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I am a 3rd year Law student, graduating this year with an LLB from the University of Greenwich.
I have checked the eligibilty requirements to take the Bar exam and as long as I get a 2:1, I should be able to take it however, I am thinking it would be remiss of me to take the exam without any American legal experience.
Therefore, I was wondering if anyone could direct me towards how to approach the firms in NYC to gain experience and which firms to apply to for experience. I am pretty much clueless as to how I should go about to gain the relevant experience.
I would appreciate any help anyone can give me and would especially appreciate it, if people who have been in a similar situation to me, i.e. Law grads from the UK now practising in NY could share their experience with me.
That may be because nobody is sure what to tell you. You're in a classic Catch-22 situation (the term comes from Joseph Heller's bestselling novel of the same title). You can't get a job without the experience, but you can't get experience without the job.
You may be best served by going about things the old-fashioned way: contact the firms that interest you and see if you can get appointments.
You also need to determine what visa(s) you are eligible for. A tourist visa won't allow you to work here. Probably not even on a voluntary (unpaid) basis. Obviously it may have happened before in other places, but I doubt any self-respecting law firm would want to take that chance.
Hey.
I am not from New York, but the UK. I am doing accounting and finance at university, and I when i graduate I want to move abroad, so I am doing a 1 year paid internship in New York so I have good experience on my CV. From what you have said this sounds like something you should think about doing. You either need to be going in to your 3rd year or just graduated...i'm guessing you are graduating this year. Take a look at USA Internships for international students. They have placements advertised, and loads of information on things like visas etc.
Hope this has been some help to you.
Hi everybody,I'm currently a law student at Tehran south branch university in Iran and i've still got one more year to finish.I was wondering what is the first step to apply for an american law school,and that what primary exams should I take.I'm really clueless.
I'd appreciate any help and answer and i'll be waiting.
Thank u all!
The reason you've got few relevant responses is for a couple of reasons.
1, the fact that you need to post here is such an indication that you are hopelessly clueless, so what's the point?
2, most of the frequent posters are fairly clueless as to NYC Professions, as they are not professionals.
3, your law school isn't one which opens doors in NYC.
You need an internship. The top NYC firms recruit from the top schools, so that eliminates those firms. Second tier firms recruit from second tier schools, so again most firms are not a probability.
I don't know much re your school, but I imagine it feeds the local political machine and firms locally connected. In other words, the offers go to home grown sons.
You need to petition your professors, counselors, and alumni associations. Do the homeork re the local firms and send letters and resume to any alumni at the firms.
Also, be prepared to work for FREE! Also, most 3rd year students already have some intern experience, what have you been doing?
Legal field in NYC is going through quite a bit of change in recent years. Because of market downturn and changes in company size/mindset about costs, law firms are making a lot less money than before which means lets the good times roll is gone at most place. That translates to folks joining firm on will never be partner path for lower money. It also translates to lot of folks starting their own small firm with 1 or 2 lawyers targeting consumers with real estate, bankruptcy, tax, immigration, etc. I personally don't work in the field so it's just observation I have made of my college buddies and sibling's friends who are lawyers.
Anyhow, this all means getting a job in law firm is harder, less money, and you definitely better have some internship, skills, great head on the shoulder, and/or connection.
I think days of law students expecting to find a good solid job just because he or she have passed bar is gone for only God knows how long.
I'm pretty sure you can't just practice in the US or take the bar with a British LLB. You need an American LLM to practice in the US, which means another year of schooling in the United States. Try Top Law Schools for advice (although I'm not sure how much they know about LLMs).
The only other way you could be a lawyer in the US is if you did transactional work that did not require bar passage. To do that, you'd need to get a job with a firm in London (either a British firm with a NYC office, like Clifford Chance or Allen & Overy, or an American firm with a London office), then transfer to that firm's office in the US.
Edit: Whoops, that was in response to the original post. Advice about an LLM still applies, though: Foreign lawyers are best served by getting an LLM (Master of Laws) at an American law school. See Top Law Schools, linked above, for advice. Also check out the application forms for LLMs at various law schools to get more information. (I know little about LLMs; not sure if you need to take the LSAT, the JD admissions test, for an LLM, but I would guess not.) The law schools in NYC, in rough order of prestige, are:
Columbia and New York University (about equal)
Fordham
Cardozo
Brooklyn College
St. John's
New York Law School (joke)
Quote:
Originally Posted by parisaaa
Hi everybody,I'm currently a law student at Tehran south branch university in Iran and i've still got one more year to finish.I was wondering what is the first step to apply for an american law school,and that what primary exams should I take.I'm really clueless.
I'd appreciate any help and answer and i'll be waiting.
Thank u all!
Last edited by BrownstoneNY; 06-15-2011 at 09:36 PM..
I am a NY licensed attorney. I have a friend who is a barrister in the UK and came here to sit for the NY bar exam. He failed it 4 times. He also tried to find a law related position and was unsuccessful. After his results from the 4th bar attempt came out, he packed his bags and returned to England.
I dont have much advice for you because I do not hire lawyers. All I can tell you is that the NYC job market for lawyers is EXTREMELY competitive. You are going to be less appealing than the graduates coming out of law schools with awful reputations in the Northeast region (ie Western New england, Touro, Widener, etc).
'
Everyone wants to work in NYC because that is where most of the jobs are and where the entry level wages are the highest. However, the truth is you will either get a job at a small law firm that will pay you a terrible salary with no health benefits, or you will be relegated to the Document Review/Temp Attorney mill.
Check out JDUnderground.com, and TemporaryAttorney.Blogspot.com
That should help you get some insight on how bad the market really is, and how you can prepare yourself to be a competitive job applicant.
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