Lawyers with a foreign law degree who wish to take a bar examination after graduation should familiarize themselves with the eligibility and general requirements of the bar exam they wish to take. Completion of the LL.M. degree in itself does not guarantee eligibility to take a bar examination. Most states will require a J.D. degree from a U.S. law school in order to sit for the bar exam. In cases where a state does allow foreign law graduates to sit for the bar exam, including in New York, as a general rule, at least three years of legal study, not including the LL.M. degree, are required for eligibility.
For information on New York State’s bar requirements, contact the Board of Law Examiners directly at:
The New York State Board of Law Examiners
Building 3 - Corporate Plaza
254 Washington Avenue Extension
Albany, NY 12203
Telephone: (518) 453-5990
Website: www.nybarexam.org.
It is your responsibility to write to the Board of Law Examiners to determine your eligibility to sit for the bar exam. Only the Board can make that determination, and it is best to send your requests early. It is also your responsibility to make sure you meet all deadlines for applying to take the bar exam and to make sure you have all of the required materials to submit to the Board. Columbia Law School and the Office of Graduate Legal Studies are not responsible for monitoring bar exam deadlines or for updating you if the deadlines or rules for applying change.
The Office of Graduate Legal Studies cannot make copies of your foreign law school transcripts, nor can we give you the copies we have on file. No exceptions will be made. It is your responsibility to obtain additional copies of your transcripts if you plan to take the bar exam. We recommend that you do this as soon as possible during the fall semester, if you did not request them prior to arriving at Columbia (as we recommended in our pre-arrival materials).
For answers to questions regarding bar admissions in other jurisdictions and contact information for each state's board of bar examiners, the National Conference of Bar Examiner's Comprehensive Guide to Bar Admission Requirements provides an excellent resource. Chart X contains guidelines for foreign law school graduates. You can download a free copy (Adobe Reader software required) from http://www.ncbex.org/comprehensive-guide-to-bar-admissions/.
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Basic U.S. Law Courses
In order to sit for the NY Bar Exam, foreign law school graduates must complete a minimum of 20 credits at a U.S. law school in professional law subjects (taught law courses and seminars in a classroom with a professor). Clinics, externships, and supervised research do not qualify as taught courses, so if you plan to take the bar exam make sure that you take at least 20 points in taught courses and seminars.
Two of the courses and seminars that make up those 20 credits must be in basic U.S. law subjects. We have been advised that CIAL counts as a basic course in American law, as do courses in any of the following areas: administrative law; antitrust; bankruptcy; civil procedure; commercial law (Uniform Commercial Code Articles 2, 3, 6, and 9 (secured transactions)); conflict of laws; constitutional law; contracts; corporations; criminal law; criminal procedure; estate tax; evidence; family law; federal courts; federal income tax; real property; remedies; torts; and trusts, wills and estates. The following courses have been held not to qualify as basic U.S. law subjects (but do count toward the 20 credits of professional law subjects): Corporate Finance; Financial Statement Analysis & Interpretation; Immigration Law; Law and Economics; and Securities & Capital Markets. Credits earned through independent research will not count toward the 20 credits of professional law subjects required for eligibility to sit for the NY bar exam.
Attached below is a list of courses from the 2010-2011 Columbia Law School curriculum that the NY Bar has deemed to qualify as basic courses in American law (pages 1-4). On pages 4-5 of the document, they also list courses that DO NOT qualify. If a Columbia Law School course offering does not appear in this list, you will need to contact the bar directly to determine whether it will qualify as a basic course in American law.
