US or British Law Schools Forum

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mikecronin7

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US or British Law Schools

Post by mikecronin7 » Mon Feb 12, 2018 1:41 pm

Hello everyone,

From all of the research I've been doing it seems to me that this isn't a very widely explored path for American graduates. However, I am an American student who obtained a bachelors in Philosophy with a minor in Legal Studies. I am currently in the process of deciding between attending law school in the United States or a 2 year graduate LLB in the United Kingdom and I would love some advice.

Forget about things such as cost of living, and student visas, i am a citizen of both the US and UK and have places to live in both countries, so those things do not matter in my decision.

What does matter is that the UK schools are cheaper, and take less time (as well as offer the unique experience of living and working in a different country). So i would love to attend one of them. However, in my future I see myself coming back to the United States for life. So what I am asking is, would an American student with an American bachelors but a British law degree have a the same, lesser or greater job value in the American legal job market? My focus is International law and I can imagine how my unique experience must be valued in some way. I even have taken a year between undergrad and law school to live and work in Madrid if that also has any impact.

Any advice in this decision would be appreciated. Also if anyone is aware of someone who has gotten an American Bachelors and went abroad for law school that I could get in contact with, that would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

sparkytrainer

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Re: US or British Law Schools

Post by sparkytrainer » Mon Feb 12, 2018 2:11 pm

You can't sit for the bar with an LLB. So go to an English law school all you want, but you will still have to do a JD if you want to practice in the U.S., given that you are a U.S. citizen it seems.

mikecronin7

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Re: US or British Law Schools

Post by mikecronin7 » Tue Feb 13, 2018 1:15 pm

sparkytrainer wrote:You can't sit for the bar with an LLB. So go to an English law school all you want, but you will still have to do a JD if you want to practice in the U.S., given that you are a U.S. citizen it seems.
I've read that you can sit on the bar with an LLB it's just more difficult because they need to assess that your degree is equivalent. Seeing that I have an american 4 year undergrad and then would have 2 years of law based study then wouldn't that be applicable?

And what about this, I go on one extra year and get my LLM, maybe even from an american school, I would have a degree equivalent of the next step above a JD. That would get me to sit for the bar right? And then personally i would be come out of school a year earlier and thousands of dollars less in debt than if I did the same in America. Not to count out the fact that I would have the experience of working in a different country, especially a corporate hub such as London. That has to be valuable if not to the bar then at least to a vast amount of international companies.

sparkytrainer

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Re: US or British Law Schools

Post by sparkytrainer » Tue Feb 13, 2018 7:08 pm

mikecronin7 wrote:
sparkytrainer wrote:You can't sit for the bar with an LLB. So go to an English law school all you want, but you will still have to do a JD if you want to practice in the U.S., given that you are a U.S. citizen it seems.
I've read that you can sit on the bar with an LLB it's just more difficult because they need to assess that your degree is equivalent. Seeing that I have an american 4 year undergrad and then would have 2 years of law based study then wouldn't that be applicable?

And what about this, I go on one extra year and get my LLM, maybe even from an american school, I would have a degree equivalent of the next step above a JD. That would get me to sit for the bar right? And then personally i would be come out of school a year earlier and thousands of dollars less in debt than if I did the same in America. Not to count out the fact that I would have the experience of working in a different country, especially a corporate hub such as London. That has to be valuable if not to the bar then at least to a vast amount of international companies.
Thats not how it works. A llb will not allow you to sit for any bar. I promise you. An llm will only allow you to sit for the NY bar, nowhere else.

If you want to work in the U.S., you need a JD. If you want to work in the U.K., get your llb and llm.

gooserpunk

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Re: US or British Law Schools

Post by gooserpunk » Tue Feb 13, 2018 9:41 pm

Have you considered getting your JD in the US and then trying to work in London after law school? Seems easier to practice US law in London (at either an American or magic circle firm) than to deal with passing the bar as a foreign qualified lawyer down the road. I'd imagine you would be a competitive candidate for corporate jobs in London given your UK citizenship, provided that you go to a top law school too.

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iShotFirst

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Re: US or British Law Schools

Post by iShotFirst » Wed Feb 14, 2018 4:18 pm

sparkytrainer wrote:
mikecronin7 wrote:
sparkytrainer wrote:You can't sit for the bar with an LLB. So go to an English law school all you want, but you will still have to do a JD if you want to practice in the U.S., given that you are a U.S. citizen it seems.
I've read that you can sit on the bar with an LLB it's just more difficult because they need to assess that your degree is equivalent. Seeing that I have an american 4 year undergrad and then would have 2 years of law based study then wouldn't that be applicable?

And what about this, I go on one extra year and get my LLM, maybe even from an american school, I would have a degree equivalent of the next step above a JD. That would get me to sit for the bar right? And then personally i would be come out of school a year earlier and thousands of dollars less in debt than if I did the same in America. Not to count out the fact that I would have the experience of working in a different country, especially a corporate hub such as London. That has to be valuable if not to the bar then at least to a vast amount of international companies.
Thats not how it works. A llb will not allow you to sit for any bar. I promise you. An llm will only allow you to sit for the NY bar, nowhere else.

If you want to work in the U.S., you need a JD. If you want to work in the U.K., get your llb and llm.
Yes you do not have a prayer of sitting a bar exam in any state without a JD.

I even know one person with a European degree that Tennessee let sit for the exam but later decided that her degree was actually not equivalent and she had to get the full JD again. Do not fall into this trap and just get the JD.

RecruiterMan

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Re: US or British Law Schools

Post by RecruiterMan » Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:54 pm

have you considered getting a law degree in china? russia?

mikecronin7

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Re: US or British Law Schools

Post by mikecronin7 » Fri Feb 23, 2018 11:14 am

gooserpunk wrote:Have you considered getting your JD in the US and then trying to work in London after law school? Seems easier to practice US law in London (at either an American or magic circle firm) than to deal with passing the bar as a foreign qualified lawyer down the road. I'd imagine you would be a competitive candidate for corporate jobs in London given your UK citizenship, provided that you go to a top law school too.
I have yes, I'm just aware to the fact that once you go into law school debt and you find a job where you land that you tend to get stuck there. Just looking for options to satisfy my desire of living in england and studying law.

albanach

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Re: US or British Law Schools

Post by albanach » Fri Feb 23, 2018 11:38 am

You should also pay attention to the post-law-school salary differences in each country. Mid-level associates in NY BigLaw are earning what some English partners will make. You might also need to find post-law-school traineeship just to qualify as a lawyer, whereas in the US you can sit the bar straight after school finishes.

That said, there's a comparatively small number of US lawyers working in London. So if that's where you really want to end up in the near-term, you should probably go to school in the UK.

eck456

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Re: US or British Law Schools

Post by eck456 » Fri Feb 23, 2018 12:50 pm

iShotFirst wrote:
sparkytrainer wrote:
mikecronin7 wrote:
sparkytrainer wrote:You can't sit for the bar with an LLB. So go to an English law school all you want, but you will still have to do a JD if you want to practice in the U.S., given that you are a U.S. citizen it seems.
I've read that you can sit on the bar with an LLB it's just more difficult because they need to assess that your degree is equivalent. Seeing that I have an american 4 year undergrad and then would have 2 years of law based study then wouldn't that be applicable?

And what about this, I go on one extra year and get my LLM, maybe even from an american school, I would have a degree equivalent of the next step above a JD. That would get me to sit for the bar right? And then personally i would be come out of school a year earlier and thousands of dollars less in debt than if I did the same in America. Not to count out the fact that I would have the experience of working in a different country, especially a corporate hub such as London. That has to be valuable if not to the bar then at least to a vast amount of international companies.
Thats not how it works. A llb will not allow you to sit for any bar. I promise you. An llm will only allow you to sit for the NY bar, nowhere else.

If you want to work in the U.S., you need a JD. If you want to work in the U.K., get your llb and llm.
Yes you do not have a prayer of sitting a bar exam in any state without a JD.

I even know one person with a European degree that Tennessee let sit for the exam but later decided that her degree was actually not equivalent and she had to get the full JD again. Do not fall into this trap and just get the JD.
this is just wrong - the US and UK are both common law systems, and with a UK LLB + LLM there several places you can sit the bar. This is a few years old, but you can look at individual states for their current requirements: http://www.nationaljurist.com/national- ... e-bar-exam

HOWEVER, because of the additional requirements it's honestly just going to restrict your long term options IF you know you want to return to the US. at a minimum, either way it'll be 3 years of your life in school. plus there are some states (like FL I think) that don't accept foreign trained lawyers to the bar at all, even if they attended in the UK. on the alternative, if you do a JD and then decide you want to practice in the UK I think it's just one additional year of school in local law. that would be 4 years, but at the end of it my understanding is you'd be able to practice to your heart's content in both countries without localized restrictions like you would see with state bars in the US if you do it the other way around

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