LLM and Bar exam


dpena28

Hello,
I earned my first law degree and a Master in the Dominican Republic few years ago. Now, I'm living in New York and I'm interested in pursuing a Master in order to be eligible to take the bar exam in New York. The issue is that I don't know if pursuing an LLM. at an university not located in New York State will decrease my chances of passing the bar in New York because I know the bar includes specific questions about the state where one takes the exam.
DR.

Hello,
I earned my first law degree and a Master in the Dominican Republic few years ago. Now, I'm living in New York and I'm interested in pursuing a Master in order to be eligible to take the bar exam in New York. The issue is that I don't know if pursuing an LLM. at an university not located in New York State will decrease my chances of passing the bar in New York because I know the bar includes specific questions about the state where one takes the exam.
DR.
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dam

I wouldn't be too worried about that.
While it's true that each student tailors her courseload according to her personal tastes, 80/90 per cent of them usually enroll only in courses related to the specific field in which they want to practice or teach (finance/corporate/trade/banking/tax/public int'l/constitutional etc.).
Especially in the most glamorous universitites these courses have seldom anything to do with notions about NY/Connecticut/Massachussetts/California/North Dakota State law.
Furthermore, it would surprise me to find more than a few foreign LLM students taking classes dealing with those subjects which are less indirectly related to the State-spcific questions posed at the NY bar exam (criminal law, civil procedure, etc., with the possible exception of contracts - but then again, almost the entire curriculum will be most probably centered on abstract theories/general categorizations, instead of on the nuts and bolts of State rules, in which most LLM students do not show too much enthusiasm).
LLM NY bar takers learn how NY courts deal with the difference between first- and second-degree arson when they take a bar preparation course, not before, regardless of whether they studied in Manhattan or in Santa Monica.

I wouldn't be too worried about that.
While it's true that each student tailors her courseload according to her personal tastes, 80/90 per cent of them usually enroll only in courses related to the specific field in which they want to practice or teach (finance/corporate/trade/banking/tax/public int'l/constitutional etc.).
Especially in the most glamorous universitites these courses have seldom anything to do with notions about NY/Connecticut/Massachussetts/California/North Dakota State law.
Furthermore, it would surprise me to find more than a few foreign LLM students taking classes dealing with those subjects which are less indirectly related to the State-spcific questions posed at the NY bar exam (criminal law, civil procedure, etc., with the possible exception of contracts - but then again, almost the entire curriculum will be most probably centered on abstract theories/general categorizations, instead of on the nuts and bolts of State rules, in which most LLM students do not show too much enthusiasm).
LLM NY bar takers learn how NY courts deal with the difference between first- and second-degree arson when they take a bar preparation course, not before, regardless of whether they studied in Manhattan or in Santa Monica.

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P_Martini

I think that's right. Your LL.M. courses will be fairly useless to you in writing the New York exam. It may give you some general familiarity with U.S. law, but, the New York exam is it's own beast entirely. The examiners have questions they like to ask and subjects in law which appear more frequently than others. You're simply very unlikely to run into any subject matter which will be very helpful to you in passing the bar. I don't say anything unequivocally on these boards, but I can get really close to unequivocal in saying that it's almost certainly a bad idea to select an LL.M. program and LL.M. courses with a view to preparing for a certain state's bar exam.

I think that's right. Your LL.M. courses will be fairly useless to you in writing the New York exam. It may give you some general familiarity with U.S. law, but, the New York exam is it's own beast entirely. The examiners have questions they like to ask and subjects in law which appear more frequently than others. You're simply very unlikely to run into any subject matter which will be very helpful to you in passing the bar. I don't say anything unequivocally on these boards, but I can get really close to unequivocal in saying that it's almost certainly a bad idea to select an LL.M. program and LL.M. courses with a view to preparing for a certain state's bar exam.
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