Im currently a Scottish Law Student with the following qualifications (law wise!):
HND in Legal Services
BA (HONS) Law and Management
LLB (HONS) - Still studying
After graduation I plan on moving to the U.S of A (most likely MA) to pursue my law career. After reading about the BAR exam I decided I didnt fancy doing it! Do the qualifications I have allow me to practise in the U.S or will I need to take the exam? To take the exam will I need any U.S law qualifications or would my qualifications be sufficient?
I tried to research this online but failed to find any useful information so I have turned to my fellow dopers to help me out!
A law degree alone is generally insufficient. You’d need to get a license somewhere. That’s usually going to require an exam.
Sometimes there are special provisions for “foreign legal consultants,” but that’s not the same as being licensed to practice law. http://www.abanet.org/cpr/mjp/flc_mass.pdf (and even then you’d have to be admitted in your home jurisdiction for five years, so it probably doesn’t help).
Aw thanks Gfactor. this certainly helps me! I worry myself that I spent ages searching for such information and turned up nothing yet you spend all of five minutes and found exactly what I was after! Dont think I was using the correct search terms!
In the States, attorneys admissions are regulated by either the state bar association or the state board of bar examiners. The way to tell which, is to look up the state bar association first; if it says it’s a “voluntary” association of lawyers, it’s not what you want, you want the bar examiners. For example, Massachusetts apparently has both a bar association (voluntary to belong) and a board of bar examiners to handle admissions. Montana, as the opposite example (a much less populous state with only a fraction of the number of lawyers), has only a state bar association, which regulates all facets of lawyer conduct, including admission to practice, and to which every lawyer must belong.
Here is the link to the website of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners. If you look at the links to the left on the home page, you will see some of interest to you: Applying to Take the Bar Exam; Applying for Admission on Motion; and Rules Pertaining to Admission to the Bar.
IANAL, but keep in mind that Massachusetts (along with 48 other states and the District of Columbia) is a common law jurisdiction and Scotland is a civil law jurisdiction.
Short answer: If your goal is to move to the US and practice law, you almost certainly will need to take and pass the bar exam of the state in which you will be practicing.
Long answer: If your goal is to move to the US and practice law, my suggestion is to start looking at LLM programs at American law schools. These programs are designed for lawyers from other countries who want to practice in the US. The one I’m most familiar with is the program at the University of Chicago and that program was a one year program.
Thanks for the feedback guys! I’ll research further into the points you raised and if all goes to plan Ill be 32, old and fighting for justice! lol!
thanks again folks
In New York State, you must meet educational requirements and pass the bar exam. The New York requirements for foreign legal education may allow law graduates from countries with legal systems based on the English Common Law to qualify for the bar exam without additional schooling (though I understand that Scottish law has some significant differences from English). Other foriegn lawyers may qualify by taking a one-year course at a U.S. law school, usually a masters of law (LL.M.) program.
After that is the Bar Exam. Most U.S. law graduates take a bar review course such as BarBri, which usually runs from after law school graduation in late May to a several weeks before the bar exam in late July (or equivalent times before the February bar exam). Taking one of those courses, and doing the study materials they provide, would help you immeasurably in passing the bar.
I just learned that one of my colleagues is involved with the Scottish Bar Association of New York (because he sent an e-mail inviting me to a whisky tasting). You may want to contact them if you have further questions.