Why Can't Foreign Lawyers with a U.S. LLM Take the Washington Bar?
Why is it that foreign lawyers who earn an LL.M. from an ABA-accredited law school can’t even sit for the Washington State Bar Exam? Shocking, I know, but I have it on good authority this is true. You practice trademark law in Japan or Italy for a number of years, you get an LL.M. from, say, Harvard, and the WSBA won’t even let you take the bar exam here. So you go to New York or California — whose bar associations are perfectly willing to take your application fee and give you a shot at taking the exam — and you pass. Congratulations, you’ve passed one of the toughest bar exams in the U.S.! In a foreign language, no less. So can you now work as a lawyer in Washington? Not in private practice, you can’t. So you do what I imagine hundreds of highly-qualified lawyers in this situation do. You either work in New York or California, or you return to your home country. Either way, Washington loses.
This is nonsense. It’s high time we let these super lawyers sit for our exam. If they pass, we should welcome them as well-deserved members of the Washington State Bar.
Michael Atkins
3 Comments
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (3)
Massachusetts lets foreign educated lawyers take the MA Bar, and I think that they should put an end to it -- unless the test taker's jurisdiction extends the same courtesy to MA lawyers. Same with your fair state. You can't take the British Columbia Bar without doing a bunch of bull pucky, so why should a BC lawyer be allowed to take yours?
And do you think that Italy or Japan would let you sit for their bars? Nope.
I do see your point... Washington loses because these smart people move elsewhere. But, I think that more restriction, not less, is what we need. Of course, as soon as some country wants to play nice with us, we should do the same with them.
Washington APR Rule 3b)iii) provides for admission to the bar exam for any lawyer who has obtained "admission to the practice of law by examination, together with current good standing, in...any jurisdiction where the
common law of England is the basis of its jurisprudence, and active legal experience for at least 3 of the 5 years immediately preceding the filing of the application".