Dear all,

I have studied law in the Netherlands (Europe) and I have a Master degree in Dutch Law. The Netherlands is a continental law country. I have moved to USA and I want to apply for LL.M. programs here so that I would be able to take the Bar exam. Some time ago I sent out my transcripts for evaluation to an independent private evaluation center in U.S.A and they sent me their evaluation conclusion saying that the equivalent of my studies is a Bachelor of Arts. That made me really upset and I contacted my university back home in the Netherlands and they said that the evaluation center in U.S.A. has made a serious mistake because I definitely have a Master degree in law. They also told me that there have been other Dutch Law, Master graduates from their university who have sent their transcripts to New York State Board of Law Examiners for evaluations and they were eligible to take LL.M courses and take the Bar exam afterwards. I should make a note here:" The higher education in the Netherlands is based on a three-cycle degree system, consisting of a bachelor, master and PhD. Until the year 2002, the first two cycles at universities were combined in a single integrated cycle. Therefore until 2002 a person who went to Law School in the Netherlands could get a Master degree in Law upon completion of the Law school. I studied Law before 2002. The law education now and before 2002, in order to have a Master degree in Dutch Law  is 4 years, but a good standing full time law student completes law school in the  Netherlands in 4 to 6 years. I also should say that a person with a Master in Law degree in the Netherlands meets all the educational requirements for admission to the Netherlands Bar and to practice as an attorney-at-law in the Netherlands." I have now the evaluation form in front of me to fill out for the New York Board of Law Examiners. I'm afraid that they will make the same mistake as the independent evaluation center I sent my transcripts to, some time ago. Please let me know if you have any experiences of this kind, any suggestions?!?! I thank you all bloggers in advance and hope to hear from you soon.

Regards,

Dutch attorney 

Which "evalution center" are you using? is it an approved evaluation provider by the NY bar?

To share my experience, i'm using www.wes.org which is a credential evaluation service approved by CA bar. FYI, I came from Hong Kong which is a common law jurisdiction [same as UK, US and Australia] so it may be easier for them to make evalution. I'm not sure about NY bar but as you a an admitted attorney in Netherlands, you are eligible to take CA bar.

To me as i'm not an admitted lawyer in Hong Kong, CA bar required me to get a LLM [20 credits] in a ABA approved school in US, before i can sit for bar exam. Also I got admitted to LLM of UC Davis this fall and i'm making more applicatons to other higher-ranked schools in CA.

I suggest you try more service providers and try to provide information as detail as possible. Wish you good luck!

regards
maurice

Hi Maurice,
Thank you so much for responding to my inquiry. I did not know that foreign attorneys can apply to take the Bar exam in California. Because I was told that only New York and Arizona Bar are more open to foreign applicants. Can foreign attorneys now also apply to CA Bar?

Best,
Dutch attorney

Yes you may check this out:
http://www.calbar.ca.gov/calbar/pdfs/admissions/77sf.pdf

In fact most of the states in US allows foreign attorneys to sit their bar exam check more on ABA website: http://www.abanet.org/

Regards
maurice

"most of the states in US allows foreign attorneys to sit their bar exam"

MOST states? Unless something has changed very recently, you are not giving out correct info here. I only know of approx 5 states. But please share your info.

"most of the states in US allows foreign attorneys to sit their bar exam"

MOST states? Unless something has changed very recently, you are not giving out correct info here. I only know of approx 5 states. But please share your info.

Hmm. To sit for the MD bar, I think you must have passed another U.S. bar, so it is still not quite correct. I don't know about the others though. I just know the particulars of NY and CA.

I'm sorry for being nitpicky, but you should not give people false hopes here. It might get very expensive.

"most of the states in US allows foreign attorneys to sit their bar exam"

MOST states? Unless something has changed very recently, you are not giving out correct info here. I only know of approx 5 states. But please share your info.

Yes there're only 5 states allow foreign attorneys to sit for bar exam:

http://www.ncbex.org/fileadmin/mediafiles/downloads/Comp_Guide/CompGuide.pdf

ie. CA, Maine, Maryland, Missisipi, and Rhode island.

Please accept my apologies of putting "most" in the previous post.

Regards
maurice