this is the fastest way possible to get a JD).
p_puja
Hi, i was thinking of going to America to be a medical defence lawyer, i am about to start my conversion course (graduate diploma in law) in london and was wondering if anyone what the procedure is to go to america to then practice law.?


Do a JD in the US.
There are tens of thousands of unemployed foreign lawyers in the US who cannot get jobs.
Your LLB, LLM or passing the Bar Exams is not going to get you a job.
An overseas JD is as useless as an overseas LLB.

Even with a JD from a US school, since you are a foreigner, you may end up as a paralegal with a mountain of debt if it is from a second tier school.
Even a LLM from Harvard will not get you a job in the current jobs climate
( a JD from Harvard, Yale, Stanford or Columbia WILL get you a job ).
That is why we have so many ambulance chasing lawyers.
They are desperate, are deeply in debt and need a client, any client.
Would your chances improve if you trained at the city arm of a top tier US practice (e.g.) Weil Gotshal, Skadden Arps, Kirkland & Ellis and Covington & Burling etc? Or is the JD pretty much a pre-requisite for working in the USA?
Redeyejedi
Would your chances improve if you trained at the city arm of a top tier US practice (e.g.) Weil Gotshal, Skadden Arps, Kirkland & Ellis and Covington & Burling etc? Or is the JD pretty much a pre-requisite for working in the USA?


I guess that a UK branch of a US firm might transfer you to a US branch.
Otherwise, you really need a JD to be employable.
A very few with a LLM from top tier places like Columbia, Yale and Harvard have managed to get a job.

This year, a dozen from Columbia out of nearly 300 LLM students, and around 10 from Harvard out of 150 LLM students managed to get jobs in US law firms.
The rest returned home or took up jobs as research assistants or para-legals.
I repeat, just passing the Bar Examinations is not enough to get you a job.
I have practised law at a US firm in London, which had regularly opportunities for secondments to the US but these were for business / firm-related reasons (getting to know US colleagues etc) - it wasn't a career option for the associate as such. I was sent over to the US myself for a short time. But, there was no opportunity for a permanent move over to the States as the firm had no business long-term need for English lawyers over there.

This question comes up very frequently on legal advice forums and I do query where English people get the inspiration for practising law in the States from - is it books, films, TV? The system is just not set up to make practising law in the US a feasible career option for 99% of people - what's wrong with practising law over here or those places where an English law qualification is useful?
You NEED A VISA.

You can be as employable as you like and have a JD from every US university there is, but if you aren't able to get a visa through the marriage/assets/family/intra-firm transfer route, you will find it nigh on impossible to get that visa.
Reply 18
I think that one of the reasons law students become interested in this area is that there are plenty of promotional materials available that advertise Bar courses in the US (particularly for NY).
Reply 19
the visa aspect is important but getting one is not as impossible as jp makes it to be.