The Student Room Group

harvard law

if you were to get an undergraduate degree in law in the uk and then decided that you wanted to go to harvard, would you have to do the JD or the LLM?
Many people from the UK obtain an LLM at Harvard and at other universities in the USA. There are scholarships to fund this. A UK graduate could if he or she wished apply to take a JD, but there would not usually be much point in doing so, and the costs would be high. A UK law graduate can sit the Bar exam in most States. A UK graduate with a PGDL can sit the Bar exam in California and maybe in some other states.
Reply 3
Original post by Stiffy Byng
Many people from the UK obtain an LLM at Harvard and at other universities in the USA. There are scholarships to fund this. A UK graduate could if he or she wished apply to take a JD, but there would not usually be much point in doing so, and the costs would be high. A UK law graduate can sit the Bar exam in most States. A UK graduate with a PGDL can sit the Bar exam in California and maybe in some other states.

so what i understand is: someone who has a uk undergraduate degree in law does not need to attend american law school to qualify in the states but can simply take the bar exam?
Original post by user8732847
so what i understand is: someone who has a uk undergraduate degree in law does not need to attend american law school to qualify in the states but can simply take the bar exam?

Check out the rules from State to State. For example, IIRC a UK law graduate can take the New York Bar exam. A UK non-law graduate can't. Louisiana is partly a civil law system, so may have requirements as to that.

Once a lawyer has passed the Bar exam, he or she can obtain a licence to practise law in the State of examination. He or she may be admitted pro hac vice to appear in the Courts of other States.

There is no Bar school in the USA. Most people cram for the exams for about six weeks and then take the exams. My Cousin Vinny took quite a few goes to pass the New Jersey Bar, you may recall.

(edited 2 months ago)

Quick Reply