Hi all:

I am about to graduate law school in New York, and will be taking the bar exam in July. I would really like to move to the UK and practice, and would not be averse to doing additional school. I looked into the solicitor's regulation authority's guidelines on the qualified lawyer's transfer test....Unfortunately, I have to meet a two year experience requirement, one year of which must be spent practicing the law of England and Wales (which, obviously, is difficult to get while working at a NY firm.)

I was wondering if there are alternative routes I can take to eventually becoming UK qualified as a solicitor. Can I get an LLM from a UK law school and be eligible to take the law society qualifying exams and be admitted as a solicitor? Any ideas? I know absolutely nothing about this, the qualifying scheme in the UK is much different than in the U.S. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi brooklyn824,
Two things.
First the job market here in the UK is dreadful at the moment. I was just made redundant this week and I am not the only one in this situation. Things will probably get better but not right now though. Very tough times. So I would think twice about making an immediate move to the UK.
Secondly I would call the international department of the Law Society because they are the ones managing the QLTT. I would for example ask them if it is possible to sit the exam before meeting the two years of experience.
I took the QLTT a few years ago from a EU country (which is slightly different than the US). I know that the Law Society has recently aded this new condition of 2 years under the supervision of an English solicitor but it is not required for EU lawyers... Please let me know if you have other questions.

I agree with Koala. The legal industry in the UK is grim (just look at what happened at Allen and Overy the other week). You may also face some protectionism in the UK as the government urges jobs to go to British workers (and EU citizens). While the US is expected to recover quite quickly, commentators are not so sure about the UK.

If you really want to work in the UK, it would probably be quicker to stay in NY for the next year or two, get the work exp. and then do the QLTT (although beware that the QLTT is getting an overhaul and it will become harder). Another route is to do a CPE here and then BVC/LPC, and then one year as a trainee barrister or two years as a trainee lawyer.