Distance Learning

[vanceap3]

Thanks for posting cusc!  I am a current distance learning via website and email and really enjoy it.  I don't have any aspirations of taking ANY bar...of course would have to jump through lots of hoops to do that anyway, and then probably would not happen.  I would eventually like to get into mediation/ADR.  Also do not need JD for that either but it helps.  I am the type of person who has difficulty reading it on my own...must have someone telling me what to do (homework, etc) and then do it.  I am in my second of three years and hope to be finished in about a year if all goes well...which includes Summers, of course.
Also, please do not get me wrong...I would never put the JD on a resume without full disclosure (although I am sure some would)...because it is wrong and in my opinion,, in some places not be legal.

[jonlevy]

New York will generally let English solicitors take the bar but the catch is they have to get licensed first which means a training contract in England first.  There has been discussion here that one could get a foreign distance learning law degree and then somehow qualify to take a US bar without being licensed as a foreign attorney first.  I have my doubts it will work since the bar will apprehend that we have a US resident obtaining a foreign DL degree when they simply could have enrolled in a California DL school.  I see no reason why the bar would do someone outside their scheme any favors.

[Maintain FL 350]

New York will generally let English solicitors take the bar but the catch is they have to get licensed first which means a training contract in England first.

Does CA require that UK law grads first get licensed as solicitors before they can apply for CA admission? Or could a CA resident get an LL.B and immediately apply to take the CA bar?

[Citylaw]

Don't most foreign students have to get an LLM in America to sit for the California Bar Exam. I knew a number of international students that were attorneys in their countries, but had to complete an LLM to sit for the California Bar.

[jonlevy]

It is hard enough to get a bar ticket with a foreign license - getting in with a foreign law degree and a one year LLM sounds good theory but likely will not work.  How would the bar evaluate the foreign law degree? A 1 year LLM is not the same as a 3 year JD. 

[Citylaw]

It is very common I know a number of people in California that obtained a J.D. internationally and then completed an LLM to take the California Bar Exam. Here is a link from Boalt explainign the process with an actual link to the California Bar Website as well, but obviously the Cal Bar made it way more confusing and cumbersome than necessary.

http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/California_Bar_Examination_Requirements_for_Professional_LLM_Students.pdf

[Maintain FL 350]

Depending on what country your degree is from, an applicant may not need the LL.M. I believe CA has a reciprocal agreement with the UK which allows LL.B holders to take the CA bar. I know an attorney from Ireland who got admitted without the LL.M.

[Maintain FL 350]

So if you complete an online LL.B you have to either take and pass the exams to get licensed as a solicitor, or get an LL.M before you can take the CA bar. Two bar exams? Yikes.

[cusc2011]

Where do you read that, you have been on the site for years of course under a different name and you constantly find a way to poke a hole in the truth and distort the truth, tell false truths and half truths. You don't have to pass a foreign bar exam but you do have to have a foreign law degree plus have a US LLM in American / US Law to take the California bar if you are not a licensed attorney somewhere.  I know you don't like the fact that this is an option, its well documented from your previous comments over the  past 2 yrs and probably even longer.  I came on this site 2 yrs ago before I started my law studies and you still trying to discredit folks that are trying to find alternative ways especially the ones that are going or inquiring about the foreign route.  I know from your past comments you find it distastefull that this is a real option but get over it.

[Maintain FL 350]

"False truths"? Good grief.

You don't have to pass a foreign bar exam but you do have to have a foreign law degree plus have a US LLM in American / US Law to take the California bar if you are not a licensed attorney somewhere.    

You will be dismayed to learn that basic reading comprehension is an important part of the bar exam. Read my post, compare it to the bolded portion above. You don't even understand what you're talking about. There appear to be two options:

1) LL.B + licensure in the U.K. = ticket to CA bar exam.
Getting licensed in the U.K. requires you to take the qualifying exams, thus you would take the UK exams and the CBEX. If you go this route you will have to pass two bar exams, hence my comment.

2) LL.B, no U.K. licensure + ABA/CBE LL.M = ticket to CBEX.
This option requires more time and money, but only one bar exam.

I know from your past comments you find it distastefull that this is a real option but get over it.

I don't find it distasteful in the least. I've spent lots of time in the U.K., some of it at Oxford, and I have a very high opinion of U.K. higher education. I have no doubt that Northumbria offers a fine education. 

I do, however, think that this plan is a waste of time if your goal is to pass the CBEX. Why spend four years studying law that isn't tested? Look at the abysmal pass rates for foreign educated lawyers. They are low for a reason.

I came on this site 2 yrs ago before I started my law studies and you still trying to discredit folks that are trying to find alternative ways especially the ones that are going or inquiring about the foreign route.

I am skeptical of "alternative" routes to bar admission because they seldom work! Don't take my word for it, look at the recorded pass rates. They are very low. Look, if you're going to post stuff on a public forum people are going to respond. Don't take it personally, but understand that people are going to be skeptical when you extol the virtues of a path to bar admission with an extremely low success rate. How many people have passed the CBEX via this route? Do you even know?

Some people here (myself included) have actually taken the CA bar exam, and might be in a better position than you to determine what is (or is not)adequate preparation.