LAW SCHOOLS: ABA body wants tighter rules on licensing lawyers trained abroad
By Siobhan Roth


The National Law Journal (p. A12)
Monday, April 26, 1999

Alarmed by the growing number of foreign-trained lawyers seeking work in the United States, a section of the American Bar Association is calling for tighter restrictions on who is eligible to practice law in this country.

The stance taken by the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar could deliver a serious blow to graduate programs that issue master of laws degrees--a major cash cow for U.S. law schools. It could also deter foreign-trained lawyers from practicing in the United States--and even spark a backlash against the surging population of U.S. lawyers working abroad.

The ABA section is preparing a letter to the chief justices of the nation's state supreme courts and to the boards of bar examiners to persuade them to prohibit foreign-trained lawyers with LL.M.s from taking the bar exam. The letter--which is merely advisory--will suggest that the single year of study required by most LL.M. programs simply is not sufficient educational grounding to ensure that those who pass the bar will be qualified to practice in the United States.

"We acquiesce to the LL.M. degree and do not submit those programs to the rigors that we do the J.D.," says J. Richard Hurt, deputy consultant on legal education for the ABA, whose office is writing the letter. Although the ABA's Education Section has long held this position, its reaffirmation--announced at a conference on graduate programs on March 6--has alarmed many in the legal community. Although the ABA does not dictate bar admission policies, its stamp of approval carries great weight for the legal academy and the practicing bar.

"Restricting foreign lawyers' ability to become members of the bar is an approach that would be contrary to what the International Law Section has been trying to encourage and contrary to national interests," says Peter Ehrenhaft, vice chairman of the ABA International Law Section's Transnational Practice Committee, who also is of counsel to Washington, D.C.'s Ablondi, Foster, Sobin & Davidow.

Unlike the doctor of laws programs completed by most practicing attorneys in the United States, master of laws programs typically offer a degree in some specialized area of the law, such as taxation or health law. Many American lawyers pursue these specialized degrees, but about half of all LL.M. recipients are foreign lawyers. An LL.M. from a respected American law school adds great cachet to a résumé in a foreign attorney's home country.

Because graduate programs bring in tuition money at little cost to a school, law schools have been clamoring to latch onto the LL.M. gravy train of late. Last year alone, 22 new post-J.D. programs were established at U.S. schools, bringing the national total to 217, Mr. Hurt says. And with enrollment in J.D. programs falling steadily in the past 10 years, foreign students are helping U.S. law schools stay in the black.

Twelve states and the District of Columbia now allow foreign-trained lawyers to sit for the bar exam. All require an LL.M. or the equivalent of one year of study at an approved law school.

If bar examiners follow the Education Section's advice and refuse to let foreign-trained lawyers take the bar, it could hurt enrollment in graduate programs for foreign lawyers. The wound probably would not be lethal since most foreign students don't plan to practice in the United States anyway. But, says one program administrator, "a lot of students come with the idea that they're going to become members of the bar." And spending the $20,000 it typically costs to get the degree might seem less attractive if practicing at a high-paying American firm is eliminated from the equation.

The ABA recommends that J.D. students receive at least two years of their training at accredited American law schools before they take the bar. To demand less of foreign lawyers--especially those who may not have been trained in a common-law system--would be inconsistent, Mr. Hurt says.

Whether a lawyer is trained in school or through an apprenticeship, Mr. Hurt says, the point of requiring substantive educational grounding is that passing the bar exam "is only one aspect of being equipped to practice law."

New York's White & Case L.L.P., with 25 foreign offices, considers foreign-trained lawyers with LL.M.s a prized commodity. The firm attends both annual hiring fairs held for LL.M. students and "gets the résumé of everyone who is doing an LL.M. in the United States," says Jennifer Young, director of the firm's international services department. The LL.M.-holders the firm attracts to its nine-month foreign lawyer program are strongly encouraged to sit for the bar.

Regardless of whether LL.M.-holders ultimately are allowed to take bar exams, legal educators insist that LL.M. programs play a critical role in the modern law school.

"We are living in an interconnected world, and we need to educate people to conceptualize this new dimension," says Claudio Grossman, dean of American University's law school. "LL.M.s satisfy the basic need of foreign lawyers to understand the main issues facing the profession."

Send comments and suggestions for this column to ruths@amlaw.com or phone Ruth Singleton at (917) 256-2147.