The ABA sounds off on foreign-trained attorneys

24 May 2011 — Two items of note involving the ABA today in the legal media clippings:

ABA Proposes Big Changes for LL.M.s

Sitting for the bar exam may soon be trickier for the thousands of foreign-trained attorneys who take the test each year.  The New York Court of Appeals in April adopted stricter requirements for master of laws (LL.M.) programs, which help foreign lawyers gain eligibility to take the bar. The new rules focus primarily on the content of LL.M. programs, which many foreign attorneys use as an entry point into the domestic legal market.

At the same time, the American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has proposed specific curriculum requirements for LL.M. programs geared toward foreign-trained lawyers. Individual states that adopt the proposed model rule would let graduates of those programs sit for their bar exams. That may result in an expansion of states admitting foreign attorneys, since few states beyond New York and California currently allow the LL.M.-to-bar exam path.  For the full article click here. 

ABA Accreditation for Law School in China Runs Up Against U.S. Job Fears 

And yet another story about the ABA and the accrediting of foreign schools and its affect on the market would undermine their L.L.M. programs.   Law schools say the lower-cost overseas schools could under-price U.S. schools, leading to a “race to the bottom”.   But the bigger issue is it runs headlong into the still-weak U.S. legal job market. Fears of a tide of new overseas competition for scarce work were evident in many of the 60 comments the ABA received in response to a special-committee report released last fall recommending the accreditation section begin considering foreign schools.  “As a long-time ABA member, I have no doubt why so many people refuse to join the association or leave shortly after joining,” says Kelly Drye & Warren partner Steven Moore.  For the full article click here.