Hi, I am a student from England and I am about to start my Law degree. I’ve heard that I can become a lawyer in either New York or California after completing my degree in the UK, if I take the bar exam. Is this true? How likely would I be to find employment? I will be attending Oxford Brookes University
Thanks
I believe that you have to get an LLM in the US and then can take the bar, so it’s one more year of law school in the US. At least that’s how my UK-trained co-workers did it.
Hi, thanks for responding. So would I do the LLM at a university, or are these run by independent companies? Will I still be limited to New York and California if I do the LLM? Also do you know if I will I have a good chance of getting to a good school to do the LLM if I get a first class in my Law degree here?
Sorry for so many questions 
Sure. LLM programs are run by regular law schools (which are almost always part of larger universities). It’s not like in the UK.
Once you are admitted to the NY or CA bar, I don’t know what happens next; typically you can transfer your NY or CA bar admissions to another state’s bar (which requires a lot of applications, paperwork, etc.), but I don’t know if having only a US LLM would prohibit that.
I think that if you do well in your UK law degree, you should have plenty of LLM options in the US. When I was getting my JD in the US, my law school had an LLM program and the students in it were nearly all international students, but the US ones almost all had gone to mediocre law schools and then I’d guess used the LLM to “upgrade” their professional outcomes.
If you’re dying to work in the US (which I do not understand), you can always get a job with a London-based firm and be shipped to NY. Then you can get an LLM while working (which is tough but doable), or after working some time in NY and then quitting to take a year off to do the LLM, and then get admitted to the NY bar. That’s probably easier than coming to the US and getting an LLM and then looking for a job, with no prior US work experience; it’s a tough job market right now.
Getting admitted to the bar does not confer the right to work- your employer would have to get you a working visa, same as for somebody in the US who went to the UK. @HappyAlumnus is right that the easiest way is to get into a law firm that has offices in both places and get transferred (obviously, that’s not exactly easy, but it is the easiest way).
You may find this helpful: http://www.mmu.ac.uk/careers/students-and-graduates/resources/guides/american-bar-examination.pdf
@zigglr Is your LLb your first degree, as it usually is in the UK, or have you already done another undergrad? If the first, you may find that presents a problem when you’re looking for employment.
Years ago my firm had a kid who went to law school in the UK and took and passed the NY bar exam and got hired by a New York law firm. So yes, you can (without an LLM).
years ago you did not have to go to law school to sit for the bar. now you do.
you will need an ll.m. They are not just for upgrade and international. For tax, it is highly recommended.