Hello! I was trying to figure out a few things about the bar exams. So far I've heard that the hardest ones are in California. Fordham mentions at its admitted students page that we should go to the NY Board of Law Examiners' website and read the "Foreign Legal Education". Does anyone have any previous experience or knowledge regarding the bar exams in NY? Moreover, if one has passed the bar exam in NY, can they practice law in CA or is it "for (limited) use within the State" ?

Hello! I was trying to figure out a few things about the bar exams. So far I've heard that the hardest ones are in California. Fordham mentions at its admitted students page that we should go to the NY Board of Law Examiners' website and read the "Foreign Legal Education". Does anyone have any previous experience or knowledge regarding the bar exams in NY? Moreover, if one has passed the bar exam in NY, can they practice law in CA or is it "for (limited) use within the State" ?

Hello everybody, I am from Indonesia and I have been accepted to UPenn's LLM for this fall.

I would like to know the chance of foreign students with US LLM to pass NY Exam Bar. I have heard that the Bar is very difficult. Is there any foreign student with US LLM has passed the Bar? I would like to hear your experience about how difficult it was and about the job opportunity as well.

I passed the Bar with an LLB from UCL (University of London and Oxbridge are entitled to sit the NY Bar with an LLB). Getting sworn in on March 24! It was a very arduous process, but the studying of it took about 2 months, on average 8-12 hours a day. I did take about a week off before the exam due to nerves, so honestly it's not as bad as people claim. I believe that foreign attorneys with an LLM in the United States are eligible to sit both New York and California. Job opportunities are, frankly, extremely limited for LLM-holding NY attorneys (as I, sadly, know from personal experience!).

I passed the Bar with an LLB from UCL (University of London and Oxbridge are entitled to sit the NY Bar with an LLB). Getting sworn in on March 24! It was a very arduous process, but the studying of it took about 2 months, on average 8-12 hours a day. I did take about a week off before the exam due to nerves, so honestly it's not as bad as people claim. I believe that foreign attorneys with an LLM in the United States are eligible to sit both New York and California. Job opportunities are, frankly, extremely limited for LLM-holding NY attorneys (as I, sadly, know from personal experience!).

Anybody else?

It's near impossible to get a job in New York at the moment, no matter who you are or what your credentials.

For what it's worth, the New York bar passage rate for foreign-educated lawyers is roughly 50% (see, e.g., http://www.nybarexam.org/press/1108%20press%20release.pdf). This is quite a bit lower than the passage rate for individuals with JDs from US law schools, but I am not sure how much of it is due to lack of knowledge of the specifics of US/NY law and how much of it is language based - I personally suspect that a lot of the difference is due to foreign lawyers who do not have the fluency needed to do the essay portion of the exam in the time provided.

The success rate for the NY BAr has been about 80% for the last two iterations - by their own admission

Yes, but there's a big divide between the passage rate for American applicants and foreign applicants. The passage rate for foreign candidates hovers around 50% (usually lower), as you can see in the statistics from the past three bar exams: http://www.nybarexam.org/Lookup.html. I'm not saying that anyone shouldn't take the New York bar; I am just trying to provide as full an answer to the question as possible.

True. NY is the perhaps the most foreign student friendly bar around.

True. NY is the perhaps the most foreign student friendly bar around.

Yes, but there's a big divide between the passage rate for American applicants and foreign applicants. The passage rate for foreign candidates hovers around 50% (usually lower), as you can see in the statistics from the past three bar exams: http://www.nybarexam.org/Lookup.html. I'm not saying that anyone shouldn't take the New York bar; I am just trying to provide as full an answer to the question as possible.