<p>Could one go to law school in England and then practice in America? Specifically NY? I read somewhere that many law firms in America do hire UK Law student but the whole process seems kind of confusing....Can anyone offer any insight?</p>
<p>No, you would need to get a JD or LLM in America to take the bar in almost all states (California being an exception). You can get a transfer to London after working in a big law firm in New York for a couple years (it helps to get trained at a bigger office). You would be practicing American law abroad.</p>
<p>Yes, you can. See Court</a> Rules Scroll down to section 520.6.</p>
<p>I would not recommend it though for a variety of reasons. Harvard has a program with Oxford that allows you to get both a UK and US degree. </p>
<p>Also, many UK firms interview at US law schools and hire students to work in the UK and/or stateside offices. Some US law firms will hire grads to work in their UK offices without requiring them to work in the US first.</p>
<p>Would you mind elaborating on what the variety of reasons were? I'm still in high school but my dad has told me that if I want to practice law I would do better to get the degree in England -- that way I'd be out of school in three years as opposed to seven, and save a lot of money. But if you get your degree in England, how does that qualify you to practice American law in America? I don't know how similar the two systems are.</p>
<p>Among other things,the reasons will vary according to different states' laws about admission to the Bar. For example, Some years ago foreign law students would have to prove that their study was equivalent to US law schools' curricula in order to take the New York Bar Exam. The only foreign students exempt from that requirement were graduates of Cambridge, Oxford, and University College (London).</p>
<p>The biggest issue is that the U.K. has a vastly different legal system than we do here in the U.S. In the U.K., there is a common law legal system, and while we here in the U.S. retain certain very old laws from England (this was the foundation of our body of law from the pre-Revolutionary days, and you will study certain very old English real property cases, among others, in your first year property class in U.S. law schools), in the U.S. we have a system of laws embodied in codes or statutes (for example, the federal tax code, the uniform commercial code (or UCC), the criminal code (both federal and state), etc.), and judges interpret the laws contained in the codes as necessary, which decisions form the basis of our "common law". </p>
<p>Notably, Louisiana still adheres to a civil law code, which differs both from the U.K. and the U.S. legal systems, though it is a similar system to what is currently used in many European and other countries. A civil law code, generally, is where the legislature enacts a set of principles/guidelines, which judges interpret and expand upon in order to make decisions in individual cases. These judges' decisions form the basis for what is "the law" of the jurisdiction.</p>
<p>In the U.K., there is no book of codes that contains a listing of the current laws, as judges in the U.K. determine what the laws are based upon past decisions and the individual judge's intelligence and knowledge. The decisions of judges in the latest cases are the law.</p>
<p>These important and very basic distinctions between U.K. and U.S. law may make it difficult for a U.K. trained lawyer to find employment in the U.S. without the benefit of obtaining some training in U.S. law, typically by obtaining an LLM.</p>
<p>I'm not an expert, but there have been several threads on this topic. Here's my understanding.</p>
<p>You have to be at least 21 to be admitted to the bar in most states. Depending upon when your birthday falls, that could be a problem if you go to law school in the UK. Even if you are 21 when you get your UK degree, most employers aren't wildly enthused about hiring folks who are under 23--after all, 99% of your competition will be older than you are if you simply "skip" college and go directly to law school. </p>
<p>Some US states will allow you to count your UK degree for your college degree or your law degree, but not both. </p>
<p>Many UK schools will not accept US citizens to study law unless they already have a BA or BS. I think Oxbridge are still the exceptions. If you do study law at Oxbridge--and you better be a <em>star</em> in high school to have a prayer of acceptance--you won't learn any of the practical stuff you would be taught in a US law school. Instead, law grads take a bar vocational course (also open to those with degrees in other subjects who have taken a one-year conversion course). It's that course in which you learn how to do legal research, take courses in legal writing and oral advocacy, etc. Without that course, you will be pretty useless to any employer anywhere. Grads of US law schools take those courses in law school. </p>
<p>Assuming you could get into a bar conversion course--I think it would be difficult as an American because it's like trying to get into college or law school--more applicants than spots--that would mean spending a fourth year in the UK. </p>
<p>As Sally has said, the laws are also different. The whole idea of a federal system doesn't exist in the UK. In a US law school, you will study the federal rules of procedure, which are used in federal court. You will learn when you can bring a case in federal court, when you must bring it in state court, and when you have a choice. You will learn that laws about estates or marriage or divorce or many other things are a matter of state law. You will learn when state law is "preempted" by federal law, and when it is not. These are not concepts you will study in the UK.</p>
<p>You will, as others have said, spend some time in a US law school learning about some statutes--the tax code; the Uniform Commercial Code; the Securities Exchange Act, the Administrative Procedures Act, You will, of course, study the Constitution, including things like the commerce clause. Then there's the Bill of Rights. None of this will be learned at Oxbridge. </p>
<p>Overcome all of this --some folks do--and you'll still have the calendar problem. The UK and US academic calendars don't match up. This will cause you lots of problems. One is that the way most US students get jobs is by working for firms or other employers after their second year of law school. Indeed, many top law schools shut down for a week in the fall while 2Ls go flying around the country for job interviews. US firms aren't going to be interviewing at Oxbridge to fill summer jobs. Indeed, UK firms aren't going to be hiring at Oxbridge. It's just a whole different system, wherein you are offered pupelage after completing the conversion course. </p>
<p>You will be in classes and taking exams much later in the summer. More importantly, the bar exam is only given in most states about twice a year. I think it would be next to impossible to finish the year at Oxbridge and take a summer bar exam. So, you'd have to sit out, so to speak, for half a year. While many US firms hire new grads before they have passed the bar exam, they are expecting that you will pass it and be able to be admitted to the bar in about 9-11 months from law school graduation. You would need at least six months more. Usually, while firms may pay for your bar review course, they do not pay you while you are taking it. You finish the course, take the bar, and THEN you start work. So, if you finish your classes in the UK too late to take and pass the July bar, it's unlikely that you will find an employer who will hire you to work beginning in August of September, and then give you two months off a few months later so you can take a bar review course for the Feb or March exam. </p>
<p>Almost every US law school grad takes a bar review course to prep for the bar. But that course does NOT cover a lot of the things that you will not have learned if you go to school in the UK. </p>
<p>If you should need fin aid, forget it. Oxbridge isn't generous with that for US students. And, you should be aware that the cost of living is very high in the UK right now. </p>
<p>I have known folks who have passed the US bar exam after getting a UK degree. So, it's not impossible. But it is hard.</p>
<p>Again, I'm not an expert, so others who know more should feel free to add or correct. Sorry if this explanation is a bit disjointed...</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the help!</p>