Hello,

I have just received the verdict of the NY Bar Board of Examiners on my foreign legal education evaluation, and I have been told that 'the Board's final decision with respect to your eligibility to sit for the New York bar examination is contingent on your submission of, and the Board's approval of, the required proof of successful completion and graduation with a qualifying LL.M. degree from an ABA-approved law school in the United States' even if I possess a 3 years LLB from the University of Sussex (UK) and an LLM from the University of Groningen (the Netherlands).

I have asked around and no one has ever heard of a UK 3 years LLB being rejected by the Board so I want to appeal.
I have called but the replies to my inquiries have been incredibly unhelpful.

I was wondering if someone has had a similar issue, or has had to appeal before and knows how to go about it.

Thank you in advance

Did they give you any feedback to as why? A three-year degree should be durationally equivalent to a 3-year JD, but perhaps they didn't see it as substantially equivalent. Usually if they don't deem a program substantially equivalent they'd want you to do an LLM in the US (from an ABA-accredited school).

Sorry, I don't know what the appeal process is (or if there even is one.)

I know several UK LLB holders and they all had to take a bunch of required courses during their US LLM's to qualify to sit the NY exam. That sounds fairly standard to me. Have you qualified to practice in either the UK or NL? That makes it easier usually.

Thank you for your replies.

They did not give any feedback, and I understand that often deficiencies have to be dealt with by completing an LLM in the US, but I talked to my university and they never heard of one of their students having to take an LLM in the US on top of a Sussex LLB.
I haven't qualified in the UK yet, but I did provide the New York Bar with a letter from the UK Bar saying that I meet all of the requirements needed to be admitted to the UK Bar...

If you study for the LLM in the U.S you need to study some local courses not international courses to qualify to sit for the Bar exam in New York. Bashar Malkawi