2014 Comprehensive Guide to Bar Admission Requirements

In my searching online law school stuff, I came across this guide. It has some very helpful information and breaks down requirements and exceptions by state.
http://www.ncbex.org/assets/media_files/Comp-Guide/CompGuide.pdf

 

What an incredibly valuable resource. Great find, Garp. Well deserving of becoming a STICKY.
I used to spend many days in a law library, for my book, compiling maybe 10% of this information.

A few quick observations:

Law office study in lieu of going to law school:
The same seven states that have done it for years: CA, ME, NY, WV, WA, VA, Vt

Admission to Bar Exam based on correspondence study:
CA of course, but, to my surprise, also DC, MN, OR

Admission to Bar Exam based on unaccredited law degree:
Major changes here. At least a dozen states, typically requiring admission and practicing in another state for 3 to 5 years. AL, AK, AZ, CA, KY, MD, MI, NM, NY, OR, TX, WI

Allowed to take a laptop into the Bar Exam:
Amazingly, all 50 states allow it (very few used to), typically on paying a special fee of $100 to $200.

 

I agree that this is a valuable resource but I am not convinced that it shows much progress. Sure a state like NM allows one to take the bar exam with an unaccredited degree but that's a misleading way to look at it. Rather, what these states are doing is in effect a practice based criteria. Also, speaking on NM in particular--I was puzzled why they would say law school + four years one can take the bar but law school + five years one can get admitted by motion. Maybe for some people that one year makes a difference but it doesn't seem like that big a deal.

It doesn't seem plausible to me that if a person wanted to practice law in a state like NM they would go to an unaccredited law school, practice in California for four years, and then come back and take the NM bar just to practice in their home state. Maybe I'm just wrong about that but I can not imagine that offer is going to find many takers. So in the end I view many of these "liberalization" efforts to be paper nothings.

 

I guess if someone already lived in California and attended an unaccredited school, then it could help if they decided to move. Other than that, I don't see the acceptance of unaccredited degrees to be all that helpful for the people who live in states that don't allow correspondence study.

 

Grads of non ABA schools in NM

It just happens that I shared office space here in Southern New Mexico with a grad from the non ABA San Fernando Valley School of Law. Perfectly good lawyer, too.

SFVSL was CBE accredited but I don't think that mattered to the NM State Bar.

 

Oh, and the admission by motion rule is brand new. It doesn't take effect until 2015. It's really a reciprocity rule and will probably require an ABA JD.

 

Am I reading correct? The majority states allow foreign school graduates in law allow admission to the bar exam? Especially, the state of Texas? I am really interested in this area because I want to attend University of London for Law degree in Intellectual Property.

 

Yes, Texas will accept foreign graduates who did not complete their studies by correspondence.

 

But doesn't Texas require an LL.M. from an ABA approved school?

 

Oh, I see. If you have three years of law practice in the foreign country and that jurisdiction is a common law one you may not need the LL.M. http://www.ble.state.tx.us/Rules/NewRules/Rule13.pdf

But it hardly seems like a shortcut.