I was wondering if someone could help me here...

I have a law degree from Brazil. I live in Boston and working as paralegal for 5 years. I want to go back to law school so that I can practice here. My LSAT score is 142 and my GPA (law school in Brazil) is 2.8.  I want to apply for New England Law School, does anyone knows if I have a chance? I heard that they take into consideration your work experience. Has anybody been in this kind of situation??

Thanks

I would suggest that you retake your LSAT, as it is too low, in my opinion.

It seems like this school requires a higher LSAT:

Fall 2006 Admissions Statistics (Full-time Program)
Acceptance rate: 49.1%
LSAT scores (25th-75th percentile): 150-154

Although you can e-mail them and ask if they take into consideration i.e. work experience and etc.

If you have a foreign law degree, some states will allow you to sit for the Bar with just an LLM. I am starting my Online LLM from ABA Cooley Law School next year. I had no idea some of these programs were available. Also, Penn St is the 1st ABA school to start offering JD courses online, not the complete program.

I was wondering if someone could help me here...I have a law degree from Brazil. I live in Boston and working as paralegal for 5 years. I want to go back to law school so that I can practice here. My LSAT score is 142 and my GPA (law school in Brazil) is 2.8. I want to apply for New England Law School, does anyone knows if I have a chance? I heard that they take into consideration your work experience. Has anybody been in this kind of situation??Thanks

If you read this post, please just be mindful of this (regarding JD):

http://www.abanet.org/legaled/distanceeducation/distance.html

Also, Cooley is regarded as one of the worst ABA approved law school's out there. I doubt it gets any better if you take their classes online.

UCONN has a ABA Foreign LLM program Online specifically for Foreign students. Thomas Jefferson took over the St thomas ABA llm, The Diamond LLM program. Whether cooley is high ranked or not, ITS STILL an ABA School and you can take it from anywhere. If you are going into private practice, and you just need an LLM to sit for a US BAR, does it really matter?

If you read this post, please just be mindful of this (regarding JD):

http://www.abanet.org/legaled/distanceeducation/distance.html

Also, Cooley is regarded as one of the worst ABA approved law school's out there. I doubt it gets any better if you take their classes online.

Yes that book does detail aba LLM Online programs, but with your ABA link below, 1 can still get a Non ABA JD completely online, and Concord is now regionally accredited. I agree the ABA does not approve the JD online YET, but, AGain, if you are a foreign lawyer going into private practice, The non aba JD can still allow them to practice in the US. I was only giving out options to their answers. But as far as I know, the Thomas Jefferson ABA LLM online program is a great program---Check out Chapman Law School also in CA, For their ABA online LLM program.

UCONN has a ABA Foreign LLM program Online specifically for Foreign students. Thomas Jefferson took over the St thomas ABA llm, The Diamond LLM program. Whether cooley is high ranked or not, ITS STILL an ABA School and you can take it from anywhere. If you are going into private practice, and you just need an LLM to sit for a US BAR, does it really matter?

If you read this post, please just be mindful of this (regarding JD):

http://www.abanet.org/legaled/distanceeducation/distance.html

Also, Cooley is regarded as one of the worst ABA approved law school's out there. I doubt it gets any better if you take their classes online.

Whether cooley is high ranked or not, ITS STILL an ABA School and you can take it from anywhere. If you are going into private practice, and you just need an LLM to sit for a US BAR, does it really matter?

That is a very good post Hannenyh. An LL.M is fine if you just want to study in the US and return home. However, if you are really serious about remaining in the US to practice law, a JD is better. That is a fact of life. With an LL.M you are limited to practicing in only a handful of states. Of course, in my state of California, you can just take the bar exam if you are a foreign licensed attorney. Better like California though because if you decide to take this route you might not be able to take the bar anywhere else.

Hey All:

We've gotten off-topic from the original post, but I have a few comments and points of clarification from reading the ongoing discussion:

1) Regarding that ABA position linked above, keep in mind that there's a huge difference between what is considered "correspondence" classes and "live distance learning." In LDL, you have a web cam and are required to watch lectures live at an appointed time (just like a real class) and the professor has a split screen that shows them all the students in real time. You can ask questions and you also can be called on to answer questions. If you are not logged on during the class time, it's considered an absence. So essentially, it is a live classroom. Just about all ABA schools are looking into live distance learning LLM's in one form or another because it's not like the old correspondence school model.

2) The prior posts talk about various LLM schools for an International Applicant, but there's been no discussion about "in what subject?" That should be the applicants first question to ask him/herself. Once that is asked it will narrow the choice of schools down, and from there you can decide which program is right for you regardless of Tier.

3) Regarding the 4th Tier discussion, the LSAT & GPA cited above probably aren't going to get that person in a higher Tier school for a U.S. based JD program anyway. It's just a sad fact of life. I agree with the comment that if the original post'r just wants to practice law here, that a JD from an ABA school is better than an LLM because then you can take the bar in any state. If you have a foreign JD and a US LLM, the rules are different for each state - that may limit you if you want to practice in state "X" but state X doesn't recognize your foreign JD equivalent.

As usual, there's a lot to consider! Good luck everyone.

Steve

Thanks to aaaalllllll of you!!! This information was very helpful.