Hi, I'm a Mexican licensed attorney and I just finished my LLM program at Northwestern University in Chicago. I took the NY Bar in July and I'm currently working at a law firm in Phoenix, Arizona, waiting for the results for the NY Bar which are due in November. Once I have the results I'll see how to proceed to try to sit for the Arizona Bar, which is likely to reject me as I don't have a JD (even if I pass NY). I've been looking into doing a JD here somewhere (ASU maybe) but I wanted to know if there was anybody out there with good advice on this or that maybe went through a similar situation. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Question. if you knew you were going to stay in the US why didn't you complete the two year JD program at Northwestern? That is the main problem with the LL.M. You are only allowed to take the bar exam in a few states. Will ASU give you credit for your LL.M so that you need only two more years for the JD?

If I knew then what I know now, I would've gone for the 2 year JD program. This is a big problem with foreign attorneys coming to the US who don't know the reality of what the LLM is. Granted it lasts only 1 year (or 9 months actually), but you're very restricted when wanting to practice here due to your inability to sit for the bar in any state other than Cali or NY. I just got here and haven't called ASU to find out, but I'll definitely try to get 1 year's worth of credit (I don't see why not, all of my classes at Northwestern where part of the JD program there).