Hi all, I completed the CPE/LPC degrees in London as few years back (2 years full time law program), which enables me to begin a training contract and work as a lawyer in the UK. Although it is not technically the LLB, the UK allows you to take the CPE if you have already completed an undergraduate degree so that you finish faster than it would take to start over with the LLB. Anyway, i am american and have come back to the states. i have been living in New York for the past two years gaining more experience in a law firm. I am going to start the LLM this fall, but now, after reading a few other posts, and digesting the BAR rules, i am wondering if i even need to take the LLM at all!! I'm going to apply to the board of examiners to check, but i am wondering if anyone has experience with the conversion course (CPE + LPC) and taking the ny bar exam. any advice is greatly appreciated! thanks!

I think this question has been answered somewhere else but I think you need more than 2 years study to sit the bar. You have to have done the equivalent of the JD, which is 3 years. I would check with the NY Board of Law Examiners but you can also look online. There is a specific time requirement but I can't remember exactly what it is.

Thanks flygirl - you're right - i think it's 75-105 hours in residence...and i think it's 15 hours credit per semester...missed it by a whopping 25 hours!!

You might be able to fudge it. I did a conjoint degree with Arts so my law degree was effectively part-time for 5 years. It was actually under the minimum without the Arts degree and well over with the Arts degree. I remember playing around with what papers and tutorials I counted and managed to scrap in somehow. I imagine the two-year degree could be a bit of a give-away though.

Dear flygirl,

I have law degree in Spain and I will study a LLM in Fordham next year, I would like to know if you can recomend some books to prepare for the NY bar exam. I do not mean books about the exam itself but books about the different areas covered by the exam, if I am not mistaken the MBE consists in: Contracts, torts, Constitutional law, Criminal law,Evidence and Real Property. And also, do you think that there are chances to pass the exam with a study period of 9 to 10 weeks? Personally I find it hard, so I want to take a look at these areas before starting with the LLM. Thank you very much for your time

hi,
people on this thread seem to be quite knowledgeable and adj27 i was wondering since you living in new york do you know if it is easy or hard to find a job in a law firm over there if you sit the bar with an english law degree. i have just finished my degree and dont want to qualify here and was wondering what the likely hood of getting a job would be if i sat the bar.
thanks for any help you can give.

Hi Jose
I think 9-10 weeks would be enough time provided you took the BarBri course. I don't recommend studying the bar exam by yourself or doing any extra study ahead of the bar exam (this is because the questions are very specific and also because it is largely a memory game so studying a year in advance won't help - I discuss this in other posts).

As for the likelihood of getting a job in NY with the bar exam, the bar exam will not increase your likelihood of getting a job at a big firm. This is because they hire most people before they have sat the bar and expect them to sit it either before or during work. I discuss this in other posts. There are also a lot of other posts that discuss getting a job in NYC.