i've recently been offered a place for a MSc LAw and Acc at LSE. for 1/2 the program i will be taking LLM courses. I am a big4 accountant but hope to become a practising lawyer in future. i was thinking that with the LLM courses i took, i would be able to save time and of course money when i did a law degree later. unfortunately i just found out that none of the LLM courses can be used to waive first law degree courses. i am thinking that's quite unreasonable as they state the LLM courses are more advanced than LLB
courses. is that true? below are some other questions:

1) can i take the bar with just a LLM? (if i am already doing LLM courses for the above program, then couldn't I just take more LLM courses and complete a whole LLM degree? is that even an option?)

2) if i do want to become a practising lawyer is a LLB or JD a must?

3) could you practise in the US with a LLB/LLM? my family is actually moving back to the US soon so would it seem more sensible to just get a JD later on and not do this program?

4) what;s the fastest and most cost efficient way to become a lawyer? (i really don't want to be in major debt after i graduate so i'm kind of concerned).

hope someone can provide me with some advice and insight! thanks!

Anyone at all?????!!!!! Would realli appreciate some help here!!! Thanks!

To practise in the United Kingdom, you need to have an undergraduate degree. If it is in law, then you must do a Legal Practice Course followed by a 2 yr training contract with a firm in order to become a Newly Qualified Solicitor. If your first degree is not in law, which I presume yours isnt, then you must do a Graduate Diploma in Law followed by the LPC followed by the 2 yr contract. If you wish to become a barrister, you do the Bar Vocational Course instead of the LPC followed by a pupillage. But the MSc in Law and Acc will NOT help you become a practising lawyer in the United Kingdom. No amount of graduate degrees (BCL, LLM, MSc) will be sufficient if you don't follow the above path. You don't even need an LL.B. in the United Kingdom to practise law as long as you have a first degree.

As far as the United States is concerned, the best and simplest way to become a practising attorney is to do a JD, which allows you to take the bar exam in any state in the country. It may seem rather expensive at first but it's a sound investment, at least much better than the MSc. The other option would be to do an an LLB from an English law school which makes you eligible in NY. Other states allow you to take the bar if you have a first law degree from outside the US and you complete an LLM from an American law school. But even then your options are very limited if you take that route and you will hear conflicting accounts from people who take that route. I don't think it's any cheaper if you dont already have an LLB, so in your case the JD may well be the more cost effective option.

To sum up, it seems like you wish to become a practising lawyer which means that the MSc from LSE is not going to help you in any way at all. The only thing it'll do is boost your resume if you wish to teach Accounting at some point in your life. It will NOT fulfill any vocational legal requirements NOR will it boost your accounting skills that much since you're already a practising accountant for a Big 4 firm. So if you wish to practise in the US, go for a JD. Check out www.lsac.org for more information or post a question on this forum if you have any questions about getting a JD.

Someone please correct me or improve upon my answer if possible. Thanks.

Hey Raj,

thanks for the advice, by the way did u go to UT Austin? i actually did my undergrad there. So i guess you'd say the MSc Law + Acc realli isn't that great of a choice? where would u suggest i go for a JD?

Yes I got my undergrad from UT Austin in Economics. Graduated in 2004. Did you do the PPA program in Accounting?

Yeah I really don't think the MSc Programme would be of too much value to someone in your position especially since you want to become a practising lawyer.

As far as where to go for a JD, if you can manage getting into a top 25 school, then you should be fine. Law School admission is quite competitive these days and even getting in is not that easy. You'll need a decent LSAT score and a strong GPA among other things.

An important factor is your residency status. Are you a Texas resident? If you are, then I think that UT Austin is the BEST investment you can make in your legal career. It's in the top 20 and the tuition for Texas residents is approx. 11,000 per year which is nothing compared to the tuition at most other law schools (anywhere between 35 - 40 grand a year).

If you can manage getting into UT Austin, then I would go for that simply because of the tutition. Otherwise, there're plenty of other schools worth applying to. Check out the US News rankings for the top law schools.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have other questions.

Carol,

I am starting the MSc in Law & Accounting in Sept! And I have a JD from the US and I am licensed in VA and DC. I went staight from college to law school and I've been out of school for a year now. It's very competitive and the legal market is highly saturated - or at least in DC. For me, it makes sense to start the program since I want to move to London b/c of my family and find a job there.

But if you want to pratice law in the States, you need to either get a JD from here or do an LLM (but with an LLM you are limited as to what states you can take the bar in)

On the other hand, law school is 3 years and you will get out with a ton of debt. So it only makes sense to do it if you are 100% sure you want to be a lawyer.

Let me know when you make up your mind - maybe I'll see you in school!

Hey Kristina,

hey! i saw your postings about the programme so decided to post my questions too. i think the main problem for me is that i'm not an american citizen or resident. i'm actually canadian. so i'm relunctant to do a JD in the states. just kind of worried that my employment status would limit my job opportunities and i won't be able to get loans that easily either. i want to do the programme mainly to find out more abt law school options, meet ppl who've been through it and boost my resume a bit so i can find a better job later. i'm interested in who hired the grads last yr. i know vault did a survey on that but i dont have a vault account. perhaps if you know anyone who has you can check it out. www.vault.com.