Hello all, I know this has been asked a million times, and I've read a million threads, but I'm still a little lost, and so, here is my post:

Some background information, I'm a senior in college and about to graduate from an American university with a bachelor's in Anthropology and a minor in political science (please no grief about my major, I hate it too). I want to study law and become a lawyer, and I'm 1000% set on that plan. My plan after I graduate from college with my undergraduate is to take a full gap year. But, I really want to move away from the US, specifically into Europe. I have been looking into many European law schools, such as The University of Edinburgh, the University of Zurich, the University of Vienna, and the University of Bologna, etc...

Now, I know going to non-English speaking schools requires me to learn their perspective language, and I plan to extensively do that, I can read Spanish pretty well, from having taken it for many many years growing up, but Spanish is the only league I extensively know, thus plan to learn the language of where I go.

But back to law, the schools I mentioned all have some sort of English LL.M program, but obviously, many require an undergrad law degree from their respective countries, I obviously only have an American bachelor's that is technically not in law, I'm not sure if my minor counts for any credentials, but as mentioned, it is in political science...

After reading many posts, it seems that the only way I would achieve success in Europe as a lawyer is to completely redo my undergrad, and start from the beginning with an undergrad law degree. Law school in the US is three years, and so are many undergrad programs, but I would be almost 23 years old getting my undergrad with 18-year-olds, I feel like that would just put me very behind and cost a lot of money, considering I have loans from my current university already, so I would really rather not have to do that...

Is there any way, like absolutely any way, I could just go into an LL.M program, obtain that degree, and be able to get a 2-3 year apprenticeship and take the bar exam? I know every country is different, the main countries I'm looking to move to are, the UK (any and all), Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and possibly Spain, but I'm open to more. But would anyone even take me on as a legal apprentice with my American Bachelor's, that is not in law, even If I got an LL.M for the country I'm looking to live in? Or would I be simply wasting my time with an LL.M and a useless bachelor's degree...

The more I read, the more and more my dreams are slowly getting crushed, I just don't know what to do... I'm totally not planning on putting all of my eggs in the European school basket, as I do plan on making the LSAT here in the US, just to weigh my options, but I would much much rather move to Europe, as this is something I've wanted to do for many years.

I'm sorry this is a very long post, I'm just lost on the next steps, and feeling very defeated haha, any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!


Also, I'm sorry, I don't mean to lump the UK and Europe together, just together for simplicity

Most countries in Europe require an undergraduate law degree from that country in order to work as a lawyer, so an LLM would not be very useful if you're missing that. The UK is a bit of a different case, since you can covert your foreign degree with a one year course so that you can practice there, but since your degree isn't in law anyway, this wouldn't be of any help.



You might still be able to find jobs in legal roles that don't require the bar exam, but without a bachelor's degree in law, you won't be able to work as a lawyer.



The only course for you if you do want to work as a lawyer proper, would be to start from scratch with an undergraduate degree in the country where you wish to work.

[Edited by Mike33 on Sep 29, 2024]